COWDENBEATH Karate Club has had a busy start to 2017 with competitors fighting in Barnsley and abroad at the European championships in Bulgaria .

Also the club had an early day motion read out in the House of Commons, with primary sponsor being local MP Roger Mullin.

The club were praised for their high standard of training and contribution to the local community and the committee would like to thank Roger for his submission .

The Cowdenbeath club travelled to Barnsley for the 2017 Yorkshire Open as part of the SK 2000 squad as their first tournament of the year and to prepare for the Irish and Scottish Opens to be held in April. On arrival the group were surprised to learn that the normal 4-500 entries had expanded to over 1200 so a long long day for them was to follow .

The young fighters were first up with Jade Young, Kenny Putka, and Cameron Mckay all giving good performances but missing out on the later stages, while Elize Bauld and Robin Ironside fought their way to the quarter-finals but both lost narrowly with Robin fighting brilliantly and can consider herself to be unlucky on this occasion not to at least get a medal but she has a great future ahead of her in sport karate. Sammi Maxwell gave her all action fighting display but too much excessive contact put paid to her title hopes.

However, much needed fighting time and experience was gained and all will benefit from their fights in future events .

Andy Young and Steve Mckay were next up in the adult section with Andy losing to the eventual winner again with a spirited display considering it was only his second competition.

Steve the drew 1-1 with a much taller fighter but lost on a split decision but again he fought hard and will come back stronger.

Allan Goodwin and Lewis "O" Reilly then lost to top class fighters in their third round senior matches but again fought well.

Next up was Kirsty McAlpine, who secured bronze medal in the ladies fighting event followed by Grant Robertson who won three fights to lose in the last second of the men's senior fighting middle weight section but secure a silver medal.

The last event was the senior men's team competition with 14 teams entered from across the UK with many top internationalists fighting.

Cowdenbeath won through to the final and in fact were leading until seconds to go were ahead until a head kick caught one of the Cowdenbeath team members and thus they had to settle for another silver medal.

In summary club coach Gordon Maxwell commented: "Great efforts by all and maybe not the results we had hoped for but sometimes things don't go your way.

"However, great resolve by all and a long day with the team event still going on at 11pm at night so long drive home for us that night!

"The squad is progressing and I'm sure great things lie ahead, it's just about keeping everyone training and focused now . The acid test for anyone is getting up to compete in the first instance so again I applaud their efforts ".

Finally, Melissa Maxwell, from the Cowdenbeath, travelled to Sofia for the 44th European championships for U21's held at the massive Armec Arena, which proved a fantastic setting with a tremendous atmosphere . Melissa was part of the Scottish National team competing at the event and with 50 countries represented with each setting their number one rated fighter at each weight to fight for the 2017 title.

Melissa was fighting at 59 kg despite only being sixteen years of age.

She fought brilliantly with a little bit of inexperience catching her out at the end losing to the eventual winner 2-0.

Fighting against Germany, Ukraine, Slovakia and the winner from Portugal, was a bit nerve racking but tremendous experience and it looked like she might get medal at one point in the day but unfortunately it was not to be. Melissa eventually finished in 7th position overall to put her up to 18th in the world rankings .

Club Instructor Allan Goodwin commented: "A great effort for Melissa in the hardest of stages where all fighters are at the very top of their game, this is a totally different level of competition from any local, county or even national level she has or indeed anyone has competed in and our goal is to try and get Melissa or indeed someone from our club up to the very top level.

"However, this will be very difficult as abroad countries are pouring massive investment into karate ahead of the 2020 Olympics were karate is to be included for the very first time. However, she is still young with huge ability but great challenges lie ahead and this will require massive commitment from all involved."

The Cowdenbeath club operates out of its own dojo. Phone 07904422968, or visit or facebook page "Cowdenbeath Martial Arts Centre " for more details.