Moray is to be well represented in the Great Britain team currently in Italy for the World Junior and Cadet Kickboxing championships.
Three members of the Kaizen School of Kickboxing, 17-year-old Jodie Henderson from Elgin and Alexander Kinlin from Forres plus 16-year-old Tara Carroll from Hopeman, will be competing alongside 16-year-old Alexander Yeats from Elgin who is a member of the Sansum Black Belt Academy.
The Moray quartet qualified to represent their country after taking part in the British Championships in Birmingham earlier this year.
Only two competitors from each weight category were chosen to represent Team GB and subsequently they had to attend the World Association of Kickboxing Association (WAKO) squad training sessions in Scotland and England throughout the year.
A spokeswoman for the Elgin-based Kaizen school said: “They have all obtained World Titles for Scotland by representing other organisations – but this is the ultimate accolade being selected to represent WAKO Great Britain.
“This shows the amazing local talent and dedication of these youths as only seven fighters where picked from the whole of Scotland, four of whom train in the Moray area.
“This is the first time that Scotland has been represented in such numbers – the WAKO GB Team will be taking 70 Junior and Cadet fighters to Italy to compete against the world’s finest from over 60 other countries.”
The world championships open today and will conclude on Friday – details, news and results from Rimini can be found on the WAKO website.