From October 9 to 13, the World Championship for young athletes took place in Lido di Jesolo, Italy. This tournament, set in the outskirts of Venice, attracted over 2000 young competitors from 117 countries, setting a new record.

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

15-year-old karateka Maksym Vechkanov from Odessa became the champion in the cadet category under 52 kg, competing for SK Royal Team under coaches Volodymyr Zaretskyi and Oleksii Konovalov.

This world championship gold adds to the silver medal he won at the European Championship earlier this February.

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