Blackburn schoolboys win gold medals at World Taekwondo Championships

Cousins Samuel Edmondson and Adam Berisha, from Blackburn, were in the England squad for the International Taekwondo Federation Union (ITF Union) World Championships, held in Buenos Aries last week.

Beanland team members with their world championship medals (Image: Public)

And after competing in several different sections, both boys have been crowned world champions.

Samuel is now a patterns world champion gold medallist after winning his section, and the nine-year-old also won silver when he came in second place for sparring.

While Adam, 10, walked away with a bronze medal for patterns and a gold medal for sparring – making him the sparring world champion in his section.

Beanland taekwondo (Image: Public)

Samuel’s mum, Kathryn Edmondson, said she is “super proud” of the boys, who both also hold a first degree black belt.

Kathryn said: “We are super proud of them and they are just two of 33 people in the UK who were chosen for the England squad.

Adam winning sparring (world champion) (Image: Public)

“We travelled to Argentina and it was surreal just being there. When the competition started it was just a huge rollercoaster of emotions - we went with no expectations at all as we were already super proud of the boys for just getting chosen to represent their country.

“To go and then win their sections just made it even more incredible.”

The boys, who attend Holy Souls RC Primary School and Shadsworth Junior School, travel to Beanland Taekwondo, in Keighley, West Yorkshire, to train, and have been at the centre for around five years, putting in 20 hours a week on top of their regular school work.

Samuel winning gold (Image: Public)

Mrs Edmondson added: “We are so proud of them. The boys have a great support system around them, including their instructor, Master Chris Beanland, Mr James Waddington and Master Lee Hollingsworth, who worked hard with the boys to get them to the level they are now at, we are super grateful to them always.”

Samuel and Adam with the England coach Master Lee Hollingsworth (Image: Public)

The England team, which consisted of 25 competitors, won a total of 32 medals at the World Taekwondo Championships, including 11 golds, nine silvers, and 12 bronzes.