Dumbarton’s Maia Bisley enjoyed more success on the biggest stage with six medals at the Kickboxing World Cup in Hungary.
The talented 13-year-old won four golds and two silvers at the Budapest showcase including victories in the teams, points -50, light-contact -55 and kick light -50 categories.
And proud mum Kim told the Lennox that the opposition the dedicated Dumbarton Academy pupil faced was as fierce as anything she had come up against before.
She said: “It was a really high level competition with more than 3000 athletes from 45 countries. It was a massive event with some huge categories. There were 37 competitors in one of Maia’s categories.
“She got gold in the -50 points class, which is the category she will compete in for Great Britain later this year.
“The level of athletes at the competition was incredible. It was an incredibly high level of competition and she was awesome.
“A lot of the girls were bigger than Maia, who is 5’5 herself. But she’s incredibly fit and fast. She was able to get away from people who were coming at her, and was able to strike back.
“Sometimes you travel a big distance and Maia doesn’t have many fights, but in a competition like Hungary you know you really have to earn it.”
And despite suffering defeat in the -55 points final, Kim said Maia felt no disappointment in losing to a fighter who is also one of her closest friends – and had focused her training on defeating Maia before the duo head to a training camp together next month.
“She only lost it by two points to a Greek girl who is the daughter of the head coach from the Greek team.
“Each year we go to the Greek training camp in the summer which he runs.
“Maia beat her in Austria and they fight in a very similar way.
“It was a really close fight, and when they went to the podium Stewart spoke to her dad. He said she’d spent four weeks training on how to beat Maia. She knew she couldn’t come to the event and not beat Maia if she was going to win.
“She knew she needed to fight a different way. So she spent four weeks specifically training to beat Maia, which is amazing.
“They are best buddies off the mats, and it can only help to push them both on to a higher standard. And if she was going to lose out to anyone then it was nice to lose to her.”
Before the summer training camp Maia is turning her attention to a different discipline, as she competes in Taekwondo.
Kim added: “Maia’s going to Cardiff to compete in Taekwondo at the end of this month and then in July she’s off to the Greek training camp. Her gran is coming with us for some quality time with us as well, which will be really nice.
“Maia has some friends from her clubs Braveheart Martial Arts and Edinburgh Wolfpack going to that, as well as a girl she’s friendly with from the Italian teams, so it should be a great opportunity.”
You can follow Maia’s progress on Facebook.com/Maia-Bisley-Fighter-103649549056446/ or on Instagram @Maia_Bisley_Fighter.
