A three man team of Thai boxers from Syria has arrived in Bradford to train and compete in professional bouts throughout Europe.

Ahmed Clelh, Yazid Al Haj Eid and Mohamed Adra, from Damascus, came to Bradford to compete because there are no professional contests in Syria.

Ahmad Clelh became World Super Heavy Weight champion in 2000 but since then he, like his team mates, has found it difficult to find opponents.

Frustrated at their lack of progress, the team decided to go for broke and move to Yorkshire for the next six months to gain recognition on the world stage.

The boxers will be based at the Mungsarin Thai Boxing gym, on Barry Street, under owner and trainer Nigel Fell.

Team captain Yazid Al Haj Eid said: "We have all spent our lives studying martial arts want to improve as fighters and hopefully start to gain titles. We also hope to gain more experience of fighting which we can then take back to Syria."

The trio's journey to Bradford has not come easily. Mr Al Haj Eid sold his home and his team mates worked in several jobs to pay for their passage to the UK.

Mr Al Haj Eid, 30, said: "Back home in Syria we all have a lot of commitments, making finding time to train difficult. Mohamed worked up to 20 hours a day in a gym and Ahmad worked in a factory by day and a gym by night.

"However now we are here our only commitment will be training.

"We chose to be based in Bradford as we wanted to work with Nigel, whom we were aware of via the internet, and because it is relatively cheap place to live in comparison to other UK cities.

"After we arrived we went walking around the city centre and were very impressed. Bradford has some excellent buildings and architecture."

The Mungsarin Gym, named after Mr Fell's mentor Master Paisiri Mungsarin, has been open for six years and has more then 30 full-time students on its books.

"I am looking forward to working with them," said Mr Fell.

"All three fighters have excellent ability and have a real chance of making a mark in the Thai Boxing world. It will also be good experience for our existing students to work with these boxers."

Thai Boxing is a form of kick boxing which uses feet, elbows, knees and fists, as well as elements of wrestling.