July 12, 2019

Ukraine wins 51 medals at European Games in Minsk

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Ukraine’s 4×400-meter relay team (Danylo Danylenko, Anna Kachur, Oleksiy Pozdnyakov and Tetyana Melnyk) celebrates its gold medal performance.

PARSIPPANY, N.J. – Ukraine – represented by 197 athletes – finished in third place on the medals table (16 gold, 17 silver and 18 bronze, for a total of 51 total) at the 2019 European Games in Minsk on June 21-30. The games – the second iteration, as the first were held in 2015 in Baku – attracted 43 National Olympic Committee member countries that sent some 3,667 athletes that were featured in 200 events in 15 sports (archery, athletics, badminton, basketball, beach soccer, boxing, canoe, cycling, gymnastics, judo, karate, sambo, shooting, table tennis and wrestling). Ten of the sports offered qualification opportunities for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

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Gold medalist judoka Daria Bilodid (48 kg) is recognized for her achievement.

Georgii Zantaraia (66 kg) and Daria Bilodid (48 kg) won gold medals in judo after winning their respective final matches. Zantaraia won against Matteo Medves of Italy and Bilodid won against Irina Dolgova of Russia.

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Greco-Roman wrestler Zhan Beleniuk (87 kg) celebrates his gold-medal win.

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Freestyle wrestler Yuliia Tkach (62 kg) celebrates her gold medal.

Other gold medalists were:  Zhan Beleniuk (87 kg) in Greco-Roman wrestling, who won 3-1 against Islam Abbasov of Azerbaijan, and Yuliia Tkach (62 kg) in women’s freestyle, who won 4-0 against Elmira Gambarova of Azerbaijan; Anastasia Sapsai (+80 kg) in the women’s sambo; gymnasts Oleg Verniaiev (parallel bars) and Anastasia Bachynska (floor, 13.200 points).

Ukraine’s mixed relay running teams (Danylo Danylenko, Tetyana Melnyk, Oleksiy Pozdnyakov and Anna Kachur) won the 4×400-meters and (Yevhen Hutsol, Olha Lyakhova, Oleksiy Pozdnyakov and Yana Kachur) in the mixed distance pursuit relay races – 200, 400, 600 and 800 meters – and Ukraine’s athletics team won gold in the team event.

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Hanna Solovey, gold medalist in women’s cycling points race.

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Liudmyla Kuklinovksa and Mariya Povkh, gold medalists of the women’s K-2 1,000-meter sprint (two-person kayak).

In cycling, Hanna Solovey won gold in the women’s points race (100 laps at a distance of 25 kilometers with 10 sprints, to finish with 30 points); and Mariya Povkh and Liudmyla Kuklinovksa won the K-2 (two-person kayak) 200-meter race (44.781 seconds). Other gold medalists: in karate, Anita Serogina (61 kg) in the women’s kumite and Stanislav Horuna (75 kg) in the men’s kumite; and boxers Oleksandr Khyzniak (75 kg), who won against Salvatore Cavallaro of Italy and Victor Vykhryst (+91 kg), who won 4-1 against Mourad Aliev of France.

Silver medalists included: Anastasia Novikova (48 kg), Olena Sayko (64 kg) and Kateryna Moskalova (68 kg) in sambo; Oleh Omelchuk (air-pistol, 10 meters); the rhythmic gymnastics team (Alina Bykhno, Tetiana Dovzhenko, Diana Myzhertska, Anastasiya Voznyak and Valeriya Yuzviak); Anton Davydenko and Mykola Prostorov in men’s synchronized trampoline (51.450 points) and Maryna Kyiko and Svitlana Malkova in women’s synchronized trampoline (48.240 points); and artistic gymnast Verniaiev (all-around, Pommel horse).

Silvers were also earned by: Hanna Plotitsyna (women’s 100-meter hurdles); in canoe sprint: Andriy Rybachok and Yurii Vandiuk in the C-2 (two-person canoe) 1,000-meters (3:41.692 seconds); and Oleh Kulkharyk and Oleksandr Syromianykov in the K-2 (two-person kayak) 1,000-meters (3:18.865 seconds).

In cycling, Olena Starikova took silver in the 500-meter time trial (33.389 seconds); boxer Mykola Butsenko (56 kg) lost 0-5 against Kurt Walker of Ireland in the final; in karate, Anzhellika Terliuga (55 kg) got the silver in the women’s kumite; and in women’s freestyle wrestling, Oksana Livach (50 kg) and Yuliya Khalvadzhy (53 kg) earned the same.

Bronze medalists included Bohdan Bondarenko (high jump), Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk (long jump); rhythmic gymnast Vlada Nikolchenko two medals: (hoop and clubs) and artistic gymnasts Petro Pakhniuk (floor), Igor Radivilov (rings and vault) and Diana Varinska (all-around and balance beam); in sambo, Natalia Smal (72 kg) and Halyna Balashova (80 kg); Oleksandr Khotsianivskyi (125 kg) and Hor Ogannesian (65 kg) in men’s freestyle wrestling; and Olena Kostevych and Pavlo Korostylov (25-meter air pistol, mixed team); and Yevhenii Barabanov (69 kg) tied with Lorezno Sotomayor of Azerbaijan; in karate, Halyna Melnyk (68 kg) women’s kumite, and Valerii Chobotar (84 kg) in the men’s kumite; and in women’s freestyle wrestling Alla Cherkasova (68 kg) after a 6-2 win against Jenny Fransson of Sweden.

The men’s boxing competition this year doubled as the 2019 European Amateur Boxing Championship after the IOC, in June of this year, stripped the AIBA of its Olympic status for amateur boxing competitions. For women, the European Amateur Boxing Championships will be held as normal, but under the auspices of the European Boxing Confederation as an Olympic qualifying tournament.

Honorable mention

In beach soccer, Ukraine finished in second place (four points) in Group B, which was led by Spain (five); Italy and Russia followed (three). Ukraine won 4-3 on penalty kicks after a 4-4 draw with Italy on June 25, won 6-4 against Spain on June 26 and lost 1-5 against Russia on June 27 (Ukraine’s stats in the group stage, 11 goals for and 13 against).  Group A included Belarus, Switzerland, Portugal and Romania.

Ukraine lost 2-3 in the beach soccer semifinal on June 28 against Portugal and, in the bronze-medal match, Ukraine lost 4-5 against Switzerland on June 29. In the final, Portugal won 8-3 against Spain. Roman Pachev was the leading goal scorer for Ukraine (in 10th place) with four goals with five matches played.

In table tennis, Kou Lei finished in fourth place after his 1-4 loss in the bronze medal match against Tomislav Pucar of Croatia. Kou lost 0-4 in the semifinal against Jonathan Groth of Denmark. In the quarterfinal, Kou won 4-2 against Cedric Nuytinck of Belgium. The three medalists will qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics.

The host for the third European Games will be Krakow, Poland, in 2023. The games were originally planned to be hosted by Katowice, Poland, but the Polish Olympic Committee – citing the failed bid for Katowice to host the 2022 Winter Olympics – changed the host city. The announcement was made on June 22 in Minsk during a general assembly meeting of the European Olympic Committee.

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