A TRIO of West Fife judoka showed they are the best of British after helping Scotland land a prestigious title on Saturday.

Emma Forrest, Fiona Todman and Kirsty Marsh, all of Dunfermline's Destination Judo Club, travelled to Cardiff to compete at the annual 2018 National Team Championships.

They were chosen by Judo Scotland to take part in the competition – one of the most eagerly-anticipated on the British Judo calendar – as part of a 31-strong squad competing at pre-cadet (born between 2004-2007) and cadet (2000-2003) levels.

Both Forrest, Dunfermline and West Fife Sports Council's Young Sports Person of the Year for 2017, and Todman – who both won silver medals at last summer's Commonwealth Youth Games in the Bahamas – had been part of Scotland's winning team last year.

And, with Marsh alongside them, they repeated the feat this time around by helping the Scots retain the girls' under-19 title.

Todman and Marsh alternated fights in the under-52kg class, with Forrest sharing the under-57kg berth with Highland Budokan's Josie Steele.

In the opening round-robin fixture, against the South of England region, 18-year-old Todman showed great improvisation to throw Kristina Pavlou for ippon, while Forrest, 17, defeated Jasmine Stringer with a pair of wazari scoring throws to help Scotland to a 4-1 win.

The same scoreline was then achieved in their second fixture against an experienced North West England team, with Marsh and Forrest both getting the better of England squad members in the process.

Dalgety Bay-based Marsh used her trademark ouchi gari throw to beat Isobel Kitchen in the final seconds of their fight, while Forrest defeated fellow black-belt Emily Tye with a throw-and-hold combination for her own second successive win.

East of England were next to fall victim to the Scottish squad, with both British junior squad member Todman, and Forrest, recording ippon wins as they guaranteed qualification for the semi-finals comfortably before they rounded off their Pool A matches against a strong Northern Home Counties team.

An impressive 4-1 win saw Marsh record a crucial ippon success over another England squad member, Hannah Niven, after Scotland had lost the opening bout of the fixture.

Their most impressive win of the day was still to come, however, when they faced London region.

Todman and Forrest recorded quick ippon victories against their respective opponents to set up a final with South of England, who had beaten Pool B winners West of England in the other semi-final.

In a repeat of their earlier 4-1 victory over the same opponents, Marsh – promoted recently to the Judo Scotland senior transition squad – took just 23 seconds to beat Pavlou by ippon, ensuring that the talented West Fife trio had won all 10 of their bouts by the top score, an impressive achievement at national level and a significant factor in Scotland's overall triumph.

Meanwhile, Destination Judo's younger athletes also enjoyed a successful weekend by picking up medals in the latest round of the Judo Scotland Grand Prix in Aberdeen.

Isaac Callaghan continued his fine form by finishing third in the AA Band (under-11-years), boys' under-27kg category at the Granite City Open, while sister Jocelyn placed second in a competitive A Band (under-13) girls' under-32kg class.

Angus Marsh, fighting in one of the largest categories of the day, finished second in the pre-cadet boys' under-46kg weight band, before an excellent day for the club was rounded off by Lesley Corbett also taking silver in the pre-cadet girls' under-44kg category.