Ustin Maltsev Tournament

    A Ukraine-wide freestyle wrestling tournament among boys and girls born 1999 - 2001 was held on February 20 in the sports facilities of the Kherson Higher College of Physical Education, sponsored by Ustin Maltsev's charity foundation "Our Hopes". This year, it is the first time when the best participants were selected to be trained for the championship of Ukraine, which will take place in May of this year and later for the world championship. There were more than 150 wrestlers in 10 weight categories from Nikolayev, Odessa, Kharkov, Mariupol, Artemovsk, Dzerzhinsk, Skadovsk, Krivoy Rog, Kherson, Kherson and Kiev regions.

   The traditional parade of athletes together with the guests' greetings opened the official part of the event. The Ukrainian hymn traditionally preceded the beginning of the competition. After that the participants struggled hard and dashingly for their victory.
Among the guests of honor there were: mayor of Kherson Vladimir Mikolayenko, president of Kherson regional union of craftsmen "Dneprovskaya Palitra" and deputy of Kherson municipal council Oleg Chernenko, director of the Kherson Higher College of Physical Education Vladimir Kucher, senior coaches, patron and founder of the brought-to-life tournament, public figure and head of the charity foundation Ustin Maltsev as well as other invited guests. The guests wished all the athletes inspiration, strengths and patience as well as a persistent striving to win.

At the end of the tournament, Ustin Maltsev awarded the winners with diplomas, medals and financial prizes. The patron underlined that "Freestyle wrestling is one of the sports that develops will power, strength of mind, determination and courage in the younger generation. Indeed, the folk wisdom is right: "Where there is a sound body, there must be a sound mind!" I would like to emphasize the fact that we as adults should give an incentive and support to our children if we want them to grow and develop correctly ".
Based on the competition results, the prize winners in their weight categories are as follows:
Girl winners, 1st place:
38 kg - Diana Senkiv (Odessa)
40 kg - Anna Akhmedova (Odessa)
43 kg - Ekaterina Shalikova (Artemovsk)
46 kg - Tanya Profatilova (Donetsk region)
49 kg - Kristina Stepanishcheva (Artemovsk, Donetsk region)
52 kg - Ekaterina Piskareva (Donetsk region)
56 kg - Vika Passichnik (Kherson, College of Physical Education)
60 kg - Kristina Malyavka (Kharkov)
70 kg - Anya Tisnichenko (Kherson, College of Physical Education)
Boy winners, 1st place:
42 kg - Eduard Pokudov (Kherson, College of Physical Education)
46 kg - Renat Osmanov (Kherson, College of Physical Education)
50 kg - Sergey Yakovlev (Kherson, College of Physical Education)
54 kg - Makhid Rekhman (Kherson, College of Physical Education)
58 kg - Andrey Nugumanov (Kherson, College of Physical Education)
63 kg - Eric Arushanyan (Kherson, College of Physical Education)
69 kg - Sergey Klimenko (Krivoy Rog)
76 kg - Artem Gulko (Odessa)
85 kg - Andrey Dubonosov (Kherson)
over 85 kg - Roman Dovgaluk (Kherson, College of Physical Education)