The Ukrainian karate team has secured first place in the medal tally for the first time in history at the European Championship for cadets, juniors, and under-21s (U21), which concluded in Limassol, Cyprus. This was reported by the Ukrainian Karate Federation.
Ukrainian athletes earned a total of 13 medals: 4 gold, 7 silver, and 2 bronze. The competitions, held from February 6 to 8, saw participation from 1276 young athletes from 47 countries, including 36 from Ukraine.
European champions included the youngest member of the Ukrainian team, 14-year-old Mark Dorosh, Sofia Eliy, Maxim Vechkanov – World Champion 2024 and European Champion 2025, as well as the decorated Daria Bulai.
Gold medals:
- Mark Dorosh (-52 kg, cadets)
- Sofia Eliy (-54 kg, cadets)
- Maxim Vechkanov (-55 kg, juniors)
- Daria Bulai (84+ kg, U21)
Silver medals:
- Hanna Maistreko (-47 kg, cadets)
- Diana Popova (-61 kg, cadets)
- Veronika Kotenko (-48 kg, juniors)
- Ulyana Baranova (-66 kg, juniors)
- Serhiy Stankov (-68 kg, juniors)
- Vladyslav Rudenko (76+ kg, juniors)
- Oleksandr Kozylyan (84+ kg, U21)
Bronze medals:
- Maria Hness (-53 kg, juniors)
- Georgiy Pitsul (-75 kg, U21)
The Ukrainian team matched last year's record for the European Championship in terms of the number of medals, but surpassed previous achievements in quality.
In the overall standings, the "blue-yellow" team outperformed the teams of Slovakia (4-0-4) and Italy (3-6-6).
It was previously reported that Ukrainian European Champion Sofia Eliy refused to take a joint photo with the Russian competitor she defeated in the final.
