A YOUNG Taekwondo practitioner from Tavistock has recently won a silver medal at the 'European Festival of Martial Arts 2011', a huge international martial arts competition held once every two years at Disneyland Paris.

Sam Pulfer, 23, competed in the Korean kata division and met with tough competition from many European countries competing in the same category, especially from Germany. Yet, battling through the challenge, Pulfer overawed the panel of judges to emerge with second place.

Sam said: 'This is the first time in an eleven-year competitive career that I've ever won a medal abroad, and to win a silver in Disneyland of all places is just beyond words. I am proud of all my competition achievements over the years, but Disneyland Paris has to be the icing on the cake for me. Many people simply dream of coming here to Disneyland, but to actually come here to compete at an international martial arts festival and go home with second place is more than most can dream of.'

Sam has been competing in Taekwondo and martial arts competitions since June 2000 when he was 12. He has competed all over England, Belgium, Portugal, India, Finland and France on regional, local, national and international level.

At 16, Pulfer was asked to join the national Taekwondo Team and has participated with them in three tournaments. He also trained with the Sri Lankan military in 2005 and established three competitive teams — one of which while living in India in 2006, which consisted of children from a rural, desert boarding school. He led his second team, 'Shiva Soviet TKD', to become southern regional champions in 2007, national champions in 2008 and also succeeded in winning enough trophies to bring 'Shiva Soviet' to being ranked and seeded 7th at the 'National All Styles Martial Arts Event 2008'.

Sam trained in Albania for two weeks before taking his Taekwondo abilities into an all rounded experimental stage, when he formed the exhibition oufit 'Gemini', taking the team to the bi-annual 'SENI martial arts gala' in 2010 and then on to compete in Finland.