A TALENTED judo star from Cowdenbeath has continued to fight his way to medal glory after stepping up an age bracket.

Beath High School pupil James Rutherford travelled to Cardiff over the weekend of October 28-29 to compete at the Welsh Pre Cadet and Cadet Open 2023 - and came home with a bronze medal.

He secured five wins and lost just one bout, defeating Freddie Dougdale to take a bronze gong.

The 14-year-old, who is a member of Destination Judo Club, picked up his first podium place since moving up to cadets (for those aged between 15-17) from pre-cadets, in which he has enjoyed a year of success.

James, who will celebrate his 15th birthday in February, struck gold last December at the British Pre Cadet Boys and Cadet Girls Championships, coming out on top in the male under-50kg pre-cadet class.

READ MORE: Cowdenbeath's James is the best of British in judo after gold medal win

That success came after he had won gold medals at the Welsh Pre-Cadet and Cadet Open,and the JudoScotland Scottish National Closed Championships, and afterwards he continued his fine form on the mat.

The youngster, who took up the sport when Destination Judo provided taster sessions whilst he was in P5, was successful at events in Northern Ireland and Luxembourg, and topped the rankings after four Scottish Grand Prix bouts, despite only being able to attend three, to become overall Scottish champion.

In addition, he has attended training camps at Tulliallan Police College,in Kendal, Camberley, Walsall and in Belgium, training with Olympic and Commonwealth champions.

Of his Welsh success, proud dad Alex said: "In his first year at Cadets, that is a great achievement "We're looking forward to James now moving up to Cadets. This will be a great test of his resilience and dedication."