Egyptian promising karatekas took the spotlight this weekend as representatives for the northern African country prevailed at the 2017 Junior, Cadet & U21 Mediterranean Championships. The city of Tangier in Morocco hosted 26th edition of the event that gathers karatekas from the Mediterranean nations. 

Egyptian promising karatekas took the spotlight this weekend as representatives of the northern African country prevailed at the 2017 Junior, Cadet & U21 Mediterranean Championships. The city of Tangier in Morocco hosted 26th edition of the event that gathers young karatekas from the Mediterranean nations. 

Egypt topped the medal table of the competition after claiming an impressive tally of 35 medals and 19 golds. Hosts of Morocco and Turkey also registered remarkable performances. 

The tournament gathered nearly 300 competitors from 11 Mediterranean countries and showed the rising power of Egyptian karatekas. Aya Ismail took her first medal in international competitions in over a year after her silver in 2016 Karate 1-Premier League in Hamburg and won the U21 Female Kata competition, thus paving the way to victory for Egyptian athletes. Feryal Abdelaziz in U21 Female Kumite -68kg, Aisha Ahmed in U21 Female Kumite +68kg, Malek Salama in U21 Male Kumite -60kg, Ahmed Elmasry in U21 Male Kumite -84kg and Mohamed Omar in U21 Male Kumite +84kg completed the outstanding domination of Egyptian karatekas in the elder categories. 

Local representatives also had the opportunity to take the flag of the host country to the top of the podium in the main categories of the event. Mohammed Sedraoui claimed gold at U21 Male Kata while Najlae Karchali extended a triumphant season at home and prevailed at U21 Female Kumite -61kg following her gold medal at Karate 1-Premier League in Rabat this year. Fatima Zahra Errabi in U21 Female Kumite -68kg and Abdessalam Ameknassi in U21 Male Kumite -67kg were other of the gold medallists of the organising country. 

CLICK HERE to access all the results of the 2017 Junior, Cadet & U21 Mediterranean Championships. 

Pictures: Ait Oumghare - © Saguia - FRMK 2017