Vitalii Spînu has won the shotokan karate world title again. TV8, citing the National Olympic and Sports Committee, calls it his ninth. Sport1.md lists 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, plus 2026. That is nine titles and a fifth in a row from 2022. The championship was in Italy. It is not Olympic WKF karate.

In the final, the fighter from Bălți beat Bulgaria’s Nikov Damyan at 80 kilograms, after four wins in the draw, Sport1 writes. TV8’s Monday wrap is the weekend result; Sport1 published on 18 October.

Daniel Mutelica, also in Italy, took his first senior world title. In the kumite final at 80 kilograms he beat Serbia’s Ruslan Sadycov, Noi.md confirms. The mill line in the ledger said “Ursu”. The name in the reports is Mutelica. They are not the same person.

These are two finals, two champions. It is not one bout with two golds. It is not the Olympic squad, and it is not a European title sold as a world title.

Mutelica had already stood on a senior world podium in 2022 and 2024, Sport1 writes. That does not cancel “for the first time” for gold. Silver or bronze is not the title.

TV8, Sport1 and Noi.md stop at the results. They do not publish a full nations table. Anyone writing that Moldova won the world championship as a team is writing past individual medals.

Image: Evdcoldeportes, kumite, CC BY-SA 2.5 co, Wikimedia Commons; a generic bout, not the Italy final.

Sources consulted: Moldovan fighters best in the world at shotokan karate: Vitalii Spînu and Daniel Mutelica took the world title - TV8; Vitalii Spînu became shotokan world champion for a fifth consecutive time - Sport1.