DURSLEY’S Ben Amigoni is 'over the moon' after some of the performances of his life at the GTI Taekwondo World Championships in Italy.
And the sparkling displays throughout the competition have persuaded the personal trainer to shelve plans to hang up his kit to retire and, instead, fight on.
Indeed, Amigoni, 31, has met people around Dursley since he has returned from the tournament, many of whom have been shaking his hand and congratulating him on two third places.
Amigoni, who fights at the 72-76 kilogram weight, lost in the last 16 of his one-on-one contests but came close to claiming a podium place there.
But he did win team bronze with England in the technical disciplines called Destruction and Patterns.
In fact, his performance in the Destruction discipline was key to England getting their medal.
He said: “I managed to get through to the quarter-finals which I am absolutely over the moon with but I managed to win two bronze medals in those other two areas.”
Destruction is very similar to breaking wooden blocks in karate, while Patterns are exercises where the athlete shows kicking and punching techniques in a solo performance on the mat and is judged on his style and execution of those routines.
Amigoni said: “In the quarter-finals of the sparring (fighting with an opponent), I was drawn against a Canadian for my first match which I won both rounds.
“In the next match, I got through against a guy from Ireland and then was up against an Argentinian. I lost the first round and drew the second which meant I could not get through but I could not have given more and I walked off the mat knowing I had given everything.
"The Argentinian went on to take silver.
“But if I had turned that lost round into a win against the Argentinian, I would have been on the podium there as well.”
As it turned out, he won bronze in the Destruction and Patterns team events.
Amigoni said: “The Patterns bronze I did not expect but I was confident about the Destruction but, unfortunately with it, we had five men on our team and four of them did not break the blocks. So it was my one strike that got us to the podium.
"It was quite a big achievement to do it as Scotland and Japan both failed (to break the blocks).
"It’s a huge positive.”
Amigoni’s medals are the result of months of hard training but he said it was worth all the effort.
“I am very happy,” he added.
“It goes to show that all the training that I have put myself through was worth it.
"There are so many positives to take from this.”
Amigoni will meet up with the English squad in the coming weeks before driving on towards the English Open in November and then, he hopes, a chance to represent his country again at the Dutch Open.
He added: “I am undecided if I am going for that one (Dutch Open) but they have said they want me on the team.
“This was the best I have ever performed and I thought this would be my last contest but it’s given me the desire and hunger to continue competing.
"Taekowndo is such a respectful sport and I love it so much that I will keep doing it.”