Nikitina does it again on World stage
BUSHIDO Clondalkin’s Karyna Nikitina marked her final appearance as a junior at the WAKO World Championships with a superb fourth gold medal on the global stage.
Held in Venice this year, the competition attracted more than 2300 registrations from 64 nations with Ireland fielding 124 competitors.
All eyes were on current World and European champion, Nikitina as she stepped on the mats against Italy's Number One -65kg competitor Martina Pugliese, whom she beat 12-4 after three rounds.
Up against Austria’s Anese Trle in the quarter finals, she won out 16-10 setting up a penultimate round showdown with Germany’s Michelle Langer.
After a close opening two rounds, Nikitina took off in the third to emerged a five-point winner and secure a place in the decider against another German opponent Alica Osmanovic.
While she was the second ranked fighter in her country, Osmanovic was not going to stop the champion who stormed to a seven-point victory.
Meanwhile, Nikitina’s clubmate Zach Lamari earned his second cap for Ireland at these championships.
The 11-year-old started the championships in flying form beating his Slovenian opponent by four points in the preliminaries before coming undone against his Hungarian rivals in the last eight.
Making his debut on this stage, Bushido’s 15-year-old member Francis Walsh performed well in his quarter final bout against a very strong Polish opponent, but lost out in his bid to reach the medal stages.
Finishing fourth behind Hungary, Italy and winners Russia, Ireland’s overall performance, given they have no official funding, is one to be proud and they will be looking to build on that over the coming years.
