An Okehampton kickboxer has qualified to represent England in the Muay Thai kickboxing championships, which will be hosted by Canada in this year.

Sixteen-year-old Jason Breslin is set to travel to Canada in August but is now calling for help to cover the costs of the self-funded event.

He is hoping to raise £2,500 for the trip to the Muay Thai World Youth Games set to run from August 12-14.

Jason said: ‘The boxing organisation did youth try-outs not long ago. I got the place and they selected me to go to Canada for the World Youth Competition.

‘But I’ve done other competitions before. The last one was in Cork in Ireland and I won that one.’

Jason has been kickboxing since he was seven and got into the sport when his brother started practising.

He said: ‘First my older brother joined. Then a Thai boxing club started at the primary school so my brother went to that and found out about the kickboxing gym. My brother went there and then he got me into it.

‘When I started I wasn’t really sure it was my thing but I kept going and now I think I’ll keep going for quite a while and become professional.’

Jason trains at Okehampton’s renowned Muay Thai kickboxing club, Team Chaos, which can name 12-14 professionals among its ranks, including Christi Brereton, a multiple World Muay Thai champion and fighter.

Team Chaos coach Steve Pender, said: ‘I’m so proud of Jason. It will be quite rewarding. We are really looking forward to this year. The championships are normally in Malaysia or Thailand but this year it’s in Canada probably due to travel restictions.

‘I’ve been at the club since 2010 and been teaching Jason since he was nine. Hopefully he will move forward and become professional boxers.’

Another young Team Chaos kickboxer has also qualified for the championships. Seventeen-year-old Saoirse O’Driscoll has trained at the club since she was in her early teens and is also looking for extra funding to cover the cost of the trip.

So far, Jason has raised over £500 towards his goal and Saoirse over £900.

To give money to Saoirse and Jason visit their GoFundMe pages at www.gofundme.com/f/world-championship-in-canada or www.gofundme.com/f/get-saoirse-to-canada respectively.