Bowhill Miners Boxing Club's Niamh Mitchell has added another title to her glittering CV by packing a punch to become a British senior champion.
The talented 18-year-old, who lives in Rosyth, stepped into the ring in Cardiff last Sunday at the GB Three Nations Championships, and came home with a gold medal.
Niamh, a former pupil at Dunfermline High School, defeated England's Laylie Heath in the elite female 60kg category.
Her victory was one of 22 that Boxing Scotland competitors enjoyed at the event, and provided the perfect comeback for Niamh, after suffering a hand injury late last year.
In 2022, she made history by becoming the first female to win gold for Scotland at an international competition by winning the 52kg light bantamweight category at the EUBC (European Boxing Confederation) European Junior Championships, and can now add an elite title to her collection.
"It was brilliant, just to be back in the ring again, because I had an injury in November after my last fight, so basically I was out until now," Niamh told Times Sport.
"That was my first time having a senior fight and everything like that, so even being back in the ring, it was just a massive rush again.
Niamh, who was named the Sporting Champion of the Year at the 2023 Dunfermline Press and Central Fife Times Community Champion awards, continued:
"I didn't see that (winning) happening anyway!
"I felt like a lot stronger in that on the run-up, training and everything.
"I think because I knew that I've put basically my all into the run-up, I just knew I had to go in there and do me, basically.
"Normally I'm a bit tense and that in the ring, and sometimes switch off and everything like that, so I just knew when I was going in, I had to kind of relax straight away and kind of grip my bearings and don't switch off, basically, and that's what I did.
"It's massive, absolutely massive, especially senior, and I moved up a weight as well.
"I moved up from 57kg to 60kg, so that was obviously a little jump. I've been working with my strength and conditioning coach at Boxing Scotland to try and get myself stronger and that for the 60 category.
"Then, obviously, the jump from youth to senior is obviously big as well because it's full-grown women you're going in with, so yeah, it's massive for me."
James White, one of Niamh's coaches at Bowhill, added: "She boxed absolutely superbly and beat the English champion for her first elite senior title. I'm buzzing for her.
"The performance she put on at the weekend was just a clinic in movement and was brilliant to see."
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