Tiraspol, November, 1. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. The 10th WSF European Shotokan Karate Championships took place in Bulgarian Albena on October 26-28. The participants were children, cadets, juniors, adults and veterans. There were 32 teams from 15 countries. Categories were individual and team kata and kumite (shobu ippon and shobu sanbon).
The Pridnestrovian Federation of traditional sports and applied karate was represented by eight athletes of the Bogatyr club. Six of them became winners in their age groups.
The youngest member of the team, Kirill Stoyanov, was the best among athletes of 8-9 years old in kata (a set of techniques). His neighbors on the podium were the representatives of Russia and Bulgaria.
The rest of our karatekas won in kumite (sparring). Daria Alekseeva (up to 54 kg) and Matvey Lyulka (up to 57 kg) had distinguished themselves among the cadets. Among men, Dmitriy Zhosan (up to 67 kg) and Nikolai Sorokolit (up to 75 kg) were stronger than others. Their main rivals in the struggle for the gold medal were athletes from Romania and the Czech Republic. Alexey Chiley became the winner in the team kumite (the team consists of 3 people).
Pridnestrovian karatekas have several awards in kumite. Silver was won by Vladimir Gibeskul and Kirill Stoyanov (team kumite). Anastasia Kunitskaya, Alexey Chiley won the bronze medals, Vladimir Gibeskul and Matvey Lyulka - in the team kumite for children under 16 years old.
Based on the tournament results, the club Bogatyr took 7th place. Among the countries, Moldova team is also in the 7th position. Sports club Bogatyr and Bars from Chisinau were performing in its structure. Romania, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Russia and Ukraine are ahead of others.
Shotokan karate is one of the main styles of karate and one of the most common in the world. The technique is very diverse, focused on fast and powerful throws and effective cuttings, which keeps the enemy off balance or make him fall, but does not allow to get bogged down in the struggle against captures.
Shotokan and three more styles unite the World Karate Federation (WKF). Karate WKF is included in the Olympic Games program.
