Young taekwondo silver medallist Izabel Sava dies in her sleep at 19

Izabel Sava, a 19-year-old Romanian taekwondo athlete and 2022 world silver medallist, has died in her sleep, leaving her family and the sports community in shock.

According to relatives, Sava lived with her parents near London and was their only child. The family says the tragedy unfolded during the night when she suffered a cardiac arrest; emergency teams tried to resuscitate her for hours but were unable to save her life.

Career and legacy

Sava had trained in taekwondo since childhood and accumulated more than a decade of practice and competition. She held a black belt, second dan, and built a reputation for discipline and steady progress on the mat.

Her best-known result came at the 2022 World Taekwondo Championships in the Netherlands, where she reached the final and won a silver medal in sparring, becoming a world vice-champion at a young age. That achievement was widely seen as confirmation of her potential and the start of a promising international career.

Family members and teammates describe the loss as especially hard because Sava was young, physically active and had undergone extensive medical examinations in the past without any sign that such an event might occur. Those close to her remember her as a dedicated athlete whose life revolved around taekwondo and constant improvement.

Photo: press material from the event