Alexandria taekwondo ace Jaimie Singleton has secured her place in the Team Scotland squad for next year’s European Championships.
The 20-year-old will travel to Romania for the showcase after coming through a gruelling selection process.
And for Jaimie, who juggles the martial art with studying Zoology at the University of Glasgow and working part-time, it marks a remarkable achievement at a busy stage in life.
Proud mum Lorna said: “When she first got selected for Scotland back in 2019 she wasn’t able to go because of Covid.
“There’s never a guarantee when you move forward that you’ll be chosen with the ever-changing new standard of competitors coming through.
“It was a really tough session of about six or seven hours for selection.
“They didn’t find out right away, and then there was a bit of a delay with the letters being issued. It was two weeks before Jaimie found out that she had been chosen.
“She’ll be competing in three individual events; sparring, special techniques and power. And she’s been selected for the team sparring event as well.
“She’s going through her uni exams at the moment, so there’s the pressure of that while waiting to see if she’s been selected.
“We were then away to Ireland for a competition too, so she was just trying to get on with university life and competition life while she was waiting.”
Jaimie didn’t let the pressure show at the prestigious ITA Irish National Taekwondo Championships in Limerick, picking up the award for the most successful female fighter.
And a packed schedule ended with two more achievements – as Jaimie became Claymore Cup champion and starred on a boxing-style night of competition.
The Claymore success has allowed the former Vale of Leven Academy pupil – who is entirely reliant on her own funding – to up her preparations for next year’s Europeans.
Lorna explained: “It’s the first one they’ve ever held where there was a financial prize, and it pulled people in. There were teams over from Germany and Sweden.
“Everyone wanted a crack at winning the money.
“She fought everyone in a league format and she was crowned as the ultimate winner.
“She was very, very pleased with that. It’s a massive boost to her finances for Romania.
“The cheque means that she can look at doing another competition to prepare for the European Championships. It’s money that we didn’t have.
“She’d like to get as many international competitions in the bag before Romania as possible, but ultimately it all comes down to the finances.
“The only one we’ve got in the diary is the Dutch Open in January. There are competitions over February and March that might now be an option, it would be great for her to get as much mat time as possible before going to the high level events.”
