TWO West Fife youngsters have been celebrating after they won medals for Scotland at a prestigious European martial arts competition.
Lily Finch and Connor Smith travelled to Hertfordshire to compete for ITF (International Taekwon-Do Federation) Scotland at the ITFU (International Taekwon-Do Federation Union) European Open Championships.
Held in Hertfordshire, near London, the pair, who train with Dunfermline UKTC, which is now based at Dunfermline Learning Campus after a recent relocation, were part of a 25-strong Scottish team.
They went on to produce fine performances on the mat, against some of the best taekwondo athletes from across the continent, with Lily, 10, winning two bronze medals, and Connor, 10, claiming a silver.
Competing in the girls' under-12 age category, Lily placed third in the red belt division for both patterns and sparring, whilst Connor, in the 12-13 years male first dan black belt category, earned a silver in sparring.
Their efforts helped the Scotland ITF team to enjoy a strong and successful competition, which saw them bag an impressive 33 medals overall, four of which were gold, 13 were silver, and 16 were bronze.
Following her success at the competition, which was held over the weekend of October 25-27, Lily said: "I am really proud of my results from the weekend.
"It was a tough competition with lots of great athletes from all over the world, so to compete alongside them as part of the Scotland ITF team and come home with medals feels great."
Lily and Connor were joined at the event by club coach, Richard Glennie, who was one of four who travelled with the squad, and he was thrilled with their achievements.
He commented: "The competition was well attended with countries from all over Europe represented .
"There was lots of current and past European and world champions attending so the standard was extremely high.
"Scotland ITF did brilliantly, taking 4 gold, 13 silvers and 16 bronzes, and I was super proud of my Fife students Connor and Lily."
Lily and Connor, together with several of their Dunfermline UKTC team-mates, were due to attend the Chang Un Cup International on Sunday, whilst Lily is set to round off her year's competition season with a trip to Athlone, Ireland, on November 23 for the RITA Irish Open.
Earlier this year, Connor won a gold medal at the World Taekwondo Championships, held at Heriot-Watt University, whilst Lily collected a bronze.
Sessions with Dunfermline UKTC are led and taught by Richard and Derek Webb, who are qualified at fourth and third dan respectively, and for more information, find them on Facebook.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here