TWO West Fife judoka are among the best in the Commonwealth after they each medalled at a prestigious event held last week.

Kirsty Lawson and Kirsty Marsh, as well as Lesley Corbett, were part of a 119-strong Judo Scotland squad that headed south of the border to Walsall for the 2019 Commonwealth Judo Championships, which took place from September 25-29.

Fighting across a range of categories, which included pre-cadet, cadets, seniors, veterans and visually-impaired, 945 competitors from across the globe were in action and Lawson and Marsh contributed towards their country's medal haul of 51, the third-highest behind England and India.

Inverkeithing High School pupil Lawson, in the pre-cadet (under-15) girls' -40kg class, showed tremendous resilience and skill to repeat her performance at the previous week's Highland Budokan Open in Inverness.

After scraping through a tight quarter-final against England's Amie McMurray, scoring the decisive wazari with 30 seconds to go with a secondary movement after her initial attack was rebuffed, she made an impressive start in her last-four clash with India's Ankitaben Naghera.

Despite dominating the grips, the West Fifer succumbed to an excellent throw-and-hold combination from her opponent, who went on to take the title.

That left Lawson to fight for bronze against another English competitor, Daya Kaur, and she regained her composure quickly to dominate the contest.

Two wazari throws, the first a skilful counter-attack, which was followed by a superbly-executed kouchi gari throw, saw her clinch a well-deserved medal, a feat that was almost matched by her fellow Inverkeithing High pupil, and Destination Judo Club member, Corbett.

She made the bronze-medal match in her -44kg category but, agonisingly, missed out on a podium place on shidos (penalty points) in an otherwise scoreless contest to finish in a respectable joint-fifth place.

Dalgety Bay's Marsh, 19, went into the competition aiming to make up for the disappointment of a tough European Universities Judo Championships in Zagreb, held the previous month.

Competing in the junior (under-21) girls' -57kg class, she was leading England's Isobel Kitchen after an improvised throw for wazari before she pinned her rival to the mat, a move that appeared to guarantee a semi-final place.

But, one second before a second wazari could be called, Kitchen managed to break free of the hold and made the most of her reprieve by catching the Edinburgh University student with a strangle technique as she sought to close out the fight.

That meant Marsh dropped into the penultimate round of the repechage competition but, with two quick ippon victories, she made amends for that defeat quickly to claim the bronze medal.

Meanwhile, in addition to Lawson and Corbett, several other West Fife judoka medalled at the Highland Budokan Open, which was the last round of the Judo Scotland Grand Prix competition.

Lewis Yates, who took gold in the AA Band boys' -30kg, and Elliot Yates, a silver-medallist in the -42kg class, continued their domestic seasons alongside Isaac Callaghan and Jacob Callaghan, who won A Band boys' -30kg bronze and senior men's -66kg silver respectively.

All competitors will now focus on a training block ahead of the Scottish Championships, which will be held at the beginning of November.