CHIPPENHAM kickboxer Annabelle Shoob will celebrate Christmas with more than her fair share of festive sparkle in tow after clinching her third World Ring Sports Association (WRSA) title of the year, writes DAN BARNES.

The 20-year-old beat Burntwood’s Dani Hodges in Bristol on December 6 to add the 55kg WRSA Pro Am Commonwealth title to the English and British belts she’d already got her hands on in 2014.

Shoob, who trains at the UKCBA gym in Evesham, has even more reason for New Year cheer as she looks forward to getting her new Chippenham Kickboxing Academy in Ivy Lane up and running in earnest.

“I’m not 100 per cent sure but I think that no other lady from Wiltshire has been a Commonwealth champion – it was a really tough fight but it’s been a great end to the year,” said Shoob.

“She (Hodges) came in as a last-minute opponent. It was seven rounds and I split her left eyebrow in the first.

“By the end of the third round, her right eye was almost completely closed and I busted her nose with a kick in the sixth too.

“I was trying my best to stop her but I didn’t manage to do that. She still kicked a lot, even though they weren’t really connecting, and I was still pretty nervous at the end.

“But I won on a unanimous decision – two of the judges scored it 7-0 and scored it 5-2. It’s the biggest win I’ve had.

“It’s my last day at my job (as a waitress) on Friday. I’ve only been doing two days a week at the gym but in the New Year, I’ll be doing things properly.

“To see what it looks like now is amazing.

“Before, the roof was hanging down and the place was a mess but now it’s fully- matted, with an eight-foot boxing ring and six or seven bags.”

Shoob is sponsored by DS Smith Packaging, of Devizes, and Wilsons Residential estate agents in Westbury.