Polina Gurenko brought to Moldova the first and only golden medal won at the European WKF Karate Championship, being the first candidate for qualification for the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games, IPN reports.

According to the Ministry of Youth and Sport, the Ukrainian athlete who has Moldovan nationality emerged victorious in the women’s cadet kumite 47 kg category at the European Cadet, Junior and U21 Championship that was held in Bulgaria’s Sofia on February 17-19.

Polina Gurenko beat her opponents from France, Kosovo and Italy and in the final easily defeated Spain’s Garcia Moya 6-1.

At the 44th European WKF Karate Championship, the Karate-Do national team of Moldova was the largest so far and consisted of 14 athletes.

The WKF version of karate-do was included in the Olympic program in 2016.