ROMSEY'S Trevor Birmingham is sporting a golden glow after helping England to victory in the World Ju-Jitsu Championships in Canada.

Ju-Jitsu is the ancient martial art of the legendary Samurai and its history can be traced back to 16th century Japan.

These days its popularity has spread to the western world and the English team found themselves up against the Americans in the world final, having overcome the Canadians, Irish and the Channel Islands in previous rounds.

Birmingham, a 31-year-old personal trainer and martial arts instructor, marvelled: "This has given us our third world title and another gold medal.

"There was some tough competition out there, but it feels good to have beaten the Americans because they had a lot of help with sponsorship and training. We do most of ours off our own backs."

In 2003, Birmingham took part in the British Ground Fighting Championships and won gold in the 66-69 kilo category for the fourth year running.