FUJAIRAH, UAE (May 12, 2025) - Day three of the World Taekwondo Cadet Championships in Fujairah featured gold medals for Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN), Türkiye and Kazakhstan.

 

AINs won the first two finals of the day through Anastasiia Arnautova in the W -47kg category and Daniil Minakov in the M -45kg.

 

Arnautova dominated the first round of her final 11-2 against Chinese Taipei’s Wei Ni Chang, and edged a closely fought second 15-13 to clinch gold. She had earlier won a three-round semi-final against Australia’s Chloe Hor Yan Spencer, who shared bronze with Kazakhstan’s Alla Tsoy.

 

Minakov staged a fine comeback to defeat Korea’s Daho Kang in the M -45kg final. Kang outscored his opponent 15-3 in the first round, but Minakov started the second on the front foot and won it 10-2 before triumphing 7-4 in the decider.

 

India’s Raghuraj Singh was beaten by Minakov in the semi-finals and took bronze along with Greece’s Filippos Kordas, who lost to Kang in the other side of the draw.

 

Türkiye’s Sena Yilmaz delivered a confident performance to take victory in the W -51kg final, winning the two rounds against the USA’s Taylor Jo Gavin 6-1 and 9-3. Yilmaz dominated the category and did not drop a round on her way finishing on top of the podium. That included a commanding semi-final victory against Kazakhstan’s Aida Gozhalimova, who earned a bronze medal together with Korea’s Joohyun Seo.

 

Zhantore Sagyngali of Kazakhstan was the last gold medallist of day three, overcoming Ukraine’s Maksym Shulzhenko in the M +65kg final. Sagyngali took the first round 10-4, but Shulzhenko kept his hopes of gold alive with a stunning spinning head kick late in the second round to win it 5-4. That forced a decider, which Sagyngali won 12-6 to seal victory.

 

Gyu Min Kim of Korea was beaten in three rounds by Sagyngali in the semi-finals, while Shulzhenko triumphed over Mexico’s Abraham Heriberto Monarrez Felix.

 

The penultimate day of the World Taekwondo Cadet Championships tomorrow will feature competition in the M -53kg and -65kg categories, and the W +59kg and W -41kg.