THE ranks of Black Belt holders at Kendal Judo Club have increased by one after Nye Greasley became the latest member to secure the coveted belt.

The 16-year-old secured the Black Belt at the Judofest weekend in Kirkby Lonsdale, where to qualify he had to win five contests against other contenders, all of whom were trying for the same grade.

Two of the four minute contests were against players with whom he trains regularly, which made the task tougher, but he came out the winner with a combination of throwing and ground work skills.

Nye was the only examinee to win all his contests, after which he had to demonstrate a number of judo techniques requested by the examiner in Japanese, a task he found harder than the contests.

A member of Kendal Judo Club since he was 8-years-old, he has just returned home following a month long QKS World Challenge trip to India where he helped to repair a school in a mountainous region in the north of the country.

And the Black Belt awards crowns a great month for Nye who also learned this week that he had been selected to take part in the Commonwealth Judo Championships in Birmingham in September.