REIGNING English and British International Open karate champion Kelly Horsfall insists she is looking to add the BUCS Nationals title to her already crowded trophy cabinet next week.

The Prestwich-based champion enjoyed the best year of her career in 2015 as she won the senior +68kg titles at both the EKF National Championships and British International Open.

Next up is the BUCS Nationals, the UK’s largest annual multi-sport event as athletes at universities across the country compete in a host of different sports for three days, starting Friday.

Horsfall will be joined in Sheffield by the likes of London 2012 Olympian Aimee Willmott and Commonwealth bronze medallist Bianca Williams.

And the 20-year-old said: “This is the first time I will be taking part and it has also been a goal to take part because not everyone gets the chance to so I am really excited.

“The main goal is to get a medal but I also want to just perform as well as I can against the other amazing athletes.

“It will be different because I will be competing against athletes I have never faced before so we will have to see how I get on.

“I would like to medal in both though. My ability in both is similar. Last year I was English and British champion at +68 so I would like to add the BUCS title to my trophy cabinet but we will see how it goes.”

After the BUCS Nationals the former Parrenthorn High School pupil will turn her attention to the National Championships, British Championships and the British Open later this year.

Horsfall believes her 2015 success was mainly down to a new-found positive outlook and has every intention of continuing.

“I would say 2015 was my best year so far,” said Horsfall, a first year fashion design and technology student at Manchester Metropolitan University.

“The year before I don’t know what happened but it didn’t work out for me but last year it all came together.

“I think I had a more positive outlook going into last year and I ended up winning the English individual title for the first time and I had not won the British title since I was about 13 so it was a really good year.

“In 2016 I want to carry on competing and medalling if possible.

“I would like to compete in a few K1 events as they are arguably bigger events than the Europeans and the World Champions because at the Europeans you can only have one person from each country, whereas at the K1 competitions you can get five people from the top countries.

“The goal is to medal at those events one day but just to compete in them would be amazing.

“I am also taking part in a lot more coaching and I am coaching a group of people at my club and hopefully I can help produce athletes for my club and country.”

British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) is the national governing body for higher education (HE) sport in the UK, representing more than 150 institutions. Covering 52 sports, BUCS aids grass roots participation through to supporting aspiring elite athletes en route to Commonwealth or Olympic Games www.bucs.org.uk