England karate star smashes A-levels

AN England karate star returned triumphant from world championships in Japan to pack a punch in his A-levels as he collected top grades.

Ripon Grammar School student Samarth Dasarathi won silver for his country with his team of three at the JKS Karate-do International Cup in Tokyo at the end of July.

The 18-year-old, from Burton Leonard, achieved four A*s in maths, further maths, chemistry and physics and will now study mechanical engineering at Imperial College, London.

Samarth, who also passed his third level black belt this summer, said he was delighted with his grades: "I was really surprised by my results, I wasn't expecting it to go so well. Also seeing my friends happy with their results was an amazing feeling."

He juggled his studies with more than six hours a week training to compete at the world championships in the home of karate, in addition to learning Japanese to give him further insight into the martial art.

He also worked as a lifeguard at Ripon Leisure Centre, alongside playing guitar and drums at local music events during his exams.

Samarth, who first started practising karate at five years old, was selected to represent the JKS England team following a highly competitive selection process involving a series of regional and international competitions.

“I was so happy to have been selected, as training with and competing against world champions has been a dream for many years,” he said.

The teenager stresses he is not a natural athlete and had to work hard to master the skills required to achieve the black belts which have allowed him to join the ranks of the country’s elite karate competitors.

He added: “I really enjoyed everything I did in sixth form at RGS and hope to continue a lot of the things I started and keep in touch with all my friends from school over the coming years.”

*More than 70 per cent of all grades achieved at RGS were at A*-B and 43 per cent at A*/A, with two students achieving a clean sweep of four A* grades and five further students achieving three A* grades and above. Overall the school, which consistently tops North Yorkshire’s A-level results table, saw its 144 students receive a total of 83 A*s.