Hereford judo player Andy Morris became the 2005 World Masters champion in the 90kg category after beating United States fighter Wayne Dickinson in the final at the Hershey Centre, Mississauga, Ontario.

It was a fine performance by Morris, who runs his own judo club at Hereford's St Martin's Church Hall, as Dickinson was the 1999 world silver and 2001 world bronze medallist.

Morris dominated much of the fight and, although not scoring, he took Dickinson down to the ground on several occasions.

As a result of Morris's relentless attacking and domination Dickinson was unable to produce any attacks of his own and subsequently received a three-point penalty for passivity.

The remainder of the fight followed the same pattern and with only six seconds left another attack from the Hereford fighter took Dickinson to the floor where he was pinned until the final bell.

In his opening bout against a Hungarian opponent the scores were level at the halfway point. But Morris then produced a massive pick-up technique to score the maximum 10 points.

In round two Morris was up against a Canadian opponent and he again achieved a 10-point throw, while his quarter-final against Finland's number one fighter finished level with three points apiece.

The 'golden rule' was then applied with the first fighter to score winning. Morris again pulled off another 10-point throw to book a place in the semi-finals.

In the event he had a bye into the finals as his scheduled Russian opponent suffered a leg injury in his quarter-final and pulled out.

Morris thanked all his sponsors whose help enabled him to compete in the Master Champion-ships. He is now preparing for the British Champion-ships in September.

A win at this event would secure his selection for the forthcoming Common-wealth Games where Masters judo is to be included for the first time.