Hosts of Turkey prevailed at the 2019 Mediterranean Cadet, Junior & U21 Championships which were held this past weekend in Antalya. The organising nation topped the medal table with 44 awards in a demonstration of their prevalence at grass-root level. 

Hosts of Turkey prevailed at the 2019 Mediterranean Cadet, Junior & U21 Championships which were held this past weekend in Antalya. The organising nation topped the medal table with 44 awards in a demonstration of their prevalence at grass-root level. 

Turkish promising karateka led the way to gold at home in Antalya as some of the up-and-coming athletes of the powerhouse nation of the sport dominated the competition. Turkey took nine gold medals at the event, including the victories of Menekse Vardar in Cadet Kata female, Muserref Ozdemir in Cadet Kumite Female -47kg, Kurt Aysima Hatice in Cadet Kumite Female -54kg, and Abdulsamet Kose in Cadet Kumite Male -52kg. 

Local favourites also prevailed in the Junior competition with golds for Keyda Nur Colak in Junior Female Kata and Enes Ozdemir in Junior Male Kata. Meanwhile, Gulsen Demirturk in U21 Kumite Female -50kg, Damla Ocak in U21 Kumite Female -55kg, and Berk Erol in U21 Kumite Male -60kg paved the way to the triumph of the host nation in U21 categories. 

The tournament also had the victories of other top young competitors such as FYR of Macedonia’s Fahik Veseli who took gold in Antalya after his silver medal in the 2018 EKF Cadet, Junior & U21 Championships and after representing his country at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires. In U21 Kumite Female -61kg, Dina Durmis of Serbia took the crown following her gold medal at the 2017 underage European Championships while Morocco’s Aya En-Nesyry and Montenegro’s Vladimir Mijac surprised in U21 Kata Female and Male respectively. 

Representatives of Morocco and Serbia also registered impressive performances in Antalya with nine medals and six golds for the African nation and 19 medals and four golds for the European country. No less than 12 nations went home with medals at the event gathering over 300 competitors from 13 Mediterranean countries.