Coach of the Ukrainian national karate team: We will try to “turn on” Terlyuga before the “bronze” final. If fate gives such a chance, she should use it

Trainer Ukrainian national karate team Alexander Tonkoshkur spoke in detail about the situation that happened during the semi-final match of the 2023 World Cup between Angelica Terlyuga and Bulgarian Ivet Goranova.

“The points were awarded in a fair fight, but during the fight, when the referee said that the fight needed to start (somewhere in the middle he gave a point and then started), the time did not start. After 25 seconds, the referee stopped the fight and gave a warning, but when he gave the command to start the fight, the clock did not start. This is an administrative error.”

“When the fight ended, the Bulgarians decided to file a protest that the official time of the fight had not been started during the fight. That is, 25 seconds were stolen, and during this time the Bulgarian athlete could have done something. Unfortunately, the panel of judges upheld the protest and returned the fight not from the beginning, “from scratch,” but to when time stopped. I think that the losing Bulgarian side seized on the only opportunity to help their athlete and made this protest. But he was satisfied.”

“This is a surprise for us, because when there is a violation of the procedure, they don’t notice going beyond the line, or several judges add a score, but it is not noted to the athlete… That is, a violation of the procedure is one thing, but some administrative issues are another. But the judges decided that this was a very long time – 25 seconds – and returned him to the fight.”

“You need to understand Terlyuga’s state: she is already jumping for joy because she has reached the finals, everyone welcomes her, she gives an interview – and after 30 minutes this athlete is returned to the tatami. That is, she has not only psychological, but also hormonal stress, because she is happy, but here she needs to return to concentration. And the Bulgarian understands: she has a chance. That is, the psychological balance is different after this situation, not the same as during the main fight. Therefore, Anzhelika could not get involved, and the Bulgarian, with a score of 5:4, began to run around the corners, along the line, going beyond it, “dirty” and in the end she earned one point – 6:4, “survived”.

“Just such a cry from the heart now. This may be the end of Angelica’s career at the world championships. The next World Cup is in two years, and she had to finish the 2023 World Cup well and put an end to it. But, unfortunately, this situation did not allow her to do this.”

“Our federation will write a letter to the presidium of the World Karate Federation: to give us an explanation of why, under what article of the rules, the panel of judges behaved this way, why they decided to satisfy the protest in response to this administrative error. This is the situation.”

“We understand that 99% of the time we can do nothing but influence the future relationship between judges and national federations and athletes. Protests must be satisfied according to the administrative error procedure. But the bad thing is that the Bulgarian reached the final and “pulled” the fights for third place with her, and therefore already on the first evening the fights took place, a couple was formed that will be among the losers to the Bulgarian, who will be in the final, and this couple will fight for bronze award, so we understand that we won’t do anything until Sunday.”

“We have two days – Thursday and Friday – until the bronze finals on Saturday. Therefore, now we need such an emotional shock, to take a break from this for a day or two. It’s good that we have these two days – let’s try to include Angelica after all, because she hasn’t had any medals from the World Championships in her entire career. If fate gives such a chance, she must use it. Therefore, we provide maximum support and will talk to her psychologically. The coaches, the team are supportive, the doctor who has been traveling with us these years listens very much, and has also become a psychologist. Therefore, I think that we will find such a resource to add both emotions and improve Angelica’s condition before the “bronze” final,” Tonkoshkur concluded.

Let us remind you that yesterday, October 25, Terlyuga in the women’s category up to 55 kg won the semi-final bout of the 2023 World Cup in Budapest against Ivet Goranova from Bulgaria – 14:11.

However, then the Bulgarian side filed a protest due to a technical fault. The protest was satisfied. The judges returned the competitors to the tatami, rewinding the time to 1:17, when Goranova was leading 5:4. The Bulgarian managed to bring the fight to a final victory – 6:4.

Now Terlyuga faces the “bronze” final on October 28. Two of Anzhelika’s compatriots will also fight for bronze medals in Budapest – Andrey Zaplitny (up to 75 kg) and Valery Chobotar (up to 84 kg).

The 2023 World Championships in Budapest started on October 24. The final matches will begin on October 28.