COWDENBEATH Karate Club has had another very busy month both fighting in the UK and in Europe and there were a lot of trophies coming to the town.

Young student Elize Bauld again tasted success in both the Meadowbank Junior Open and the Scottish International Open held over two days in Edinburgh and attended by over 1000 fighters from across Europe.

In the Scottish Open Elize finally won the 2017 title to add to the English and Irish open titles already held and is now in training for a crack at the British title held in Sheffield later on in May.

Elize currently trains 5/6 nights per week and is showing the dedication and promise to take her to the top of karate.

Also winning at the Scottish Open was club mate Melissa Maxwell who won gold at her current -59kg section and overall gold in the U18 year old girls section, her sister Sammi won bronze in her group as did Lewis 'O' Reilly and Ben Smith in the adult black belt sections to make it a very successful day all round for the Cowdenbeath Team.

The whole squad fought very well with other members just missing out on medals on this occasion but vital experience learned.

Jay Hogg and James Ford also won bronze medals in their categories with very strong performances .

The young Cowdenbeath members then fought the following week in the Meadowbank junior open.

Young fighters and siblings Sophie and Sara McHatton battled through to the quarter finals were they meet each other!

Sophie won on this occasion but then lost her next fight, but it was a bronze medal for her.

Luke Shields again made it to the medals winning a bronze in his section as did Anya Renwick, Mel and Jade Young and Lucy McDonald.

Lucy fought brilliantly all day and was bit unlucky not the win the title in a tough section.

She has had various injuries over the year but stuck in and looks another great prospect for the future. Unfortunately Sammi Maxwell met with a disqualification after excessive contact in her last bout, despite winning easily at the time she delivered a hard blow to the other girl rendering her injured.

Again, however, top performer was young Elize Bauld who won gold in her own section and silver in the upper age group .

Finally Cowdenbeath fighter Melissa Maxwell travelled to Holland to fight in the 2017 Amsterdam Open at the Amsterdam arena along with some of her Scotland team mates . Some hard fighting with close results followed by finally Melissa won the 2017 title .

Club instructor Allan Goodwin commented: "Some great results but also good to see so many different young fighters entering competition.

"We had twenty young fighters entered at Meadowbank and our senior squad is now growing and progressing.

"We have some great young girls with Elize showing promise that she could go right to the very top.

"Melissa continues to improve and fight in the bigger circuit but needs to keep winning to maintain her position in the national karate team if she wants to gain selection for the squad to fight in the 2017 World Championships in Tenerife" . He added: "Finally the club would like to take this opportunity to congratulate one of guest instructors "Tiff " 'O' Reilly who recently obtained his 4th Dan after a lifetime of work and dedication to karate."

The club operates out of it's own dojo on Broad Street, and new members welcome .