Aaliyah Powell from Huddersfield is a World Junior Taekwondo champion.
The 15-year-old from the Quest Taekwondo club took gold in the Junior World Championships in Hamammet, Tunisia – a Youth Olympic Games qualification event.
Already GB Taekwondo Junior Athlete of the Year, Aaliyah was up against one of the best taekwondo athletes in the world, from Thailand, in the final.
Despite eight matches in the space of a few days, Aaliyah proved unstoppable.
She dominated all three rounds of the final, outclassing her opponent and winning by an incredible 21-5.
So Aaliyah is world champion in only her second year of competition in the Junior age category - and she is now being tipped for big things while preparing for the Youth Olympics.
Aaliyah thanked her GB coaches and support staff at the event, and also her club coach Mike Mckenzie, the Quest support team and her strength and conditioning coach Tashan Gabriel.
“I would like to say a special thank you to Sportsaid, Quest Taekwondo and everyone who has supported my fundraising,” said Aaliyah, adding a massive thank you to her parents.
“Without this help it would not be possible for me to compete. I am extremely grateful.”
Aaliyah is training hard in the hope of being selected to represent Team GB at the Youth Olympic Games later in the year.
Though still only 15, she could qualify for events next year which will potentially see her make the GB Team or the Tokyo Olympic Games.
Coach Mckenzie said: “We are a leading nation in Women’s Taekwondo with double Olympic gold medalist Jade Jones MBE and double World Champion Bianca Walkden.
“In my opinion, Aaliyah has the potential to match or even surpass their achievements!”
The Youth Olympic Games is for Under 18s and is a multi-sport event just like the Olympics.
In 2010, Jade Jones won gold in the Youth Olympics and went on to win gold at London 2012.
Aaliyah was competing in the Under 49kg division for the Youth Olympic qualifier which, in itself, was quite a challenge as she contested the Under 46kg division at the Junior Worlds – giving her a weight disadvantage to go with her age disadvantage (she was considerably younger and less experienced than many of her opponents at both events).
Coached by Olympian Mike Harvey, Aaliyah had to make it to the last eight (out of 56 nations) to qualify for Argentina.
The draw looked incredibly difficult with her first match against Serbia.
Serbia is one of the top nations for Women’s Taekwondo and their coach Dragan Jovic won the World Taekwondo Coach of the Year award 2017.
On paper it looked an impossible task considering Aaliyah had under performed at the Dutch Open Championships.
Lessons learned at that event plus early-morning training meant that not only did Aaliyah defy the odds but she did it in style, defeating her Serbian opponent 22-15.
Her next match was Bulgaria and she continued to perform at the top of her game, winning 12-5.
Another win would guarantee qualifcation for GB in the Youth Olympics, and she destroyed an Austrian 27-0.
Aaliyah was then drawn against Rim Bayaa, the 2016 World Junior silver medalist from Sweden, in the quarter finals and, despite being underdog, Aaliyah won 25-9 - making her the highest scoring athlete of the whole turnament.
Unfortunately, she picked up a knee injury in the victory, so pulled out of the quarter-finals with a bronze medal to concentrate on going for gold in the Worlds.
Aaliyah, who won a silver medal at the European Championships in 2017, is now hoping the GB selectors will pick here for the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires.
Andrew Deer, GB Development Coach, took over the coaching responsibilities for the Worlds, and Aaliyah stopped her first opponent from the Philippines in the second round, after she achieved an insurmountable 20-point gap. The final score was 29-9.
Next up was another strong Asian nation Vietnam, and again Powell defied the odds, destroying her opponent 29-7.
Aaliyah swept aside the Russian favourite 26-6 and, suddenly, crowds of athletes started to follow her progress.
Her semi-final was against a tall competitor from the hosts, Tunisia, and it was tough, but she won the contest 15-7 to book that place in the final, where she won.
