Greek Athlete Konstantina Chrysopoulou Wins Gold at European Karate Championship

Greek athlete Konstantina Chrysopoulou has won the European Karate Championship for the second time in a row.

Chrysopoulou claimed victory in the -61kg U21 KUMITE category, whilst her teammates were also able to pick up one silver and one bronze medal.

This year’s championship was held in Larnaca, Cyprus. Chrysopoulou, who is only 18 years old, won another gold medal in Athens, just a few weeks ago in January.

Konstantina Chrysopoulou claims second major karate win

The young karateka claimed a second major win in Larnaca, not long after winning gold at the K1 Series A in Athens.

Chrysopoulou faced off against German karateka Reem Khamis in the final, ultimately winning by 4-2 to secure victory. In the leadup to the final, she defeated the Italian Aurora Graziosi by 5-5, the Irish Ava O’Sullivan by 7-2, the Bosnian Marina Kurtes by 5-1, and in the semi-final Viktorija Jovanovska from North Macedonia by 7-4.

After the win, Chrysopoulou expressed her gratitude to her teammates and peers on social media.

“A huge thank you to the Greek delegation for the beautiful atmosphere, to the leader and doctor of the delegation George Kelalis who ran every minute for us and finally to the national coaches Dimitris Triantafyllis and Mariza Soumbasaki,” she said on Instagram.

“As always at the end, I want to thank my teacher Spyros Margaritopoulos who once again worked together perfectly! Unforgettable duo,” Chrysopoulou added.

Strong performance for the Greek team

Other members of the Greek karate team also performed well at the championship. Two team members won podium places, with other Greek Karatekas who were not able to win medals still ranking well.

Marianda Zamantza won a silver medal in the KUMITE category of 61kg juniors. Zamantza was undefeated in the qualifiers and secured first place in her pool by beating four other Karatekas. However, she was subsequently defeated 1-0 in the final by Spain’s Julia Clopes.

Athina Tsiakmaki also left the championship with a medal, this time in the KATA Juniors category. She attained a score of 41.3, winning a bronze medal.

The Greek team left Larnaca after the championship with one gold, one silver, and one bronze medal, thus securing 13th place out of the 48 nations competing.

Of the 36 Karatekas in the Greek team at Larnaca, 16 were able to secure ranked positions within the top 9 places in their category. 1,100 athletes in total attended the event to compete.