Pembrokeshire's Sam Davies has flown the flag for Wales at the World Irish Dancing Championships.

Sam, the country’s most successful Irish dancer, proudly took one of the top spots on the podium in the senior men’s competition in the prestigious event.

The 23-year-old danced superbly to secure a fifth place out of a field of more than 40 contestants from as far afield as America, Japan and Russia.

The contest, run by the world’s top Irish dancing organisation, An Coimisun Le Rinci Gaelacha (CLRG), saw 4,500 dancers from across the globe compete over eight days in Belfast’s Waterfront Hall.

Former Greenhill School pupil Sam, of New Hedges, started Irish dancing as a nineyear- old with the Hynes School of Irish Dancing in Saundersfoot.

After graduating from Trinity College, Dublin, with a first class honours degree in mathematics, he now works in London as a trainee actuary with the Government Actuary’s Department.

Sam travels regularly to Dublin for lessons, workshops and performances with the renowned Ui She school, where his teachers include former lead Riverdancer Colm O’Se and his sister, Dara Delap O’Shea, who was also in the show.

“It meant a lot to me that they said how proud they were of how I danced at the championships against some extremely tough competition, and my aim is now to go onwards and upwards for next year’s Worlds in Boston, America,” said Sam