TWO members of a Clydebank karate club are aiming for the world championships.

Olivia Cuthbertson, 14, and Louise Smith, 21, recently won silver and bronze medals respectively at the British Karate Federation's Four Nations Championship in County Durham.

Both competitors attend Kokusai Karate Club, who train out of Clydebank Leisure Centre twice a week.

And instructor Billy Haggarty was keen to praise both of them.

"I am really pleased for Olivia and Louise," he said. "They both work hard between karate, running and the gym.

"They deserve all their success and I have no doubt they will continue to go from strength to strength.

"It is a pleasure to have them at the club."

Olivia was competing in the 14-15 year group for the first time.

And her dad Lee detailed the difficulty of making such a step up.

"It was her first tournament competing as a cadet," he said.

"She got all the way to the final and collected a silver medal. Some of the competitors she has been up against over the last two years have moved up with her.

"There were some familiar faces. When you get to that stage then you start to see a marked difference in physicality and the whole performance level has improved.

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"Olivia enjoyed it and she was pleased with herself. She did brilliantly and I am so proud of everything she has achieved."

Both Olivia and Louise are in contention to represent Karate Scotland at the world championships in October.

The tournament takes place in Venice and the two competitors are likely to hear soon about whether they have qualified.

"The fact both did well at the British Championships should hopefully stand them in good stead," Lee continued.

"It is one of Olivia's ambitions [to represent Scotland].

"She obviously enjoys competing individually all over Europe but also wants to represent her country.

"The world championships fall every two years and she is eligible for the upcoming competition so fingers crossed."