Casey Belsey is determined to keep his feet on the ground after clinching the under 60k 16-19 year-old British judo title.

The 17-year-old (pictured) from Halfway has previously won the under-15 crown but has learned his lessons following a tough step up in class.

He said: "I just need to keep training hard and not get too cocky. I did that before when I won the under-15 title.

"I thought I was amazing and I got cocky but I had a big shock when I moved up to under-17."

Belsey trains with the British Judo Squad in Dartford and his preparations paid off after clinching gold at the Heart of England Championships in Birmingham.

He said: "I was mainly relieved as I had trained hard. The hard work continues, though, and the British Championships are next month, and I’ll be favourite for that. There will be plenty of pressure on me and it will be a lot harder to win."

Belsey won all six of his fights with four wins coming by the highest score Ippon.

He followed that up with gold in the National Trials at the K2 Centre in Crawley and he is currently ranked No.1 in the country in his category.

The British championships take place in Sheffield on October 11 and, despite being tipped for a place in the 2012 Olympic squad, Belsey is remaining focused.

He said: "I will only be 20 in 2012 and so I will only just be stepping up. I think my best chance will be 2016 but I will still give myself a chance for 2012.

"For now though I’m just taking it one competition at a time and concentrating on the one next month."

Belsey has recently been fighting alongside some tough opponents as teams from across the world are checking out the nation’s facilities ahead of the forthcoming London Olympics.

Teams from Brazil, Austria and France have been in Dartford competing and Belsey has been happy with the way he has coped.

"They are some of the best in the world and I’ve held my own­ – nobody has beaten me easily," he said.