BRADFORD continues to impress the world in the fighting scene, after five Jiu-Jitsu youngsters became world champions.

Gracie Barra Bradford took twelve competitors to Wolverhampton for the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) Junior World Championships, earning five golds, two silvers and five bronzes.

Young martial art stars from all over the globe came to the Midlands for the tournament, with 1600 entries from 20 different countries.

There were a host of success stories from the Bradford contingent, including one youngster who joined the sport because he wanted to become a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.

Evan Duncan, who is one of eight Junior UK Ambassadors for the Gracie Organisation, won all major titles available to him last year.

In Wolverhampton he carried on that success, by bringing home gold for the second year in a row.

The 13-year-old has already won National and British titles this year - as he did in 2018 - and will look to make it a clean sweep again at the European Championships in September.

Gracie Barra Bradford also brought along three sets of sibling duos to the tournament.

Both 10-year-old Nina and seven-year-old Marco Pensavalle were competing at the same time on opposite mats, meaning parent duties were split.

Jiu-Jitsu has become a family affair for the group, with the competitors' parents and eldest sibling Lucy now joining the crew and earning themselves white belts.

It was joy for all come the end of the fights too with Marco picking up a gold after dominating three separate opponents.

Nina succumbed at the last to a very strong opponent and never gave up, ending in a well-earned silver medal.

Meanwhile, brothers Mohammed and Aryan Ali had just moved up a belt prior to the tournament.

This meant they faced fights against other youngsters who could have up to three more years experience than them.

Both dug deep though, with Mohammed bagging a bronze and Aryan earning a silver after winning his fight on points.

The final set of siblings to compete under the Gracie Barra Bradford banner were Ismail and Ishaq Ali.

Ismail fought with a never-say-die attitude, despite fighting in one of the toughest categories.

In the end, victory was just out of his grasp, but Ishaq made up for it with a double medal haul of his own.

The youngster - described as having a blend of natural talent and strong work ethic - had been winning all his fights prior to the World Championships, so was entered in a higher category.

Ishaq didn't disappoint, securing the world title.

The plucky fighter was pushed one step further then, as he was entered in the Absolute Division, where opponents can be of any size.

But once again, Ishaq could not be fazed and battled to earn a bronze.

There was further gold success with Paddy Thompkins, who impressively managed to come through a mammoth division of 24, which was littered with previous champions.

It took him five fights before he could call himself the world champion.

Elsewhere, Logan Hall managed a bronze in just his fourth ever competition.

The 12-year-old - who fell love with the sport instantly - managed to battle nerves to demonstrate all he had been taught in the past seven months to get his reward.

Eliza Conley is also relatively new to the competition scene, with this just her second after losing some confidence from a collar-bone injury.

But the 14-year-old took the plunge and came away with a bronze for her efforts.

Kian Ballester was also a bronze medalist, winning two fights for the gong which will sit alongside his title as British champion.

Finally, the club's most seasoned competitor, Hayden Quirke - who is just nine-years-old - looked to add to his current titles of European, British and National champion.

Despite owning the largest medal collection at the gym though, Hayden was stopped by the referee after his competitor got him into an arm bar.

There was a further gold medal for Gracie Barra Bradford as well.

Club coach Sam McGinty said: "It's absolutely fantastic, these competitions started five years ago and the level has gone up every single year.

"We started the club four or five years ago.

"The reason was we just wanted kids to get better at life skills."