First day success: Ukraine earns three medals at 2025 World Games

First medal for Ukraine

Ukrainian athlete Anzhelika Terliuha won silver in the under-55 kg category in Chengdu, China.

Her path to the final was dramatic: first, in the semifinal, Terliuha lost to Chinese competitor Yu Chun Wei, but the Ukrainian team filed a protest, and she was allowed to advance to the final.

In the decisive match, she faced four-time European champion Mia Bitsch from Germany. The match was intense — Anzhelika was unable to defend her 2022 champion title, but her silver became Ukraine’s first medal at this year’s Games.

Anzhelika Terliuha and her family (photo: facebook.com/minmolodsport)

Sports acrobatics brings gold and silver

Following their success in karate, the Ukrainian team continued to delight fans in sports acrobatics. Ukrainian athletes won two medals: silver in the women’s pairs and the first gold in the mixed pairs.

The women’s pair Anhelina Cherniavska and Ruzanna Vecheruk took second place, scoring 27.600 points in the final.

They finished ahead of the third-place pair by 0.270 points, coming second only to the Belgian team.

Anhelina Cherniavska and Ruzanna Vecheruk (photo: facebook.com/minmolodsport)

At the same time, the mixed pair Yefrosyniia Kryvytska and Ivan Labunts created a sensation with their performance. In the final, they received the highest difficulty score (2.710) and totaled 29.110 points, surpassing Portugal by 0.570.

This historic victory marks Ukraine’s first gold medal in mixed pairs at the World Games and the ninth gold medal overall in sports acrobatics.

Yefrosyniia Kryvytska and Ivan Labunets (photo: facebook.com/minmolodsport)

Medal standings after day one: Ukraine is sixth

After the first day’s results, Italy leads the medal table with 12 medals — four of them gold.

Germany took second place with 10 medals, while Iran and Switzerland are tied for third. Ukraine is currently sixth with three medals — one gold and two silver.

Medal standings by country:

1. Italy – 4 gold + 5 silver + 3 bronze = 12 medals
2. Germany – 4 gold + 4 silver + 2 bronze = 10 medals
3. Iran – 2 gold + 0 silver + 0 bronze = 2 medals
4. Switzerland – 2 gold + 0 silver + 0 bronze = 2 medals
5. Japan – 1 gold + 3 silver + 0 bronze = 4 medals
6. Ukraine – 1 gold + 2 silver + 0 bronze = 3 medals
7. France – 1 gold + 1 silver + 2 bronze = 4 medals
8. Portugal – 1 gold + 1 silver + 1 bronze = 3 medals
9. Belgium – 1 gold + 0 silver + 0 bronze = 1 medal
10. China – 1 gold + 0 silver + 0 bronze = 1 medal

Earlier, we reported Ukraine’s position in the UEFA coefficient table after the European club competition week.