‘Absolutely immense’ - Parents’ pride as a South Shields eight-year-old is crowned a world karate champion
An eight-year-old from South Shields has become a world karate champion.
Gemma Archer, from South Shields, has spoken of her pride after her eight-year-old daughter, Daisy Archer, was crowned a world champion at the WKA World Karate Championships, in Malta.
Daisy, who is a member of Dokan Karate Club, only started karate training in January 2025 before taking part in her first competition in May last year.
Now less than 12 months later, Daisy has secured a world championship medal in her first international competition.
Gemma has revealed what it was like to see Daisy win on the international stage and thanked everyone who has helped on her karate journey so far.
The 38-year-old said: “She started in January 2025 and now she trains 13 hours a week - she seems to have a natural talent for it.
“We were quite quickly introduced to the competitive side of things and she won a medal in her first competition.
“Malta was the first international competition that we’ve attended so it was absolutely immense to see her win there, we couldn’t be anymore proud.
“We went over there not really expecting much, it was more for the experience of it but it really was something else.
“It is hard to put into words and it brought tears to my eyes.
“Daisy has been really humble with the full thing, when she went back into school after Malta, they held a presentation for her to show off her medals.
”We want to give a massive thank you to the club for all their work and also all the support that Daisy has received from friends and family.”