At the recently concluded World Taekwondo Championships under 21, Benjamin Husić and Ada Avdagić made history for Bosnian and Herzegovina’s taekwondo by winning bronze medals.
The two excellent wins at the World Championships held in Kenya are the greatest success of this sport in our country, considering that Bosnia and Herzegovina has not won a world medal so far, the Taekwondo Federation of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina announced.
“Taekwondo has been at the top of BiH sports in recent years, as confirmed by all the elections of the athlete of the year in our country during that period. From a wider circle of young athletes, we now see, in addition to Nedžad Husić, 4-5 of them who will have serious plans for the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, and among them are certainly Ada and Benjamin,” said the president of the TKDS FBiH Samir Šarić, emphasizing that after 50,000 BAM this year, he has already saved 100,000 BAM, which will be available to athletes from January 1, 2026, when the new competition season begins.
Although the European Grand Prix for cadets and juniors ended last weekend in Sarajevo, which will be hosted by the capital of our country for the next two years, Šarić revealed that next year the TKDS FBiH will be the technical organizer of another competition.
“Three days ago, a session of the Board of Directors of the European Taekwondo Union was held in Sarajevo, at which we were entrusted with the organization of the European Club Championship – emphasized Šarić, and then he gave the floor to the creators of the greatest success of BiH taekwondo.
Ada Avdagić was free in the first round in the category up to 53 kilograms, and in the next round she convincingly triumphed against the favored Korean Siwoo Kim with a score of 2:0 (13:1, 22:14). With a victory against Erika Karabeleva from Bulgaria in the quarterfinals with a score of 2:0 (18:6, 13:10), she secured a place among the top four competitors and a historic medal for BiH.
“The moment I realized that I had secured a medal, I started to cry, I was overwhelmed with emotions, but so was my coach. “The whole day was very emotional,” said Avdagić, who lost to Iranian Mobina Nematzadeh in the final.
Although he was not accompanied by his father and coach Haris Husić at the World Championships, Benjamin Husić showed why he is one of the most promising athletes in our country.
“I have only been a senior since this year. That is why this medal has a special meaning for me, especially because at the age of 18 I was one of the youngest participants in this World Championship,” said Benjamin Husić, emphasizing that the fights were very intense from start to finish.
“There was no stopping, from start to finish. In the end, injuries contributed to that semifinal defeat, but third place in the world certainly meets my expectations and what I was hoping for before leaving for Kenya,” added the bronze medalist from the World Championships in the -74 kg category.
Benjamin’s father and coach admitted that it was not easy to watch everything on the broadcast during the breaks between fights at the European Grand Prix.
“I couldn’t go to the World Championships under 21 because I used my days off for the World Championships in China. We all have our own jobs, we don’t do this professionally. It’s not easy when you are both a father and a coach, and when you are just a coach. “It’s especially hard to bear if you’re not competing,” said Husić Sr., adding that the results achieved will greatly facilitate Benjamin and Ada’s path to the Grand Prix program, which is extremely important for all those who aspire to the 2028 Olympic Games.
Otherwise, Husić was replaced on the bench by Gzim Nući, who, together with Ibrahim Kolja, formed the coaching tandem of our team, the third member of which, in addition to Ada Avdagić and Benjamin Husić, was Muhamed Đonko, who managed to get through the first round, but unfortunately not the next round where he was defeated by the representative of Tunisia.
“The competition was extremely strong. There were world and Olympic medalists there, and I think this result by Ada and Benja deserves great respect. “I must say that the fact that Benjamin’s medal has certainly had a positive impact on us, and I believe that these young athletes are ready to achieve even better results in the future,” said Ibrahim Kolja, Ada Avdagić’s coach, at the end of the press conference held on the occasion of the medals won at the U21 World Championships.
In the coming days, his bronze medalists from the World Championships are expected to compete at the U21 European Championships, which is being hosted by Kosovo.
