MATHS lecturer Abi Bown will be a woman on a mission when she takes part in the Aikido World Championships this month.
The event only happens every four years and last time Abi, 31, from Harrogate, North Yorkshire, where her mother Jonet is a probation service worker, was on a see-the-world tour and missed out. Eight years ago she also missed out because she was busy with her studies at Cambridge University.
Now Abi is British women's shodoka champion and, as a member of a British contingent almost 30-strong, she will travel to Osaka in Japan in a few days in a confident mood.
Abi, who combines her day job at a sixth-form college in Oldham with training stints in Sheffield and Liverpool, as well as coaching youngsters in Manchester, said: ''There is no reason why we should not bring back a couple of medals. Squad training has gone well and we are looking forward to the two weeks in Osaka."
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