The first day of the FISU University World Cup Combat Sports 2022, organized in Samsun with Ondokuz Mayıs University (OMU) being the primary host, started with matches held in Wushu and Sambo.The medal winners of these branches were announced on the first day of the competition, where 769 athletes from 430 universities located in 50 countries will be competing fiercely.
FISU University World Cup Combat Sports 2022 started its first day with the finals in two branches. At the finals of Taijiquan and Taijijian competitions, the sub-branches of Wushu, Debbie YEUNG from Hong Kong, Oryna IVANOVA from Malaysia, and Alisya MELLYNAR from Indonesia demonstrated their skills in women's Taijiquan while Ivan FEDIUCHENKO from Ukraine and Pak Long SAT from Hong Kong showed their skills in men's Taijijian. In the finals, where the audience participation was high, the gold medalists were Pak Long SAT from Hong Kong Baptist University, representing Hong Kong in the men's category, and Alisya MELLYNAR from Airlangga University, representing Indonesia in the women's category. The athletes, who fascinated the audience with their individual shows, became the center of attention.
Sambo competitions took place shortly after the Wushu finalists were announced. The competition was high in Sambo, where finals were played in 8 different categories. At the end of these fights, Yaryna Feedorchenko in 50 kilos women, Sofia Birdinskykh in 59 kilos women, Merve Topoğlu in 72 kilos women, Duygu Dirgen in 80+ kilos women, Muhammetmyrat Babekov in 58 kilos men, Giorgi Lursmanashvili in 71 kilos men, Stetsenko Dmytro in 88 kilos men, and Oleksil Halaka in 98+ men reached gold medals. The Ukrainian athletes have proven that they greatly influence the sport by winning half of the medals.Turkish athletes followed Ukraine.
The audience showed great interest in Sanda, which started an hour after Sambo. The qualifying matches were held in the Sanda category, the sub-branch of Wushu, where Turkish athletes have intense participation. Hayriye Türksoy Hançer and Jade Palet in women's 48 kg and Shoja Panahigelehkolaei, Gabriel Pedroso De Almeida, Abdullah Ertaş, and Talha Demir in men's 60 kg category advanced to the next round. The success of Turkish athletes in Sanda competitions drew attention. It is expected that the interest in the finals of the Wushu Sanda competitions, which met with the intense interest of the audience during the qualifying stage, will be much higher.
According to the first-day's results, Ukrainian athletes ranked first with 13 medals, Turkish athletes ranked second with 10 medals, and Turkmen athletes ranked third with 4 medals. The second day of the competitions will continue with Sambo and Wushu competitions.