Israel's senior taekwondo championships for 2026 were held today in Jerusalem, with about 150 male and female fighters from leading clubs taking part. The event, described as the sport's main annual showcase in Israel, produced the national champions and champions in each weight class, with representatives of Jerusalem Municipality in attendance as hosts.
The federation also held a special tribute ceremony for outgoing Olympic Committee CEO Gili Lustig and outgoing high-performance sport unit head Danny Oren. They received personal black belts from the Taekwondo Association in recognition of years of cooperation with the federation and its coaches, which it said helped develop Israeli taekwondo and deliver major international achievements, including the sport's first Olympic medal.
Alongside the Olympic bouts, the championship included Paralympic matches. Two new national team members, Omer Barel and Adnan Jerushi, competed at an Israeli championship for the first time against able-bodied opponents. Barel lost an arm after being badly wounded in the fighting in the Gaza Strip, where he was hit by an RPG, and began taekwondo training several months ago after already debuting internationally in Germany. Jerushi joined the Paralympic squad recently after losing an arm in an electrocution accident. They train with Israel's leading international medalists, including Assaf Yasur and Adnan Milad.
Men's champions: Tom Peshkovsky (54 kg), Tomer Barsh (58 kg), Liam Cohen (63 kg), Nimrod Kravitzky (68 kg), Yehonatan Alkalai (74 kg), Shmuel Rahmani (80 kg), Eliyahu Rahmani (87 kg), and Ilya Ruderman (87+ kg). Women's champions: Shir Belcher (46 kg), Rivka Baich (49 kg), Yarden Nesher (53 kg), Ariel Vigdor (57 kg), Anna Nissnevitch (67 kg), and Lipaz Hajama (73+ kg).
