KARATE GLORY IN SAIF HANDS; City teenager's double delight.

Byline: By MARK JONES

HISHAM SAIF continued his meteoric rise up the karate ladder with yet more success at the National Championships in Birmingham.

The 15-year-old, a member of the Al-Ghazali Shotokan Club in Earl Road, walked away with trophies in both the Kata and Kumite divisions for the second year in succession, and added them to previous successes in 2003, 2004 and 2006.

Hisham, from Mulgrave Street in Liverpool 8, beat off competition from around 700 from across the country to claim the titles at the National Indoor Arena, and has also been awarded with an outstanding achievement award from the Karate Union of Great Britain.

Ahmed Saif, Hisham's father and executive director at the Al-Ghazali Centre, said: "He had to come through six rounds of very difficult competition to win and his opponent in the final was much bigger than him, so everyone at the club is proud of his achievements.

"We hope that this will inspire our other members on to winning trophies in the future."

No stranger to winning titles, Hisham, second dan blackbelt, first tasted success at Birminghamin 2002 when, aged nine, he was part of the team that won gold in the under 16s age group.

CAPTION(S):

HERO: Hisham Saif, 15, with his medals from the national karate champion ships. He trains at the Al-Ghazali centre on Earl Road in South Liverpool (below) under the instruction of legendary trainer Jim Brennan Picture: CHRISTIAN PETERSEN code: zy240508hishamsaif-4 (2).jpg; code: zy240508hishamsaif-1.jpg