Irvine Vineburgh Boxer Brooke Neely has been starring recently for club and country on the international stage on her competitive return.

The 16-year old had to bide her time over lockdown just like a lot of athletes as most sports were put on hold due to Covid restrictions.

The heavy contact element of the sport meant it was one of the last to come back to full training.

Despite a long time out, Brooke’s father Martin Neely says she was still working hard throughout the pandemic.

He said: “During lockdown she was unable to train at her gym so she put a punch bag in the back garden and trained out there every day.

“It kept her running up until the gyms opened back up.”

Since they have opened up again the young Ardrossan fighter has been back to full training both with Vineburgh and with Scotland.

As well as her loyalties to Vineburgh Brooke is also a full time member of the Boxing Scotland elite boxing group.

Martin says it has been some journey for his daughter who only started boxing less than a decade ago.

He said: “Brooke started boxing seven years ago, age nine, at Irvine Vineburgh Boxing club.

“She has always boxed there and is coached by Alec Mullen.

“She is also a full time member of the Boxing Scotland Elite Boxing group and now attends school part time so she can train four days a week at the high performance centre in Glasgow.”

As part of her Scotland duties she recently went out to Serbia to complete a training camp.

After that Brooke then competed in the Zagreb Open in Croatia.

She managed to reach the semi-final stage where she fought unbeaten polish number 1, Olivia Jakubcyk.

The Scot won in by unanimous decision to reach to the final, where she faced two time European champion , Layla Abdulatif.

Unfortunately, Brooke lost the final by a 3-2 split decision but her effort saw it awarded the bout of the tournament.

Last weekend, the youngster was in action once again in Birmingham, where she beat English number one, Frances Coope on points.