Photo: courtesy Karate Insights
Gabriella Izaguirre defeated the Ukrainian Olha Vasylenko today and added to her record the gold medal in kumite -50 kg of the Karate 1 Series A Konya 2023 that took place in Turkey.
The Salvadoran karate fighter won the gold medal by winning 4-2 in the final against the European team and celebrated her first gold in Karate 1 Series A, which is also her second medal in European territory.
Last year in Konya, Gabriella Izaguirre beat the Canadian Yamina Lahyanssa and won the bronze medal in the kumite modality, category -50 kilograms U21 of the Cadet, Junior, U21 Karate World Championship.
In today’s final, both athletes used the first minute of the match to analyze and impose their strategy, but after 40 seconds it was Vasylenko who launched the first attack, which the Salvadoran neutralized with a great demonstration of her defensive technique.
Izaguirre achieved her first point in a good counterattack with 1:44 minutes to go and before the second minute of the fight was consumed, the screen registered 2-0 in favor of the Salvadoran after a punch against the European.
Vasylenko reacted and scored her first point with 57 seconds left to finish the fight, but in the next action Gaby neutralized another attack from the Ukrainian and launched another well-aimed punch to make it 3-1.
In the last seconds, Olha Vasylenko tried to reverse the score, added another point, but the Salvadoran brought out the caste and put herself out of reach on the board with a final 4-2, as confirmed by the official website of the tournament.
The competition in Konya is part of Izaguirre’s preparation route towards the Central American and Caribbean Games San Salvador 2023.
For the president of the Karate Do Federation, Oswald Mata, the national team Gabriela Izaguirre is an athlete with a high degree of commitment, she is very professional in what she does and this has allowed her to experience remarkable progress in her competitive level.
“Personally I am very happy with Gaby’s results, she is a girl who works with clearly defined objectives and goals, she is someone who has our full confidence, as she manages a well-coordinated process with the Federation and does it with great professionalism,” Mata commented. .
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