2024-04-14 12:29:27
At the World Kyokushin Karate Championship without weight categories in Tokyo in October of last year, Lithuanian representative Edgardas Sečinskis from Vilnius climbed to the third step of the podium, beating fighters from Japan and Bulgaria in the absolute weight category.
However, this time E. Sečinskis will not lead the Lithuanian kyokushin karate national team forward – the European kyokushin karate championship to be held in the Spanish city of Valencia in May will coincide with the increase of the family and the athlete decided to miss the competition.
“It will be a very solid championship of the Old Continent. We already know that there will be around 400 contestants competing on the tatami for the ten weight division championships in the men’s and women’s tournaments.
And the registration is not over yet – it is possible that there will be around 500 karate masters from 25 countries”, Romas Vitkauskas, president of the Lithuanian Kyokushin Karate Federation (LKKF), summarized the situation with the future competitors.
On May 25, the Palau Velodrom Lluis Puig arena will finally host the European kyokushin karate masters – before that, in addition to various cycling championships, the taekwondo championship, the European swimming championship and the European indoor athletics championship were held here.
“Although there will also be youth championships before the European adult championship, the biggest highlight will be the fight for awards between men and women.
24 of our athletes should go to the championships – four kata representatives and two athletes in each weight category,” said the head of the LKKF about the composition of the national team.
For now, the Lithuanian kiokushin karate national team is not yet fully formed, because candidates will compete on the tatami for the remaining few places.
“We have several spots for the national team and applicants, so on April 27th, during the national team camp in Druskininkai, we will hold battles for tickets and already then we will have a full lineup,” assured R.Vitkauskas.
At last year’s Old Continent Championships in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, our country’s kyokushin karate masters won one gold, one silver and one bronze medal each in the kumite event, and two gold and one bronze medal in the women’s competition.
“Of course, many people like predictions, but kiokushin karate is a thankless activity: it’s hard to say what can be expected this year as well. The most important thing is for the athletes to show the fight, the desire to win. Of course, it would be completely bad if we returned without awards”, stated the guide of LKKF.
The loudest results in Valencia are expected from Paulius Žimantas, the representative of the European champion Naujosii Akmenės, who will defend the title, Eventas Gužauskas, the 2002 world vice-champion from Klaipėda, and Laurynas Vaičikauskas, the winner of the bronze medal from last year’s competition in Sweden, also from Klaipėda.
“You can’t say that other Lithuanians will also be statists. Although there are some athletes who cannot boast of impressive titles, you can get pleasant surprises not only from the youth, but also from Orests Abazorius or Justins Kvietkas”, assured R.Vitkauskas.
Even higher expectations can be expected from the representatives of our country in Valencia. The president of the LKKF assures that the Lithuanian women’s national team is probably the strongest in Europe today.
“Here is the fact. Even after the guaranteed winners of all championships, Inga Mikštaitė and Rūta Brazdžionytė, retired from active sports.
Let’s take a look – we have two-time European champion Brigita Svinkūnaitė, another champion Marija Sekundas, world champion Brigita Gustaitytė, multiple European championship prize winner Aneta Meškauskienė.
I don’t know if it’s worth continuing, because if we add last year’s best young Lithuanian kyokushin karate winner Meda Balionytė, we will get an impressive fist of fighters. So in this case, hardly anyone will be able to resist the Lithuanians in Valencia”, explained R.Vitkauskas.
– A number of famous names retired from the big sport after last year’s fights. This means that there is a generational change in the karate national team? – lrytas.lt asked LKKF president R. Vitkauskas.
– I wouldn’t say. With us, change happens very naturally. It doesn’t happen that when one famous athlete leaves, there is an empty place and someone is waiting to claim it.
The youth comes, he breaks into the national team and pushes the stars either even more to the top, or to the path of decisions to retreat. Basically, there is no such phenomenon as a generational change in the national team.
– Regarding the championship: who will be the most serious rivals for the Lithuanians?
– As far as I know, kartvelians prepare extremely powerfully for the championships. Their national team went to Kazakhstan, they had a very serious preparation there, so Sakartvelas will field a competitive team.
The Swedish kyokushin school is very strong, there will be serious competitors from there, the Swiss will delegate their two European champions.
It is not necessary to underestimate, as always, the ambitious Poles who set almost the highest goals for themselves, the Hungarians, who have been giving up positions recently, will also want to do something.
As I already said, a lot of athletes will gather at the championship this time, because tickets to next year’s championships in Japan will be distributed there. Champions will immediately receive invitations to the planet championships.
– Does the provision remain that the representatives of Russia, which started the war in Ukraine, will not be allowed to start the kyokushin karate championships?
– Yes. This position remains unchanged. In addition, Belarusians do not have the right to be suspended and participate in competitions. This is the position of the international federation.
2024-04-14 12:29:27