OKEHAMPTON’S Chantelle Tippett, aged just 16, has once again been chosen to represent the UK in the martial art of Muay Thai Boxing.

Chantelle trains at the Chaos Muay Thai Fitness and Competition Gym in Okehampton. She made the trip to Manchester last month to participate in a tournament run by the UKMF (United Kingdom Muay Thai Federation) and became British champion, for the fourth consecutive year.

Out of 270 participants who took part in the tournament, seven have been selected to represent the UK at the IFMA (International Feder-ation of Muay Thai Amateur) Youth World Championships in Bangkok between August 3 and 11 with Chantelle the only girl.

Tommy Collins, IFMA team co-ordinator on behalf of the UKMF executive board, said: ‘The overall standard of each competitor at the trials was very high but it was felt these students excelled above that standard in many aspects. For example, exceptional skill, determination and consistency.’

Chantelle competed in the IFMA World Games 2014 in Malaysia and the IFMA Royal World Cup 2015 in Bangkok, bringing home a bronze and a silver medal.

After more than 50 junior fights, she has recently turned professional and is currently ranked at number six in the adult rankings with an impressive record of six wins and no losses.

With selection to represent the UK under her belt ,Chantelle is now looking forward to the challenge in the Youth World Championships in Thailand in August.

She told Times Sport:?‘ ’I cannot express how excited I am to be representing the UK in Thailand.

‘I am training hard twice a day and will be doing my best to bring the gold medal home.’

In December 2016, the martial art of Muay Thai received provisional recog-nition as an Olympic sport and can apply to become part of the Olympic Games sports programme after three years.

Muay Thai is an organisation with 135 national federations. Nearly 60 are recognised by their national Olympic committees and have nearly 400,000 registered athletes.

Unfortunately, this means that Chantelle is still unable to secure full funding and is now looking to raise the money required to pay for return flights for her and her mother to Thailand in just a few weeks.

Chantelle is appealing to any Times Sports’ readers who may be able to support her. Please contact 07879514051.