Vitalii and Anastasia Spinu with the champion cups // Photo: olympic.md
Vitalii Spynu won gold medals in two kinds of program – “ippon shobu” and “sanbon shobu” in the weight category over 80 kg among athletes aged from 21 to 39 years old. His wife Anastasia had no equal in the same types of competitions and in the same age group. The only difference was in the weight category – up to 58 kg.
Gold medals were also won by Daniel Mutelika (“ippon shobu, U-20 in the category up to 78 kg) and Alina Tsugui (one medal each in “ippon shobu” and “sanbon shobu”, U-17, over 57 kg).
Silver medalists in various disciplines and categories were Daniel Mutelika, Cristian Braga, Stanislav Buga and Ion Kerdiv.
The bronze medals were won by the adult male and mixed teams of Moldova, Anastasia Spinu (“Kumite Masters”), Maxim Gutu, Corina Copacinschi, Alexandru Venger and Ion Kerdivare.
All athletes who won medals and represented the Republic of Moldova at the competition are natives of Balti.
Karate Shotokan is an Olympic sport. For the first time it was included in the program of the Olympic Games in Tokyo (Japan) in 2021. Karate Shotokan was not presented at the Olympics in Paris in 2024 and is not tentatively announced in the program of the Games in Los Angeles (USA) in 2028.
