Ukraine’s junior karate team, formed at the initiative of Vasyl Kostyuk, rakes in medals at the Polish Open 2025
On October 11-12, the Polish Open International Karate Grand Prix Tournament took place in the southern city of Bielsko-Biala, with more than 2,700 karateka from 33 countries around the world. Ukraine’s karateka performed brilliantly, winning 167 medals, including 48 golds, 39 silvers and 80 bronzes, comfortably coming first in the overall rankings, leaving second place Poland (15/18/25) and third place Denmark (5/5/15) far behind.
A special event at this tournament was the debut of Ukraine’s junior national karate team, which competed for the first time at the international level as an official national team. This team was formed and was able to participate in the competition thanks to complete financing from the Children’s Sports Development Fund established by entrepreneur and philanthropist Vasyl Kostyuk.
"Calling Ukraine’s junior karate team the ‘reserve team’ has proved itself 200%," says Oleh Yastrebov, head coach of the junior karate team. "In a few years, these kids will be taking over the podium in adult competitions."
Indeed, the first official foray of the 22 young Ukrainian athletes was exceptionally successful: half the team mounted the podium, garnering 22 medals, including 4 golds.
"No other junior karate teams in Europe have shown such an approach to date," the coach notes. "We are the first to put together a system for growing future champions by motivating kids age 10-13."
The Ukrainian Karate Federation and Vasyl Kostyuk’s team are keen to keep developing their initiative to support sports for children. The next step for the junior karateka will be the WKF Karate 1—Youth League, which takes place December 4-7 in Venice. Ukraine’s team will get the chance then to affirm its status as leaders and gain new victories for their homeland.
