Sergei Tsoi: “It is impossible to destroy the unity of karatekas”

We asked its President Sergey Tsoi how the Russian Karate Federation managed to organize such a large-scale sports event under the conditions of sanctions against Russia and its athletes.

– Sergey Petrovich, congratulations on a great competition! 380 athletes and 21 countries – it’s amazing that this happened at a time when the West is constantly calling the world to isolate Russia.

– In fact, there were much more participants: juniors competed on the first day of the tournament, and if you count with them, you will get over 1300 people.

I am deeply grateful to all the athletes who came to the tournament “Moscow – the Universe of Karate”, who showed both fighting character and personal courage. Iran, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Uzbekistan – all were with us. Cuba, Venezuela, Mexico. There were many karatekas from Serbia. French and Spanish coaches arrived with their athletes …

Together we were able to prove that Russian karate is not isolated, but continues to be part of the great and glorious family of world karate.

– They said that for your competitions you have formed an unheard of high prize fund. Is it so?

– I will honestly answer that at the tournament “Moscow – the Universe of Karate” prizes for prizes exceeded the usual ones for competitions of this level. But if someone thinks that the elite of the world karate flew to Russia to perform for the sake of money, it would be complete nonsense.

Many factors played in our favor. Firstly, everyone in world karate knows that Russia has excellent experience in hosting major international competitions: in 2018 we organized the European Championship in Sochi, in 2019 and 2021 – the stages of the most prestigious world Premier League in Moscow. Each time our competitions were held at the highest organizational level, which was reported to me by both their participants and colleagues from other national federations. In 2021, the President of the World Karate Federation (WKF), Antonio Espinos, called the Moscow stage of the World League the best since the foundation of this tournament, that is, since 2011.

Secondly, I am very grateful to my great friend Antonio Espinos for the fact that he did not interfere in any way with those karatekas who wanted to fly to Moscow this year.

– During the solemn opening ceremony of the tournament, right on the stage, on behalf of Espinosa, you were awarded the 9th dan black belt. Presenting the WKF certificate, a member of the Executive Committee of the European Federation and the head of the Karate Federation of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Yashar Bashirov, said: this is in honor of sportsmanship and personal merits to world karate. Can you explain what this means for you personally?

– It is very honorable: in karate masters have ten dans, the ninth and tenth are just tops. The World Federation in our country has never given such a high rank to anyone before. Therefore, I accepted the assignment of 9 dan to me with great gratitude, although I immediately said that I receive it not for my personal merits, but for the contribution to the development of world karate from our entire Federation.

I will consider this a credit of trust from the WKF for the future.

– Let’s go back directly to the tournament “Moscow – the Universe of Karate”. It was held in the luxurious Irina Viner-Usmanova Gymnastics Palace in Luzhniki. Did such a venue affect the level of the tournament?

– Of course, the Gymnastics Palace is a very modern, very comfortable and, I would say, very thoughtful sports complex. It is felt that the people who designed it, among whom was Irina Alexandrovna herself, perfectly understood what the athletes, the organizer of the competition, the fans needed …

As for the level of the tournament, I received from its guests and participants a lot of the most sincere congratulations on the excellent organization of the event. Let me give you one example: Rafael Agayev, a five-time world champion and simply a legend of world karate, said that he did not meet such a class of competition at every world championship.

Warm words of approval were expressed by the Minister of Sports of the Russian Federation, Oleg Vasilyevich Matytsin, and the head of the National Olympic Committee, Stanislav Alekseevich Pozdnyakov. For my part, I want to thank you again for the help they provided in preparing our competitions!

– A large number of young athletes participated in the tournament from Russia. Did they manage to compete with eminent karatekas from other countries?

– The competition was really high, but there was no dominance of any one country in the tournament. A set of 10 gold medals in kumite (fights between two opponents) was played between athletes from 7 countries. Representatives of Iran, Belarus, Tunisia, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan won the highest awards. Four “gold” in kumite went to Russia. Anna Chernysheva (weight category up to 55 kg), Anna Rodina (up to 61 kg), Akhmed Akhmedov (up to 67 kg) and Ernest Sharafutdinov (up to 75 kg) excelled in our competition. In my opinion, the young athlete Alexandra Meshkova, who defeated the Olympic champion Faryal Abdelaziz on the way to the medals, could well have won the “gold” in the category up to 68 kg, but in the final she simply did not have enough experience.

Three more “golds” were won by our karatekas…

By the way, look at the geography of the winners of the tournament! Chernysheva trains in the Samara region, Rodina – in St. Petersburg. Akhmedov from the Saratov region, and Sharafutdinov from the Republic of Bashkortostan. This suggests that domestic karate as a sport does not nest within one or two regions, but is successfully developing throughout Russia …

In total, our guys won 26 awards: seven “gold”, five “silver” and fourteen “bronze”. In second place were athletes from Iran – one “gold”, five “silver” and four “bronze” medals fell into their piggy bank. Quite a noticeable gap from the leader. Until recently, such a success for Russia would have seemed fantastic! Today he talks about how much the level of our karate has grown. We have gathered an excellent team, where there are many strong world-class athletes, a wonderful coaching staff headed by the head coach of the national team Islamutdin Eldarushev.

– Were there any moments at this tournament that you remember the most?

– The first is when we realized that there are no other dates for our competitions, except November 25-27, in the calendar for 2022. The problem was that the Asian Games in Tashkent were already scheduled for them, where many karatekas were going to come. And then the head of the National Karate Federation of Uzbekistan, Alamjon Mullaev, did the almost impossible: realizing that Russia had no other option, she moved her competitions to December, freeing up the necessary days for us! It is hard to even imagine what organizational problems this caused, because many participants in the Asian Games booked tickets and hotels in advance … But the Uzbeks did it! It was such a friendly, so fraternal step that I don’t even have enough words now.

The second point is more particular, but no less revealing. During the final fight and winning, half a second before its end, Ernest Sharafutdinov was injured. It was obvious that it was hard for him to even stand.

What to do? Leave the tatami – lose the fight. Stay – but half a second in modern karate is a lot, for it you can completely reverse the result.

Our fighter brought the fight on moral and strong-willed qualities, waited for the hand thrown out by the judge in his direction – Victory! – and only then collapsed on the tatami.

And then … the losing opponent, Azerbaijani Rafiz Khasanov, literally carried Ernest out of the fight zone and handed him over to the medical staff. A little later, he helped Sharafutdinov climb to the highest step of the podium for a medal.

It so happened that I watched this fight together with a good friend, the head of the Azerbaijani federation, Yashir Bashirov. And seeing all this, we just silently shook hands.

– Impressive stories… Sergey Petrovich, now we can already say that the world tournament in the new format has taken place. What to expect next?

– The Russian Karate Federation has once again proved that it can hold any world-class competition. I would like to thank Mayor of Moscow Sergey Semenovich Sobyanin and the Sports Department of the Moscow Government for their invaluable organizational and financial assistance.

What will happen next? Sooner or later, the Premier League will return to Moscow. For sure, the issue of holding the European Championship in Russia will again become relevant – we were supposed to host it in 2023, but for well-known reasons, the venue was changed. Let’s return to the negotiations on hosting the World Cup. Everything will depend on how the international situation around Russia develops further.

But the main thing that I wanted to emphasize is that friendship and mutual support among karatekas all over the world will always remain unchanged.

We are people of the same “blood group”. It is impossible to destroy our unity with political games.

Of this I am absolutely sure.