Donetsk, Nov 28 - DAN. Donetsk People’s Republic Head Denis Pushilin has watched a training session of the DPR karate team which won 13 medals at the World Cup in Japan earlier this month.
Pushilin met with the athletes as he visited a Donetsk sport club together with DPR Sport and Tourism Minister Alexander Gromakov and Sport and Traditional Karate Federation president, DPR parliament member Yuriy Martynov.
The youngsters aged 12 to 13 showed the guests a team kata, a series of synchronous movements. The jumping U-turn was one of the most impressive kata elements. The DPR head talked with young athletes after the training session.
“I know first hand about the self-discipline in sport. You must have the right attitude, focus and the support of the coach and keep to a daily schedule. I can say for sure that you’re doing very well. The whole Republic was supporting you,” Pushilin said.
Martynov told Pushilin that a special schedule had been introduced several months before the Japanese tournament, which envisioned three training sessions a day accounting for Japan’s time zone and a more balanced diet.
The Donetsk experience has stirred an interest abroad; coaches have been asked to conduct master classes and talks are already underway.
Pushilin handed in the certificates of gratitude to Martynov and Medvedev for their contribution to the development of fitness and sport in the Republic, and commended seven athletes.
In response, the karate federation president gave Pushilin a souvenir Japanese sword (katana). “We’ve brought this small souvenir from Japan. We would like you to have it at your office and remember our achievement every time you look at it. I always say it’s our common victory, the victory of the whole Donetsk Republic,” Martynov said.
The DPR karate team won ten told, two silver and one bronze medals at the World Cup in Tokyo, Japan, on November 9-10.*jk
