A Ukrainian Olympic silver medalist brought her talents and experience of training during a war to Saanich.
Anzhelika Terliuga’s seminar at Kenzen Karate Sunday (July 30) was on the finer points of kumite, or point sparring.
“Point sparring is like a very fast game of tag,” said Richard Mosdell, chief instructor at Kenzen Karate. “It ends up being like a quick game of karate chess.”
Less than a year after winning silver in karate at the Tokyo Summer Olympic Games, Terliuga’s world changed with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Numerous athletes and coaches from Terliuga’s team were called up to fight. Some were injured, captured and even killed.
“We are from Odessa, which is currently being bombed every night by the Russians,” Terliuga said in a statement.
Training during the war has been challenging.
“The electricity sometimes shuts out so we have to train on the mats with flashlights on, and one of the dojos in our group was destroyed by a Russian missile that crashed into the building,” Terliuga said. “Luckily this happened very late when no kids were there.”
Terliuga was joined in Saanich by her husband and coach, Volodymyr Zaretskiy. He needs special permission from the Ukrainian government when he leaves the country for international competitions or seminars due to the war. Zaretskiy has to promise he will return since the army has a list that it uses to draft the next group of men every week.
The Saanich seminar had 20 athletes attend.
“It was really great for our local athletes to see someone that competed at that level and to interact with them,” Mosdell said. “It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for some of them.”
Terliuga is currently ranked first in her division.
“There is nobody in B.C. or in Canada as talented as she is right now,” Mosdell added. “Anzhelika has cracked the highest level of our sport.”
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