Mandurah-based Muay Thai fighter and coach duo Shannon Gardiner and Chantel Green will represent Australia at the IFMA Youth World Championships this month.
The pair, who both train locally at True Grit Muay Thai, fly out to Bangkok this Sunday to take on the world.
Gardiner, who at 14-years-old is making her first appearance on the international stage, said she was thrilled to be fighting for her country.
“I’m really excited about it all – it’s great to be part of the team,” she said.
Gardiner has been training and competing in Muay Thai since she was eight, and was chosen to the Australian side after a number of trials and qualifying bouts.
“Shannon won the WA state title last year and needed to win gold at nationals to qualify for the team, which she did,” Green said.
“She’s trained really hard and really earned her spot in the Australian side.”
Gardiner is one of eight WA fighters to don the green and gold, which Green said was an astounding achievement for the state.
“This is the Commonwealth Games of Muay Thai – it doesn’t get any bigger,” she said.
“To have so many people, especially a Mandurah girl, representing the country is massive.”
Gardiner will need to cut two more kilograms off her weight to be allowed to compete.
“We fly out on Sunday which gives Shannon a few days to acclimatise to the conditions, weight classes and weather of Bangkok before she gets stuck into the competition,” Green said.
“There’s even a couple of different rules so it will be good to have those few extra days to get ready before she jumps in the ring.”
The championships will be Gardiner’s first time competing overseas, but the up and comer has trained in Thailand before.
“I went there to train a while ago and it really opened my eyes to how serious the sport is there,” she said.
“We also have some Thai trainers at our gym here so that makes the transition a bit easier.”
Green said a big focus on Gardiner’s training was to prepare her for the class of Thai professional juniors.
“Most Thai kids start competing at around eight-years-old, but we can’t start until the age of 12 in WA,” she said.
“So a lot of the kids have a big jump on Shannon, which we’ll have to work hard to bridge.”
The pair had to fundraise their own way over the to championships, and thanked for the Mandurah community for helping them achieve the goal.
“It was really good to see everyone lend us a hand, because this is a big thing for sport in the local area,” she said.
“Bowden Select Recruitment Company were especially generous in making sure Shannon got to compete.”