Stefanos Xenos is in the final of the World Cup

Greek karate is living very big moments at the 26th Men’s, Women’s World Championship held in Budapest.

Stefanos Xenos performed amazingly in the -60kg category. Kumite and advanced to the final of the category. Thus, on Saturday night at the “Pap Laszlo” arena, he will face Kaisar Alpisbai from Kazakhstan, No. 7 in the world ranking, in the grand final. At the same time, however, she secured the first Greek medal in the world’s top karate event, five years after Elena Hatziliadou’s gold in 2018 in Madrid.

The champion of Ulysses Petropolis, on his way to the final, defeated Maximiliano Larosa (Uruguay) 2-0, Amr Abukora (Egypt) 3-2, Alaeddin Salmi (Algeria) 3-1 and Leilei Xi (China) 9 -1. He won the pool he participated in and thus found himself in the semi-final where a good friend of his was waiting for him. Turkey’s 26-year-old Erai Samdan, the man who defeated Stefanos in the 2022 European Championship semi-final in Gaziantep, found himself once again in the way of the 23-year-old Greek. This time it was Stefanos’ turn to take “sweet revenge” for that defeat. He defeated the great Turkish champion 4-1 and advanced to the final, recording the greatest honor of his career.

With the triumph of Stefanos Xenos, the Greek presence at the individual level, at the World Championships in Budapest, was completed. On the first day of the games, Georgina Xenou shone, taking 11th place among 57 athletes in Kata, while Lambros Markesinis also did very well, finishing in the top 24 among 72 athletes.

The rest of the Greek karatekas who participated in the top event also gave their best: Dionysis Xenos (-67kg), Dimitris Stolis (-75kg), Konstantinos Mastrogiannis (-84kg), Giorgos Tzanos (+ 84kg), Stelina Tzilia (-50kg), Maria Stoli (-55kg), Konstantina Chrysopoulou (-61kg), Konstantina Peppa (-68kg) and Kelly Kydonaki (+68kg).

Their duties are not yet complete as men and women will participate in the team Kumite tomorrow.