Benidorm, Wednesday 30 September 2026. The second day of competition at the ITF World Cup 2026 belonged to experience. With the Seniors (35-45 years) and Veterans (46+ years) on the mats across all eleven rings, 75 more World Cup titles were decided, and athletes from 28 nations, together with the Individual Neutral Athletes, climbed to the top of the podium.
Power Breaking arrives
Ring 2 hosted the first Power Breaking Categories of the week. In the Adult Male Black Belt category (18–35 years), Kalle Kivioja of Finland took the title ahead of Hungary’s Ervin Balázs, with Lucas De Gregorio of Argentina in third. In last year’s World Championships in Poreč, Croatia, Ervin and Kalle shared the first two places, too – yet with the opposite result. Next door in Ring 3, the biggest category of the day, Junior Male Black Belt Special Technique (15–17 years) with 96 entries, went to Ivan Vovk of Ukraine, ahead of Romania’s Alexandru Danciu.
Stories of the day
Argentina finished the day with 13 gold medals, most of them won by its Seniors and Veterans. Among them, Lucia Fusco stood out: after winning team pattern gold on Day 1, she added individual titles in Senior Female (36–45 years) Sparring and Special Technique, plus a bronze in Pattern. Also Daniela Morabes, a member of the ITF Merger Committee and in addition recently appointed as a ITF Women’s Committee member, won the Senior Female 3rd Dan (35-45years) Pattern categoriy. Two days after Slovenia was welcomed as a new Ordinary Member of the ITF, Slovenian athletes Tyra Barada and Tina Baloh both won the adult black belt Sparring titles. Hungary collected four golds, including the Adult Male 2nd Dan (18-35 years) Pattern title for János Darnai, and a Hungarian one-two for Izabella Vass and Ibolya Geipl in Veteran Female Blue-Belt (46+ years) Pattern. Ireland’s Nick Roche won the Veteran Male 84+kg Sparring title and added a Pattern bronze.
The highlight of the second day in the competition venue Palau d’Esports l’Illa de Benidorm was the independently organised but jointly held 3rd ITF Adapted Taekwon-Do World Cup. Read all about it in its full report.
The day in numbers
- 2nd Day Leading by country medals: 🇦🇷 Argentina 13 (19 total), 🏴 England 10 (11 total), 🇺🇦 Ukraine (9 total) and 🇵🇱 Poland (7 total) 5 each, 🇭🇺 Hungary 4 (6 total).
- Biggest category: Junior Male Black Belt (15–17 years) Special Technique with 96 entries.
- Biggest sparring division: Adult Female Black Belt 55–60 kg (18–35 years) Sparring with 40 competitors.
World Cup Day 3: Senior Pattern Finals and Be YOU. Bravely
