Continental Championships

Turkey top medal table of #KarateAalborg2019

2019-02-10

Turkey top medal table of #KarateAalborg2019

Turkish representatives and promising karatekas were the big winners of the last day of the 2019 EKF Cadet, Junior & U21 Championships. The tournament concluded on Sunday with the new young heroes of the sport being crowned in Aalborg (Denmark) and with Turkish karatekas on top of the medal table. 

Turkish representatives and promising karatekas were the big winners of the last day of the 2019 EKF Cadet, Junior & U21 Championships. The tournament concluded on Sunday with the new young heroes of the sport being crowned in Aalborg (Denmark) and with Turkish karatekas on top of the medal table. 

Turkey confirmed their first place in the final standings of the tournament with three medals today. The European powerhouse nation added one gold to their final tally with Muratcan Deniz’s victory in U21 Male Kumite -67kg. The Turkish young karateka defeated Valentyn Naida of Ukraine 2-0 in the title-deciding bout. 

The second final for Turkish representatives today happened in U21 Female Kumite +68kg. Eda Eltemur aimed at extending the outstanding medal count for Turkey but found an inspired rival in Ana Rita Oliveira of Portugal. Despite Eltemur dominating most of the bout, the Portuguese karateka connected an impressive “Ippon” in the last stages of the match to win the clash by 3-1 and to get the continental title. 

Italy took the second spot in the final medal table of the tournament. The Italian delegation finished the competition with a tally of 11 medals including five golds. Nicole Murabito earned the fourth top award for the powerhouse nation and first gold today after beating Gulsen Demirturk of Turkey 4-1 in the final of U21 Female Kumite -50kg. 

The excellent performance of Italian karatekas continued in the second title-deciding bout of the day. Veronica Brunori took a convincing victory 3-0 over Sara Heurtault of France in U21 Female Kumite -61kg. 

The tally of Italian gold medallists in Aalborg could have been even bigger but Anna Rodina of Russia prevented the third consecutive top award for Italy. The young Russian karateka defeated Alessandra Mangiacapra 3-2 in U21 Female Kumite -61kg and drove Russia to the third place of the final standings with a total of 12 medals and five golds. 

One of the highlights of the day came in the final of U21 Female Kumite -68kg. Two of Karate’s future stars clashed for the continental title in a demonstration of the growing influence of the younger generations. Current Senior World Championships runner-up Victoria Isaeva of Russia aimed at the continental U21 crown after her surprising performance at Karate’s biggest event in Madrid last November. However, the Russian karateka could not add the gold medal to her impressive tally since the World Championships silver medallist found the opposition of Lea Avazeri of France. The defending U21 World Champion from France confirmed her outstanding level and won back-to-back World and European crowns with a 3-1 victory in the final. 

FYR of Macedonia also had reasons to celebrate with two gold medals today. Doan Osmani beat Nikita Belyavsky of Georgia 4-0 in U21 Male Kumite -75kg while Petar Spasenovski defeated Adi Gyurik of Slovakia by “Senshu” or first unopposed point (1-1) in U21 Male Kumite -84kg

Greece’s Christos-Stefanos Xenos’ victory over Alejandro Ortiz Fernandez of Spain in U21 Male Kumite -60kg and Azerbaijan’s Murad Hajizade’s triumph over Babacar Seck Sakho of Spain in U21 Male Kumite +84kg completed the list of gold medallists at the event.  

The thrilling competition ended with the closing ceremony in which Hungary took the EKF flag as organiser of the next edition of the European Cadet, Junior & U21 Championships.