The City of Poreč welcomed the second Karate 1-Youth League event of the season, in a week of celebration of the karate popularity at young ages. After the WKF Training Camp and Cup, over 1500 youngsters from 50 countries participated in the Youth League, one of the most anticipated events of the season.
The competition started on 2nd July with the youngest category at stake. Over three days, aspiring athletes from 12 to 17 years demonstrated their abilities and progress in karate.
Italy, Ukraine and Croatia were the countries with the most representatives in the Youth League which also showed at the medal table. After three days of competition, Ukraine and Italy showcased the strength of their young drive by reaching the top of the medal table. Both countries won 18 medals in total, Ukraine claimed a total of 6 golds, while Italy went home with 4 gold medals.

The first day of Youth League brought thrill and happiness as U14 Ukraine competitors Violetta Makarenko brought gold in Kumite +47 category, Serhii Stankov in Kumite -40kg and Mykhailo Shumovych in Kumite -50kg category. Cadets only continued the success on the second day as Dariia Bulai took the gold medal in the Kumite +54 kg category and Oleksandr Borys +70kg category. The most interesting was Junior Kumite -76kg where Ukraine representatives climbed in all three podium places. Oleksandr Kozachok was a champion of the category, Danylo Kravchuk took the silver and Viktor Shevchenko shared the 3rd place podium with the representative from Netherland.
On the other hand, mostly juniors brought gold for Italy. Sonya Inzoly assured that Italy had a Kata gold, Shicchi Alexandra climbed the highest podium in the -59kg category and Steven Matt Ramos was a -68kg category champ. On top of these junior medals, Alvise Toniolo also brought gold in the U14 Kumite +55kg category.
Besides Italy and Ukraine, several more countries accomplished respectable results. Spain followed those two countries with 8 medals in total (several of them in Kata, doing what Spain does the best in Karate), while Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belgium and Montenegro all won 7 medals in total. Great praise goes to Montenegro who arrived with 17 competitors while 7 of them won the medal.

The big celebration for the host country came in the U14 Kata category as Dino Huić won the gold medal as well in the +59kg Junior category as Nikolina Golomboš gave local fans reasons to celebrate with her title in the category. Youngsters Bartol Kadić and Korina Klarić added their share, with U14 silver in the Male +55kg category and U14 bronze in the Female +47 kg category.

All results from the event in Poreč are available HERE.

After the successful Karate 1-Youth League Porec, the first-class series of international events for youngsters will travel to Istanbul (Turkey) from September 17 to 19.