Several practitioners of tae kwon do and karate competed at the first annual Pan Am Martian Arts Games in Balgonie on the weekend.
The participants included three from the Estevan Tae Kwon Do Club and several others from the Vilcu's Karate Klub.
All of them represented Team Canada.
One member of the Estevan contingent was Jamison Keating, eight, who earned gold and bronze medals in his respective tae kwon do events.
"I was thinking I'd win them all like usual," he joked, but admitted he was surprised.
He said his favourite events are weapon sparring and patterns.
Keating's friend, nine-year-old Darson Gunnlaugson, took home a bronze medal.
"I was kind of surprised because there's people from all over Canada," he said.
His favourite event was weapon sparring.
Both kids began training in tae kwon do last September under local instructor Wayne Brown.
Keating said opponents might have the same level of expertise, but most of them have been training longer than he and his friend.
"We're both yellow belts, but we don't have all the experience."
Keating has earned five gold medals so far this season, three of them coming in hand forms, with the others in weapon sparring and point sparring.
Gunnlaugson's best finish to date was second place in hand forms at the Global Tae Kwon Do event in Saskatoon.
Troy McClelland also represented the Estevan Tae Kwon Do Club. taking gold in sparring and silvers in patterns and weapon sparring.
Samantha Paxman of the Lampman Tae Kwon Do Club earned golds in patterns and point sparring.
Club members were still trying to confirm at press time, but it is believed that the gold medal winners - including Keating, Paxman and McClelland - are eligible to attend the 2012 world championship in Geneva, Switzerland.
The Vilcu Klub was represented in Balgonie by Adam Vilcu, Billy Vilcu, Cody Vilcu and instructor Harold Vilcu.
