FIGHTING fit Jussy Lowe has been a striking a blow for Britain with her rapid rise up the ranks of the Thai boxing world.

The dedicated 26-year-old champion will act as an ambassador for the sport when she takes part in an international title fight in Turin next month and appears in a Channel 4 and US Discovery Channel documentary.

Jussy, who lives in Warthfold Road, Radcliffe, first got interested in the sport eight years ago. Now she is British and Commonwealth champion.

She explained: "Some friends were going to watch a fight in Bolton so I went along too and got hooked.

"It looked so exciting and I liked the self-defence and fitness aspects to it. When I was little my dad did karate so I've been around martial arts since childhood."

She began training under Sandy Holt, a gym owner who himself is a Thai Boxing title holder.

"At first there were only three girls but that number has now grown," she said.

"We get everyone from housewives to solicitors and young mums to nurses. I've actually been teaching classes for five years and am hoping to become the country's first full-time professional instructor." The former Coney Green High School pupil who, when not in the ring, works as a door supervisor at Bolton's Atlantis Nightclub, took part in her first competition back in 1994 and she won the fight.

Since then she has worked her way up from three rounds of 90 seconds to five rounds of two minutes.

Although she has won most of her 15 fights, Jussy's parents have never seen her in the ring.

"It would be too much pressure," she said.

"I would be worrying about them worrying about me and I wouldn't be concentrating properly on the fight. On top of which my mum would be in the ring with me if she saw me getting hit!"

The 3,000-year-old martial art is known as "the art and science of eight limbs", involving as it does hands, feet, knees and elbows. Opponents use sweeps, throws, elbows and punches.

"You are not allowed to elbow or knee the head for safety reasons," explained Jussy who has only been injured once when she got a burst nose.

A recent fight against the world's number one contender, two-fisted French fighter Florence De Larouche, was filmed for the forthcoming documentary, Female Gladiators.

Producers picked Jussy as the epitome of a modern day Roman fighters.

And as the cameras rolled she turned on the style to outclass her Gallic adversary, winning all five rounds of their battle to gain a comprehensive points victory.

But since she trains twice a day, six days a week as well as going running, her amazing levels of stamina should not be surprising.

Jussy is hoping the documentary will help raise the profile of the sport and encourage more people to participate and spectate.

She added: "I'm not a tomboy and I've still got my femininity. I know some people think it's wrong for women to fight, but that's just their opinion.

"Personally, I find it gives me confidence and although I've never had to use my skills in self-defence, they have helped me project positive body language which stops you becoming a victim."

The documentary is due to be shown on Channel 4 on Friday, April 23.