Keira Forsythe chasing 2024 Paris Paralympics points at European Para Taekwondo Championships

Keira Forsythe aims to use the European Para Taekwondo Championships in France on 30 June to strengthen her bid to qualify for the Paralympics.

She needs to earn 50 ranking points this year to reach the 2024 Games in Paris, with a maximum 10 usually on offer to tournament winners.

Forsythe, 25, won bronze at the Turkish Open in February and wants to build on that in Montargis this weekend.

"It's a medal that we won a fight for, so we'll take that," said Forsythe.

"It was a great start to get a bronze in Turkey, it's not what I went for but it's building blocks.

"Paris is obviously the main aim at the moment, I'm getting there, I'm 11th now. I need to be sixth by the end of this year.

"Hopefully by the Manchester Grand Prix final [in December], I'll know whether I'm going to the Games or not.

"I think qualification year is always going to be a big one, there's a lot of pressure but I put everything I can into training and hopefully it comes out on the mat.

"The pressure is good, nothing is achieved in your comfort zone, so we're definitely not in that zone this year."

Forsythe has been training full-time at the GB Taekwondo base in Manchester for a year, having spent the previous three years part-time.

"I spent a lot of time coming up to Manchester to try and get as much experience as I could," she said.

"I didn't drive so it was a lot of trains and I worked at Marks & Spencer on the weekend to try and fund all of that, but it's all paid off now but for three years it was quite the slog."

Forsythe had the lower part of her left arm amputated in March 2019 after being diagnosed with complex regional pain syndrome following an accident while out walking her dog, an injury that left her in pain for nearly seven years.

She had competed in taekwondo since she was young, winning a World Championship bronze in 2010 when she was 13 years old.

"I did able-bodied taekwondo for so many years as a kid, I loved it, I was obsessed with it you couldn't pull me away from that club," she said.

"When I had my accident, I was told taekwondo would never be an option again, so I get quite emotional every time I step on the ring now.

"I'm a huge disability advocate, I was lucky that although I was born able-bodied I was brought up in a household where we really admired Para-sport and to be able to do it myself, I love having that platform to show people that losing an arm meant I gained so much more in life.

"I lost weight but gained a whole new existence so to be able to show people that there's so much people can do with one arm is a privilege.

"I do hope this is a long-term career for me and we go beyond Paris and see what else we can smash."