Sarah Chaâri crowned European Taekwondo champion
The young Belgian won the European Taekwondo Championships in the -67 kg category with a victory over the reigning world champion in the final.
At this year's European Taekwondo Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, Sarah Chaâri was competing in the -67 kg category, as she will be at the Paris Olympic Games in a few months' time.
The young Belgian taekwondoin defeated France's Wiet-Hénin, reigning world champion and world No.1, in two rounds (7-2, 2-1).
Just 19 years of age, Sarah Chaâri brilliantly qualified for this final by ousting the Serbian Perišić, reigning European champion and 2022 world vice-champion, in the semi-finals, after a particularly intense and indecisive battle (4-12, 4-3 and 5-4).
Earlier, Chaâri, who is also studying medicine, had easily defeated Greece's Marentaki (9-7, 6-0) and Great Britain's Roberts (5-1, 6-1) in two rounds.
Sarah Chaâri has already built up an impressive track record in just two years. In 2022, she was crowned World Junior Champion in Sofia in August and World Senior Champion in Guadalajara in November. In 2023, the Charleroi native also won gold at the European Games in Krakow in June; at the Grand Final in Manchester in December, she definitively secured her selection for the Paris Games.