History made as Brad winsWorld Championship gold

Doncaster’s Bradly Sinden was crowned Britain’s first male able-bodied taekwondo champion at the World Championships in Manchester.

Sinden, from Stainforth, came from behind to defeat Javier Polo Perez of Spain and win the men’s -68kg title.

The 20-year-old, who had won world bronze on his debut two years ago, showed maturity beyond his years as he pulled away with a series of accurate body shots in the final round.

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He follows in the footsteps of another Doncaster raised taekwondo star, former double world champion, Sarah Stevenson.

“It must be something we drink in Doncaster,” said Sinden after a thrilling 24-21 win.

“We are certainly a force to be reckoned with.

“Sarah showed me I could do what I wanted if I put my mind to it. But it’s a credit to my mum on how she raised me and kept me on the right track.

“I might be kicking off at home saying I didn’t want to go to training after a bad comp. She would just say ‘okay’ but obviously knew I would because I loved the sport too much.”

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Welshman Matt Bush took the Para world title in Turkey earlier this year.

Now Sinden has claimed the prize many teammates had tried and failed to achieve including coach Martin Stamper, a bronze medallist in 2011.

“I want everyone to be their best in each weight category and we want to show how dominant GB is at the sport. But to bring it home for the boys is amazing,” he said.

“To become world or Olympic champion is a dream come true. Hopefully, I can do both because that’s what I am here to do.”

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Sinden won five fights on Thursday including an epic semi-final win over South Korean legend Dae-hoon Lee.

“I beat Lee in the Grand Slam (last December) but then missed out on golden point in the final. I wasn’t going to let that happen again. I was here to take the gold and I have.”

Fellow Doncaster fighter Mason Yarrow reached the last eight at -54kg on his senior world championship debut.

He enjoyed two excellent early wins before losing to South Korea’s Jun-Seo Bae.

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“He is a good fighter but I wasn’t good enough,” said Yarrow.

“The first round just took the match out of my hands. I let him dictate the match instead of focusing on my game.

“After that, I started to open up a little more and began to get caught.

“It was an amazing experience but it’s just so disappointing it came to an end like this.

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“I am still young and there are a lot of tournaments ahead. So, hopefully, I can do better next time.”

Yarrow made his senior bow by knocking out 2019 African Championship bronze medallist Amine Elharmazi of Morocco 33-13. He followed up with a 26-4 win against Egyptian Moaz Nabil.