Valentina Barbosa, of Ashburnham Road, has already achieved a green belt in the martial art, at the tender age of five, despite only going to karate classes for 18 months. She has achieved four different coloured belts before progressing to green.

Her proud mum, Kelly Allen, said: "Valentina has done very well. We think this is a massive achievement for her age and want to share how proud we are of her with everyone. She started when she was just three years old and her teachers at Sama Karate said right from the beginning that she was good at it for her age. She has flown through the different belts quite quickly."

The five-year-old trains with her older brother Maxim twice a week.

Her mother said: "Valentina enjoys karate and is very well coordinated for her age.

"We have no doubt that she will have achieved her black belt before reaching secondary school."

The schoolgirl, who goes to Blacklands School with her seven-year-old brother, took up the Japanese martial art to follow in his footsteps.

"I got Maxim into karate so he could learn how to stand up for himself and become more confident," Ms Kelly said.