GEPARD Club Athletes Achieve Victories at the European Championship
From April 25-27, our club ‘GEPARD’ athletes participated in the 16th European Shotokan Karate-Do SKIEF Championship 2025 in Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
The first thanks goes, of course, to our Armed Forces of Ukraine. It is solely thanks to you that our national team was able to participate in the competition. All our victories were for you and with thoughts of you.
Despite various subjective circumstances, we nonetheless sang the Ukrainian Anthem several times while standing on the podium.
Athletes’ Achievements
More than 1200 athletes from 17 countries took part in the tournament. The national team included 12 karatekas from the ‘GEPARD’ club from the Velykomostivska community, winning the following awards:
- Illia Yatskiv – 1st place team kumite 16-17 years.
- Ivan Kireiev – 1st place team kumite 16-17 years.
- Ostap Zasadnyi – 2nd place kumite U16.
- Kateryna Klishch – 3rd place team kata 12-14 years.
Many of our athletes were just a step away from medals, including: Sviatoslav Kryminets – 4th place, Ivan Kireiev – 4th place, Mariia Zotova – 5th place.
Maksym Zanko, Veronika Pidsudkevych, Mariia Boianetska, Vladyslav Danylchuk, Oleksandr Balko, and Volodymyr Muzyka gained valuable experience.
We have proven our competitiveness in all categories and will be preparing for the next world championship, as some of these athletes have already been selected for the Ukrainian national team.
I, as the head of the Lviv branch of Shotokan Karate-Do SKIF and the coach of the ‘GEPARD’ karate club, as well as on behalf of the parents and athletes, sincerely thank the Velykomostivska City Council and the deputy corps for their work in organizing the trip to the European Championship.
We have strived to do our utmost and hope that our results met your expectations.
Article author – Head of the Lviv Branch of Shotokan Karate-Do SKIF and ‘GEPARD’ karate club coach, Oleh Matiash.
Velykomostivska City Council, in turn, thanks our athletes for representing our community and our country at such a high level. Congratulations on your wonderful achievements and victories.
You have a great sporting future, as the ‘GEPARD’ karate club is a strong, friendly, and promising team led by a true professional in his field, coach Oleh Matiash.
💪 We wish you new successes and achievements!