Palestine's Maryam Bsharat beats Spain 3-1 to claim world gold

Palestinian sport has a star. Mariam Basharat has won a second consecutive world karate title and moved to the top of the junior world rankings. The Palestinian won gold in the junior women's under 66 kilogram category at the World Cadet Junior and Under-21 Championships in Poland, beating Spain's Noa Lopez-Gonzalez 3-1 in Saturday's final. Basharat first won a world title in 2024, taking the karate under 61 kilogram gold in Venice two years on she has moved up to the junior category and won that title as well she now leads the World Karate Federation's junior women's under 66 kilogram rankings Basharat is from Nablus in the West Bank and from a karate family they run the Al-Aqsa karate Academy and her father has coached her reportedly she is part of a Palestine Olympic Committee program supporting athletes competing internationally and her 2024 results also included gold at the Karate 1 Youth League the Asian Championships and the Arab Championship for Palestinian karate two world titles in two age categories show a clear pathway from cadet to junior level and what an athlete can actually achieve with consistent backing