BIELSKO-BIAŁA – the capital of Karate in Poland !
BIELSKO-BIAŁA – the capital of Karate in Poland !
From 7-9th October in the modern sports hall „ Pod Dębowcem” Bielsko-Biała took place the historical and record-breaking Karate WKF Competition. The POLISH OPEN – INTERNATIONAL GRAND PRIX of BIELSKO-BIAŁA, which gathered more than 1100 competitors from 31 countries from 4 continents: ASIA, AFRICA, LATIN AMERICA and EUROPE. It was the greatest and the most spectacular international event of its type with such a number of athletes, which definitely turned out to be an amazing organizational success. The profile of the event was enhanced by the fact that KARATE has been included in the programme of the Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 2020. It is wonderful that we had a great opportunity to host this tournament at the foot of the Beskidy Mountains for our prospective Olympians! For that reason, it was obvious that we could not forget about the most honorable guest –MARIAN KASPRZYK– the golden medalist from the Olympics in Tokyo (1964). He was following with close attention the progress of fighting competitors from many countries, across the 8 tatami.
On Friday the competition started with the rivalry of cadets, juniors and seniors in KATA COMPETITION. The athletes from the national teams from Italy, Denmark, Slovakia and Poland presented their high sports disposition. In the female senior competition the gold medal was won by the medalist of KARATE 1 PREMIER LEAGUE – YERMAKOWA SVIATLANA from Belarus. In the seniors male competition the gold medal came to the vice-master of Europe PETER FABIAN from Slovakia, who defeated in the final the representative of POLISH KARATE Federation (currently training in ATEMI, a foster student of Tadeusz and Jolanta Brudniak) – BARTEK MĄCZKA. On the lowest level of the podium positioned MAKSYMILIAN SZCZYPKOWSKI, along with the titled competitor from Italian national team- GABRIELLE PETRONI. We should also mention the very satisfactory spectacle of senior team kata, who won against the opponents of Italian coach- SANTO TORRE.
On the second day was the KUMITE competition. On Saturday from 8.00am-9.00pm we could observe exciting and fierce contests of the best European athletes. The best competitors from Ukraine, Belarus, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Norway, England, Slovakia, and Poland did not let our expectations down. In the prestigious senior competitions: the open weights were won by ZARETSKA IRYNA (AZERBAIJAN)- the World and Europe CHAMPION, the golden medalist of 1st European Games in Baku (2015) and HORUNA YAROSLAV– the representative of Ukraine, and medalist of KARATE 1 PREMIER LEAGUE WKF. The second of the HORUNA brothers, HORUNA STANISLAV, the bronze medalist of the WORLD SENIORS CHAMPIONSHIPS WKF (2015) and gold medalist of the WORLD CUP WKF (2014) was the second on the podium losing the fight with the excellent Finn TUOMINEN AARO. Our national team representatives , preparing for THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS IN LINZ, which will be at the end of October, in the seniors category we obtained 2 silver and 9 bronze medals.
On Sunday the youngest athletes of karate, in kata as well as in kumite competed. It was a very successful performance for the young competitors from Malta, Scotland, Slovakia, Denmark, Belarus, Japan, Ukraine, Latvia and POLAND. While observing the fights of children we could see their enormous strength, motivation and commitment. The young karate teams were being supported and cheered on by the whole families.
To sum up, it was a really great KARATE festival ,which was held in Bielsko-Biała. It would not be possible to have such an event without involvement and support of many people. Special acknowledgements are directed to the representatives of Bielsko-Biała authorities and the representatives of the borough of Bielsko-Biała. Special gratitude and acknowledgement for Mr JACEK KRYWULT- The President of Bielsko-Biała for permanent support of the activities of our club. We also want to express our respect and gratitude towards the Chairman of the WORLD KARATE FEDERATION REFEREE COMMISSION Mr JAVIER ESCALANTE, who gave a speech during the opening ceremony and presented the position of THE WORLD KARATE FEDERATION. We also want to express our great appreciation to the main referee of the POLISH OPEN competition Mr ROBERT HAMARA (the member of WKF Referee Commission), and also to Mr JAROSLAW LEWANDOWSKI (the Chairman of the Polish Referee Commission) for efficient and highly professional conduct throughout the whole competition. Among our honorable and distinguished guests was also the Chairman of EKF Referee Commission – Mr PRIMOZ DEBENAK, whom we want to thank in particular, especially for his presence and irreplaceable support in the whole referees team. Special thanks also for Mr JAN BOROWSKI, the conductor of the CHOIR of ATH in BIELSKO-BIAŁA for honoring the competition opening ceremony.
In the end the special words of appreciation and gratitude to all sponsors, volunteers, great life-guards, doctors, cadets and security guards who were involved in the organisation of the POLISH OPEN competition. We want to thank all supporters and every single person who personally contributed to make this enormous event possible and make it successful !
By now we would like to cordially invite you to the next edition of POLISH OPEN in BIELSKO-BIAŁA in October 2017 ! We promise that we will use our best efforts to make the next year’s competition even more professional on both an organising and sports level !
THE POLISH OPEN ORGANISING COMMITEE
