From October 9 to 13, the World Championships for young athletes took place in Lido di Jesolo, Italy. This tournament, held near Venice, set a record with over 2000 competitors from 117 countries.

The Ukrainian team was represented by 38 young karatekas from 17 clubs across 9 regions, including 8 athletes from Odessa.

15-year-old karateka Maxim Vechnikov from Odessa (Royal Team, coaches – Volodymyr Zaretsky and Oleksiy Konovalov) became the champion in the cadet category under 52 kg.

Maxim's gold medal at the World Championships adds to his silver from the European Championships he earned in February of this year.

This marks the fourth medal (second gold and first in the cadet category) for athletes from the Odesa region in the history of their participation in youth world championships.