The Ecuadorian city of Guayaquil recently played host to the World 2026 Judo Cadets Championship, and with 59 countries taking part, the emergence of Kazakhstan as the best-performing nation was especially notable, an achievement which was rewarded with the gold medal in the mixed team event.
Receiving special praise from President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev was an additional honour for the entire contingent, 11 of whom won individual medals. In terms of the teams, the boys finished top of the table with the girls placing second.
Helping their respective squads to the overall trophy were Fatima Supygalieva, who at 16 became the first-ever Kazakh female judo gold medallist, as well as Gabit Rasulhan and Adilzhan Zhaudinov, who also won their weight categories.
The four gold medals, alongside the three silver and four bronze, represent the biggest medal haul ever for a Kazakhstani judo team, something which the Minister of Tourism and Sports, Yerbol Myrzabosynov, says is firm evidence that the country’s investment in its sporting culture is bearing fruit.
“The team gold and record ten medals in the individual competitions are concrete confirmation that the new system works.”
The 2024 Paris Olympics, in which Yeldos Smetov picked up gold after collecting silver and bronze in the previous two Olympic Games, became the catalyst for the federation to overhaul its approach to training, with a unified system of training emerging after extensive talks.
The recent success is seen as a clear sign that federation chiefs, coaches, and judoka have found a winning formula. It is hoped that the country builds on this success, but not only in judo. Yerbol Myrzabosynov added:
“Our task now is to consistently scale this experience to other sports.”
