Croatia Now Has a Karate World Champion
- by croatiaweek
- in Latest
Jelena with her gold on the podium (photo/worldkaratefederation)
Good news for Croatian karate coming out of Indonesia today…
Croatian junior representative Jelena Pehar has won gold on the first day of the World Junior & Cadets Karate Championships being held in the Indonesian capital Jakarta.
Pehar had six straight victories on the first day of the championship to win gold and is now the world champion in the U-54 kg category. Jelena beat American Jaide Rosario 7-0, Chang Ching-Fang from Taiwan 3-0, and Nashke Kuhnen from Holland 2-0 in the early rounds before beating Australian Jade Colver-Vella 3-2 in the quarter-finals and Brazilian Hellen Rodrigues 2-1 in the semi-final.
In the final Jelena was too good for Egypt’s Sara Abdo Lalo, winning 4-3. The win caps off a great year from the young Croat, who in February won bronze at the European Championships in Zürich.
A total of 1,425 competitors from 91 countries are taking part in this year’s World Championships in Jakarta.
