Five medals for Greece in European Karate

With five medals, the Greek delegation returns from European Karate Championship Men, Women hosted in Guadalajara, Spain. The tally of 3 silver and 2 bronze places Greece in 8th place^the position in the general classification, among 45 countries that participated and only 14 that managed to place a representative on the podium.

Silver medals were won by:

Dionysus Xenos (-67k), who lost 4-2 in the final to the reigning Olympic Gold Medalist, World Champion and World No. 1, Steven Da Costa. For D. Xeno, it was third consecutive finals appearance in as many appearances in European Championships.

Stefanos Xenos (-60k), who put up a great fight against the Italian Angelo Crescenzo and was defeated 5-4, conquering -however- the greatest honor of his career at the male level

George Tzanos (+84k), lost 4-0 to the French Mehdi Filali. With the second place he won, the 33-year-old karateka arrived the 13 medals in European Championshipsincluding group ones.

Bronze Medals:

THE Konstantinos Mastrogiannis (-84k.) easily defeated Slovakian Andi Juric 4-0 and celebrated his first individual medal at European men’s level, as he was “bronze” with the team in the 2022 event

THE Konstantina Chrysopoulou (-61k.) prevailed 5-0 over the French Laura Siver. Our champion is only 18.5 years old and after dominating the Junior and U21 categories, she won her first major distinction at the Women’s level as well.

Also, its success is added to the Greek account Georgina Xenou which won the 7^the position at KATA.

Thus Greece completes three years of absolute consistency at the international level, with a total of 15 medals, five in each of the last three European Championships. The expedition leader and former world championCostas Papadopouloscommented:

“It was a great presence. It is the third time in a row that we are among the five medals and this shows great stability. This event was pivotal, since for the first time the two girls-legends of Greek karate, Hatziliadou and Panetsidou, were absent. But we found a way to get back to the top positions in Europe, through the right work and the addition of new children. There is a development plan that works and this can be seen from the consistency we present as a national team and the constant awards in international competitions. A big well done to all the guys”

* In the photo the five medals of Greece, together with the coaches Spyros Margaritopoulos, Dimitri Triantaphyllis, Mariza Soumbasaki and the mission leader, Costas Papadopoulos.