Four athletes from APEX Taekwondo Club in Chadderton will compete at the prestigious Portugal G1 International Open on 25 July.
It’s an important tournament in the taekwondo world as fighters can earn valuable international ranking points which are needed to qualify for European and World Championships. 1,076 registered fighters are expected to compete.
Representing APEX at the competition are Danyaal Ahmed, 17, Zackariya Karim, 14, Inayah Tamoor, 12, and Aamina Tahir, 12.
Despite their young age, each athlete has competed in between 30 to 60 tournaments, and they take part in around 10 domestic events each year, including the National Championship, which is the UK's largest taekwondo tournament.
Zackariya Karim has won two National Championship bronze medals in the advanced division while Aamina Tahir is a two-time National Champion who remained undefeated throughout the 2025 competition season.
Inayah Tamoor has won two national bronze medals and two international medals. She is ranked 88th in the world.
“I fight to win. I feel like I have already come so far in taekwondo,” she said. “I want to go to the Olympics and become a coach when I am older.”
The young fighter, who has been training since 2021, added: “We train five days a week in the evening for three hours. Some Saturdays we have four-hour sessions.”
She said she wants to go to university, but it’s hard to balance training, school, mosque classes, and praying five times a day. She excels academically and wants to be a detective and solve crimes when she is older.
Rooji Karim, coach at APEX, said: “Inayah has fought the best fighter in her division and was under pressure in the first round. I encouraged her to go back in the ring, and she won the fight.
“Her opponent, the favourite in the division, was devastated to be defeated by an unknown fighter.”
Another club member, Danyaal, is a National Champion after winning the National Championships.
Coach Karim said his student is ranked in the top 200 in the world and is the leading athlete from 60 club members at APEX. Danyaal, he added, is in the top three in his division in the UK.
College student Danyaal said: “It’s challenging to juggle training and academic studies. I want to study dentistry, so whenever I’m not training, I’m studying. At the moment, I am doing A-levels in biology, chemistry and psychology.
“I motivate myself during a fight by looking at the scoreboard. I listen to my coach and the crowd and use that to help me,” he said.
“In five years, I want to achieve success. I want to be in Team Great Britain. I would like to compete at world level, and I wish for Olympic success too.”
The four athletes will travel to Portugal in a week, aiming to secure valuable ranking points and to test themselves against some of the best fighters in the world.
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