Fresh off the back of their success at the 2025 World Cadet Championships, Uzbekistan was incredibly dominant, taking 7 of the available 16 gold medals on offer. Extraordinarily, of their 20 cadet athletes, 18 claimed medals. Just weeks after becoming cadet world champion, Dilafruz Boltaboeva claimed the gold medal at -40 kg. Cadet world champion at -81 kg Inomjon Bakhodirov moved up to the -90 kg category in Jakarta, but had to settle for a bronze medal, as his teammate Jurabek Eshpulatov took the gold.
The South Korean team performed well with Jaeyun Sim claiming the gold medal at -81 kg and Dain Hing and Chaemin Lee taking gold at -63 kg and +70 kg, respectively. With 7 medals in total across the cadet categories, the Korean team finished 2nd on the medal table.
Kazakhstan’s cadet world champion at -60kg Yernur Batyrgali claimed the silver medal at -66 kg, however his teammates Farkhat Zeinolla and Inzhu Zhumazhan claimed Kazakhstan’s 2 gold medals, dominating the -50 kg and -57 kg categories. With 14 total medals, Kazakhstan can be pleased with the consistency of their young team in Jakarta.
Tajikistan brought a small cadet team of 4 athletes to Jakarta, with each claiming a medal. Roshid Nematov impressed en route to his gold medal at -73 kg, as did Madina Qurbonzoda at -52 kg. Having narrowly missed a medal at the World Cadet Championships only weeks ago, Qurbonzoda backed up her Asian cadet title, with a bronze medal in the junior division, a promising sign of her rapid development.
The final gold medals in the cadet category were claimed by India’s Rajeshkumar Rahi Ghelani at -44 kg and Tsan-An Chiang from Chinese Taipei at -55 kg. The continual growth and development of the region was on display with 13 of the 21 competing nations claiming medals.
The junior competition provided an excellent opportunity for the region’s top juniors to prepare for the upcoming World Junior Championships in Lima, Peru. As was the case with the cadet competition, Uzbekistan dominated the junior categories, claiming 8 gold and a total of 14 medals.
Junior world number 1 Dilshodbek Hamroyev exhibited his strong form to win the -66 kg category, as did junior world bronze medallist Alisher Samanov at -90 kg. Umida Nigmatova backed up her cadet world title from Sofia, claiming the gold medal in the +78 kg category; an impressive step up from cadets.
The Korean junior team proved to be Ukebskistan’s greatest adversary as they took 8 medals; 3 of those being gold. Yongmin Kim at -73 kg, Sumin Mo at -70 kg and Hyebin Lee at -78 kg will all be ones to watch in Lima on the back of their success in Jakarta.
The Indian team again performed excellently, claiming 6 medals, highlighted by gold medal winning performances from Rajakbhabhai Shahin Darjada and Himanshi Tokas at -57 kg and -63 kg respectively.
The final gold medal was won by Ingkar Kuralbay from Kazakhstan, in the -48 kg category. Despite 12 medals across the junior competition, Kuralbay was the sole gold medallist for her nation.
After 4 days of high level competition, there was clear evidence of the growing depth of talent across the region. As the young athletes departed Jakarta, their focus turned sharply to the forthcoming Junior World Championships in Lima, Peru, due to be held from 5th to 8th October.