Taekwondo can be roughly translated from the Korean as "the way of the foot and fist", which makes it sound like a natural activity for anybody who was brought up on a diet of Bruce Lee

Yet both Scotland's competitors in the British Team at the European Championships, which commence in St Petersburg today, are intelligent females, who stress that discipline, technique and athleticism matter more than brute force.

Both will be pushing for podium positions when the Olympic Games finally roll into London in 2012.

Carla Summerhill, at 22 a year older than her compatriot, Louise Mair, followed what many consider an unusal route into elite participation. She picked up her black belt at the age of 18 and went to study medicine in Edinburgh University before returning to the martial art and serving notice of her ability.

"I've been interested in it since I was 14, but I had to concentrate on my studies. I never walked away from taekwondo entirely, but you have to be very committed to it, because there is an awful lot of competition for places and you can't be half hearted about it," says Summerhill who hails from Glasgow's Jordanhill and is a part of a GB squad which is aiming to to improve on the haul of four medals they secured at the last Europeans.

"This will be the biggest event I have been involved in to date, but I have been competing in Europe throughout the season and think I hvae done well enough that I can realistically strive for a medal (in the 57Kg class) on Thursday. The standard is very high in the sport, and obviously most are determined to gain a place at the 2012 Olympics, although my focus is probably more on qualifying for the 2016 Games.

"But this is an exciting time for Taekwondo, and I won a bronze at the Dutch Open earlier in the season (in March), so if I perform to the best of my ability, I have no doubts that I can challenge for a medal here"

"Here" is the Yubileyny complex in St Petersburg, which will feature four days of intesnse action between participants from across the continent, including the Spaniards and Turks, both of whom finished within the top 5 nations at last years World Championships.

"I know I still have a lot to learn, but I won a bronze at the last Europeans and all of us in the British squad want to build on past results and really lay down a marker for the next Olympics", says Mair, from Elgin who is vying for honours in the 49Kg category.

"Taking part in London is my main goal in the long term, but we have put a lot of work into preparing for the Euros and I wont to go out on Wednesday and show the improvements I have made since last time"

The pair are more cerebral than the majority of sports stars and appreciate that rash moves get you nowhere in Taekwondo. They don't expect to be household names in Scotland any time soon, but we will be hearing plenty from them in the future.