Liam Wise's hopes of a place in the GB taekwondo squad look promising after he completed the second stage of the selection process.

The 17-year-old from Sittingbourne is waiting to hear if he was successful in stage two of ‘Fighting Chance,’ the programme which selects the best martial artists in the country to join the GB team with a view to being selected for the Olympics.

Wise (pictured) has already eased through the first stage of the process, coming top of his group despite only being a blue belt, which is halfway to the coveted black belt.

Having travelled to Manchester for the second stage, Wise was up against 83 other competitors, all black belts, vying for a chance to be selected.

Despite his relative inexperience, Wise came top of his group in the stage two mini competition to stand him in good stead for the final stage on the road to becoming an Olympic contender.

The programme is the one that European champion and world No.2, Aaron Cook, controversially left before London 2012.

The group of 84 will be narrowed down to 25 for the final stage, once the medical questionnaire and skinfold test, which measures body fat, have been assessed. They will hear the results of these and their fate within the next week.

The 25 candidates will then endure a week-long boot camp in May, involving various tests before the final group are chosen.

Read reaction from Sittingbourne Taekwondo Club instructor Gary Foster in this week's Sittingbourne News Extra.