A 19-year-old who was put through her paces in the ring by a former world boxing champion is running her own club to help other young people.

Kiranjit Dhillon, 19, of Valentines Road, Ilford, has been nominated for the Exchange Ilford-sponsored Recorder/Redbridge Rotary Club Young Citizen Award for her tireless voluntary work.

The former Beal High School pupil, who wants to become a youth worker, teaches non-contact boxing techniques to young people at Frenford Clubs in The Jack Carter Centre, The Drive, Ilford.

She took the step after completing a training programme with Colin McMillan, a retired featherweight boxer who won British, Commonwealth and world titles during his career.

She said: “You have to reach a level of fitness, you have to push yourself to be the best you can be.

“It helped me. Being younger, I could be angry about things.

“It’s a really good way to channel your anger.”

The course, run by Redbridge CVS and which she started six months ago, led to a qualification from the Amateur Boxing Association.

For the last month, she has run her own group.

She teaches boxing skills such as punches, guards and footwork to six young people aged between 10 and 16, including three deaf children which requires a slightly different teaching technique.

Kiranjit said: “The challenges are when I explain something, I have to use hand signals.

“You have to ensure they understand something at all times and I get them to demonstrate it for me.”

She won a Young Safer Community Award in 2009 for work raising awareness of knife crime in Redbridge schools with the borough’s youth offending team.

And her volunteering commitments at Frenford Clubs extend to six days a week, including drawing up lesson plans, studying for a level two youth work qualification and taking part in bucket collections.