A FOURTEEN-year-old Okehampton Muay Thai boxer returned home from the recent IFMA Royal World Cup in Thailand with a bronze medal round her neck after representing Team GB.

Okehampton College student Chantelle Tippett was selected to represent Team GB after qualifying at last year’s UKMF British Championships.

She was pleased to have won the bronze medal but the trip was mostly about her being able to go to the Sumalee Boxing Gym in Phuket to train.

Her mother Lisa said: ‘It is most Muay Thai boxers’ dream to train in Thailand and Chantelle spent the first two weeks training in Phuket then met up with her team mates for the competition in Bangkok, which took place over ten days.

‘The world cup is like the Thai boxing equivalent of the Olympics, so there were more than 100 countries that took part.

‘But it was mainly about her being able to train in Thailand, she hasn’t ever trained there before. She got up everyday to an alarm and had two hours of training in the morning, a private lesson during the day and two hours of training in the evening. It was a lot of hard work and dedication. She already wants to do it again.’

Chantelle got into Muay Thai boxing when she was ten at a session in a small village hall and now holds regional, English, British and European titles, fighting out of Chaos Muay Thai Fitness and Competition Gym in Okehampton.

She won a silver medal in the World Amateur K1 Baltic Open in 2013 and became Celtic Junior World Champion the same year. Last year she was chosen to represent Team GB in the IFMA World Games and came home with the silver medal. She has already qualified for Team GB next year at the IFMA World Cup in Sweden.

A spokesperson from Chaos Muay Thai Fitness and Competition Gym, said: ‘We are incredibly proud of Chantelle’s achievements and how far she has come in such little time of training, since she started practising with us in 2011 in the village hall of Northlew to now competing on the world stage and representing her country in her weight category. It’s a remarkable story!’