This year the tournament will be held in March in Las Vegas (Nevada).
A military serviceman from the Lviv region will take part in the US Air Force competition. United States Air Force Trials is an adaptive sports competition for wounded servicemen of the United States Air Force and Marine Corps. This year the tournament will be held in March in Las Vegas (Nevada).
168 military personnel and veterans from different regions of Ukraine took part in the qualifying competition. From them, 30 servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard of Ukraine and the Security Service were chosen, who will go to the tournament as part of the “blue-yellow” national team.
Lviv Oblast will be represented by Oleksandr Kataula, a serviceman of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. At the beginning of April 2022, the positions of Oleksandr’s unit near Popasna were shelled by Russians with various weapons. In that battle, the man lost his leg above the knee.
“After the amputation, my three-year-old son, who supported me and continues to support me, became an incentive and motivation for life. I will never forget his smile and joy when I picked him up in my arms, already wearing a prosthesis. He has been asking me for this for 6 months,” says Ukrainian Armed Forces soldier Kataula Oleksandr.
German Zolotaryov, a soldier of the Ukrainian Armed Forces from Chuguyev, who was undergoing rehabilitation in the Lviv region, also passed the selection. In December 2022, the man served in the Luhansk region, where he lost his left arm as a result of tank fire. Now he continues his service and is a specialist of the first contact at the all-Ukrainian center for prosthetics, reconstructive surgery and rehabilitation of war victims “Superhumans”, near Lviv.
We will remind that the selection for the Ukrainian national team took place in accordance with the criteria given to Ukraine by the organizers of the United States Air Force Trials 2024 competition: according to the results of the national selection held in December in Kyiv, as well as taking into account the results of the questionnaire, consideration of the documents submitted by the participant and personal interviews I am with a psychologist. Among the evaluation criteria: 50% – sports indicator, 25% – psychological indicator, 25% – social factor.
“Sport is a powerful tool for military rehabilitation. We felt this especially when we launched the “League of the Invincibles” project. This is an improvement in both physical and moral condition, and quality acquaintances with people who are close in spirit. Such activities are especially relevant during the war and will be needed for a long time after it ends,” says the head of the youth and sports department of Lviv OVA Roman Khimyak.