A TEENAGER has won a karate competition as part of a children’s television show.

Jedd Mann, 13, of The Limes, Rayleigh, spent three weeks learning the art in Japan with his dad Paul, 45, as part of the CBBC documentary Hai! Karate – Journey to Japan.

The programme was shown over ten weeks every Thursday at teatime. FitzWimarc School pupil Jedd had to live in a traditional Japanese hut, or dojo, while he learnt karate. His challenge was to get his first belt.

He achieved a yellow belt during the course of the lessons, and won the last challenge of the series, which was to perform a set of karate moves in synch with his dad.

Jedd was awarded a gold medal for his efforts, and his name was written on the wall of the dojo.

Jedd enjoys dancing in his spare time, which he thinks helped him learn karate moves.

He said: “I was really excited and really happy because me and my dad did it together, the whole journey. It was quite difficult.

“The culture in Japan is really different from England.

“When I found out I was going out there I was excited and a bit scared at the same time, because it is a long time to be away from my family.”

Glenda Canham, from the FitzWimarc School, said staff and pupils had been supporting Jedd all the way.

She said: “It was a great opportunity for pupils to have a chance at winning something like that and appearing on TV.

“Jedd is a very worthy winner and we were all rooting for him at the school – he thoroughly deserved it.”