A teenager from Chipping Norton is Oxfordshire's very own karate kid after beating 1,000 international competitors to become the world champion in his age group.

Azeem Qadir, 15, a pupil at Chipping Norton School, fought his way through a knockout tournament to win the six-day championships at Pisa in Italy.

The tournament, which ended last week, was Azeem's first overseas competition.

Earlier this year, he beat 108 hopefuls from all over Britain to become one of three members of the 14-16 age group team.

Azeem said: "It makes me proud to represent my country. I hope to keep fighting internationally in future."

The young karate star's toughest match was in the second round of the competition, when he was drawn against an Irish rival, but he scored a winning point in the last second of the fight.

In the final, he beat another competitor from Ireland 4-2 to take the trophy with his team-mates.

Azeem has taken part in karate competitions for the past seven years, but his instructor persuaded him to enter the international trials in June.

Since then, the team had trained hard to be ready for the competition.

He said: "We trained every day for the whole of the summer, for about one-and-a-half hours a day."

Although he has to take time off school to compete, Azeem claims his friends are not at all jealous of his world class talents. He said: "They all think it's quite cool."

Azeem said the school was very supportive of his achievements, giving him a grant towards equipment and travel, which has helped him to take part in competitions.

Chris Davies, head of year 11, said: "Azeem is an example to all students - bright, academic, hardworking. He's a smashing young man."

Azeem's next international competition will be in February.

School friend David Bunyan also took part in the championships. He entered the tournament despite breaking his hand just days before it started.

He battled through the pain barrier for two fights, but unfortunately lost them both. He said it had been a fantastic experience.

The 15-year-old black belt, from Chipping Norton, said: "It was good fun, but quite tiring. It was hard with the injury. In the first fight I couldn't even make a proper fist, but in the second one it was a bit better."

He said he hoped karate would one day be recognised as an Olympic sport and that he could win a gold medal for Great Britain.