Kick-boxing: Couple get a kick out of world event

Capital kick-boxing couple Kevin Baldwin and fiancee Natasha Walker are hoping to have £5000 towards their wedding fund after the world championships take place at Meadowbank starting this weekend.

After two days of preliminaries competition starts in earnest on Monday culminating in men's and women's open events worth, respectively, 3000 and 2000.

Kevin, who runs the Edinburgh Martial Arts College at Abbeyhill, says: "The open competition brings together the best contenders at every weight.

"I'm competing in the men's over-90kg semi-contact points scoring event and hopefully can win my way through to a crack at the blue riband.

"Natasha must have particularly high hopes having been forced to withdraw last year only to see a girl she defeated in her weight category go on to take the open prize."

This time round Natasha will be seeking the under-65kg points scoring title.

Kevin added: "It would be great to complete a household double and any prize money would go towards our wedding which is planned for Easter 2012."

Kevin and Natasha couldn't believe their good fortune when Edinburgh beat off a Greek application to stage the event in the UK for the first time just a few hundred yards from their club. Organiser Andy McCracken feels that as well as exposure for kick boxing, there will be other benefits in the form of specialist equipment that is brought in and left behind in Scotland. He said: "A total of between 1200 and 1600 entries have been received from 50 countries. There will also be around 120 Scots.

Competition will get underway from 9am on Monday with the finals being staged from Wednesday to Friday.