IT wasn’t to be for Barrhead karate star Niamh Junner after she was knocked out in the second round of the U21 European Karate Championships in Aalborg, Denmark last week.

The 17-year-old, who was representing Scotland at the competition in Denmark, successfully navigated her way through the first round as she eased past Slovakian youngster Sara Krivdova 2-0.

Niamh was left frustrated in her second round match, however, as she fell to a narrow loss against French fighter Wassila Ouadahi.

There were some harsh lessons for the Shitokai Club member who was 3-1 up with little more than 30 seconds remaining as she eyed a spot in the third round.

Rather than defending her lead, Junner sensed an opportunity to go on the attack and left herself open to a counter which handed Ouadahi three points to edge ahead.

The Barrhead teenager was cruelly denied a point in the final seconds after the referee deemed her scoring effort ‘contact’ meaning she hit her opponent too hard which resulted in a warning rather than the winning point.

As Junner scored first in the match, a 4-4 draw would have seen her progress to the next round.

Despite the narrow loss, the Scotland National team head coach was pleased with the youngster’s performance.

There is no rest for Niamh as she now sets her sights on the Latvian Open in March before the Scottish Open and World Youth League in May.