Taekwondo starlet Harleen Kaur set for senior bow in Germany
Thursday 12 January 2017 22:46, UK
Rising star Harleen Kaur will leave no stone unturned in her quest to achieve her Olympic taekwondo dream.
'Fighting Machine Harleen', is a 2nd Dan karate black belt and is already an accomplished mixed martial arts competitor, despite only turning 18 in November.
The Leeds-born teenager claimed British kickboxing gold in 2015, before winning a World Martial Kombat Federation [WMKF] -65kg silver medal in Malta on her World Championships debut, becoming the first British Asian female to represent Team England in the process.
Kaur is now focusing her efforts on taekwondo and is intent on following in the footsteps of Lutalo Muhammad and female fighters Jade Jones and Bianca Walkden, by representing Team GB at the Olympics.
"After trying a bit of everything I'm going down the taekwondo path and I want to follow Olympians like Lutalo Muhammad, Jade Jones and Bianca Walkden," Kaur told Sky Sports.
"They are all major inspirations for me and I was lucky enough to meet Bianca when I was competing at a taekwondo tournament in Liverpool.
"Next week, I'm competing at the German Open in Hamburg in my first major international taekwondo competition as a senior but the dream is to compete at an Olympics.
"That's what I aspire to do ultimately and I've got my eyes on 2024. I know what I want and I'm in this for the long-haul."
The Sikh fighter is part of the Sporting Equals Future Champions programme and was this week shortlisted for the organisation's Young Sportsperson of the Year award at the forthcoming British Ethnic Diversity Sports Awards.
"It's such a privilege to represent an organisation that does so much work to promote sport in Black and Minority Ethnic [BAME] communities, especially because we're all aware there is a shortage of BAME athletes in mainstream sport.
"I feel so honoured when people contact me asking me for advice on how they can get into martial arts and I want to do my utmost to work with the organisation to make a difference."
