The President of the Russian Karate Federation told what is happening to our athletes

The second international tournament “Moscow – Universe of Karate” was held in Moscow, in which 350 athletes from 27 countries participated. The competition brought a triumphant victory to the Russian national team, which confidently took first place, winning 4 gold, 4 silver and 8 bronze medals.

The best karatekas on the planet, winners and medalists of the Olympic Games, current champions of the world and their continents came to the capital of Russia to fight for awards. The level of skill at the competition was simply off the charts!

We asked its president Sergei Tsoi about why the Russian Karate Federation needed such a large-scale tournament and how it was organized under the current conditions.

— “Moscow – Universe of Karate” was born in conditions when Russian athletes were excluded from international arenas due to sanctions. Plus, we were temporarily deprived of the right to host a stage of the Premier League, the highest-rated competition in karate.

Realizing that we couldn’t do without competitive practice, we thought about creating our own tournament, but according to the rules of the World Karate Federation (WKF). And so that it is world class.

Already the first “Universe” showed that we were not mistaken in our decision. Last year, athletes from 21 countries came to Moscow. This one is out of 27! It is known that over the past 2 years, not a single Russian sports federation has been able to overcome the bar of 18 countries participating in competitions on the territory of our country.

Now we have broken our own record. This time Moscow has gathered the cream of the world karate! And it’s not the Europeans who are boycotting our competitions. And especially not Americans. Iran arrived, where over 1 million people practice karate. Egypt – there are 2 million karatekas there. Indonesia – 7 million! China, which has very strong athletes. Azerbaijan, Türkiye, Kazakhstan…

You know, many members of foreign delegations came up at the end and admired the way our tournament was organized. They said that the level of Moscow competitions is not lower than the level of the world championships. Believe me, they have something to compare with,” Sergei Petrovich said at the beginning of our conversation.

— By the way, about the World Championships, which took place in Budapest a month ago. For many, the participation of athletes from Russia in it was unexpected.

— Here it is appropriate to recall the famous expression: “The impossible is possible!” Even at the beginning of autumn, no one believed that our team would be able to get there. But literally two weeks before the start of the tournament, the WKF executive committee made a unanimous decision to admit Russians to the competition.

What is important here is the fact that the executive committee is authorized to express the opinion of the national federations from the 204 countries that are members of the WKF. Including countries in North America and Europe.

Such a unanimous decision of the executive committee emphasizes that the philosophy of karate itself is higher and wiser than any political disagreements and confrontations. Even the International Olympic Committee could not stay away from the political squabbles. And WKF could. And I am very grateful for such courage to all members of the executive committee and personally to the President of the World Federation, Antonio Espinosa.

“Nevertheless, it is known that before the start of the World Cup, the Ukrainian delegation wanted to make anti-Russian statements.

– It was so. But on behalf of the Russian Karate Federation, we officially stated that we consider this unacceptable, and if the Ukrainians do get a platform, we will respond sharply to them. To the credit of the WKF executive committee, it completely ruled out the possibility of any political demarches.

— At the World Championships, our athletes competed in a neutral status. Some believe that taking part in competitions under such conditions is unpatriotic.

— Vitaly Georgievich Smirnov, honorary president of the Russian Olympic Committee, member of the IOC and generally a legendary person in the world of sports, said on this occasion: refusal to participate in competitions is exactly what our opponents are trying to achieve, they just want to isolate Russians from world sports !

The phrase is not verbatim, but I conveyed its general meaning to you.

I won’t hide that we ourselves had doubts about whether it was necessary to go somewhere abroad to perform in the current conditions. They were there until the moment when the entire karate community of the world told us: come! And what, after this you had to stand in a proud pose and turn away from the outstretched hand? A categorical “no”!

Therefore, we decided that our athletes have every right to compete on the world stage. They especially need experience in international tournaments, which they were deprived of for almost 2 years.

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— The result of Russian performances in Budapest was a bronze medal, which was won by Ernest Sharafutdinov in the weight category up to 75 kg.

“I already said once that this “bronze” is worth a lot, for us it has a golden tint. Moreover, the entire main team is young, almost all the guys recently joined it from juniors. They still have everything ahead.

The main results are that at the championship we carefully examined our athletes against the background of more experienced competitors, and made estimates for future competitions.

And in terms of motivation, Budapest laid a good foundation for the “Karate Universe”. For example, Sharafutdinov confidently won gold in Moscow. Of course, our tournament is not a world championship, but psychologically Ernest secured his claims to leadership. And this gives him a chance at the next championship to aim for the highest award.

This does not apply only to him alone. The Russian team also has young people, but more experienced than their comrades: Anna Chernysheva and Akhmed Akhmedov. There are promising newcomers Anna Kudryavtseva, Altana Basangova… Eduard Gasparyan, who in the finals faced the current world champion in an absolutely equal fight. And we have a lot of such guys – with a pronounced desire to win! At “Universe,” Daniil Kamyshov from St. Petersburg, who is not even on the national team, defeated the Olympic champion from Iran in the first round with a score of 6:0. This means we can defeat the most titled!

The Federation needs to do everything to prevent new long breaks in their performances, so that they do not lose their condition. There are all the prerequisites for this. Fortunately, by the same decision of the WKF executive committee, we were given the “green light” to participate in all international tournaments.

— Will we still see some big karate competitions inside Russia?

— All Russian athletes, not only karatekas, are very lucky that we have the most athletic president in the world! Who understands what it’s like for an athlete to be left without competitive practice. Thanks to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, unprecedented measures are being taken in the field of sports in Russia. Next year the World Friendship Games will take place. I know for sure that a decision has been made to include karate in the program of these Games. Another major international competition will be the BRICS Games in Kazan.

Of course, we will continue to hold our all-Russian competitions, of which we traditionally have many, and they geographically cover the entire country from Kaliningrad and Crimea to the Far East. Soon, in December, the Sakhalin region will host the Russian championship for the first time. Karate has gained popularity in all regions, and we usually try to hold national championships and championships in its central part. However, now it seemed to us that it was fundamentally important to organize our largest tournament, which brings together hundreds of young athletes, precisely on the eastern border of Russia.

The federation has already begun preparations for the next tournament “Moscow – Universe of Karate”. In this matter, we are strongly supported by the Russian Olympic Committee, the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation, and the government of the capital, for which I am very, very grateful to them all.

In general, we have everything to compete, win and become champions. The world, and maybe even the Universe.