Riaz Amin ( bn, রিয়াজ আমিন; born 27 February 1998) is an English martial artist who practices

Shotokan is a style of karate, developed from various martial arts by Gichin Funakoshi (1868–1957) and his son Gigo (Yoshitaka) Funakoshi (1906–1945). Gichin Funakoshi was born in Okinawa and is widely credited with popularizing "karate do" throug ...

Karate and Filipino Martial Arts. He is the current World Escrima-Kalis-Arnis Federation (WEKAF) World Championships world champion.

Early life

Amin was born in

Tower Hamlets The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London borough covering much of the traditional East End. It was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former metropolitan boroughs of Stepney, Poplar, and Bethnal Green. 'Tower Hamlets' was originally ...

, London, England and is a third generation

British Bangladeshi British Bangladeshis ( bn, বিলাতী বাংলাদেশী, Bilatī Bangladeshī) are people of Bangladeshi origin who have attained citizenship in the United Kingdom, through immigration and historical naturalisation. The term c ...

. He attended

Coopers' Company and Coborn School The Coopers' Company and Coborn School is a secondary school and sixth form with academy status, located in Upminster area of the London Borough of Havering, England. Admissions The school is (since 2005) a non-selective school described by O ...

Martial arts career

At the age of five, Amin started martial arts in

Karate with Alton Brown (2nd Dan) and Joe Anderson (7th Dan) of Toyakwai Karate Association. He then started competing at local, national and international competitions. He won various gold medals such as The English Open and Southern Regional Championships. At the age of 11, he achieved his 1st Dan black belt. At the age of 13, he started learning Filipino Martial Arts (FMA) at the FMA Academy under Shamim Haque and Abjol Miah. Haque teaches Amin the deadly blade art 'Kalis Ilustrisimo'. Since starting karate, Amin has competed in many major competitions. In 2008, he took Gold, Silver and Bronze in the Malta Four Nations International Open Championship organised by SKSM Karate Malta, and came 4th in the Funakoshi World Championships. In 2009, he won Gold in the European Karate Federation (EKF) International, Essex Grand National Open Championship and Capital Open Championship. On 2 December 2012, at the age of 14, Amin entered his first full contact tournament at the British World Escrima-Kalis-Arnis Federation (WEKAF) Tournament and became the Single Stick Cadet fighter of the day British champion. In July 2014, Amin became a Cadet's squad member for Great Britain and was given the opportunity to compete in the WEKAF World Championships in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, Hungary. The fighting style encompasses many forms and is based around the Filipino martial-arts based system, and he was involved in hand-to-hand combat. He entered three events, the double, single and soft stick/first strike, and won medals in each category. He beat a Hungarian opponent in the final to become the world champion. From 2005 to 2014, he has fought in more than 50 tournaments. He now trains in karate under Alton Brown, Raphael Veras and others from the England Karate Squad. In September 2014, Amin was interviewed by Nadia Ali on

BBC Asian Network BBC Asian Network is a British Asian radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station's target audience is people "with an interest in British Asian lifestyles", especially British Asians between the ages of 18 and 34. The station has ...

Honours

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Amin, Riaz 1998 births Living people English Muslims English people of Bangladeshi descent English male karateka English eskrimadors Shotokan practitioners Sportspeople from London People from the London Borough of Tower Hamlets People educated at Coopers' Company and Coborn School bn:রিয়াজ আমিন

Early life

Martial arts career

Honours

See also

References

External links