SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) — LSUS business student and Shreveport native Layla Arendell brought home two gold medals and a bronze at the 2025 International Taekwon-do Federation Union World Championships earlier this month.

The 19-year-old third-degree black belt won gold in sparring and specialty board breaking, along with a bronze in patterns, competing in the women’s black belt division (ages 18-35) in the 50-55 kilogram class.

“Honestly, I didn’t do much training in sparring compared to patterns,” Arendell said in a news release. “I expected my opponents to be very aggressive in sparring, and they were. I worked on moving, getting out of the way, then countering.”

Arendell represented the United States among more than 26 competing countries, joining athletes from Benton, Shreveport

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