2007: world titles and Madonna Baranova’s success
Kateryna Solovey became world champion. Dmytro Myroshnyk, coached by Yurii Raduzhan, also won world gold. Oleksandr Kyseliov won the World Cup, while Tiarbei Arkania became European champion and a World Cup bronze medallist. Rusudan Arkania and Yevhen Romanenko won European silver, while Dmytro Sosunov, Valentyn Aheiev and Serhii Bilobrov took bronze.
At the Ukrainian championship in Kharkiv, Madonna Baranova won three disciplines and qualified as a Master of Sport. She had begun Taekwon-Do at thirteen in Tavriisk, having moved there from Alushta at ten. Her coach was Viktor Sliusar; after just eight months of training, she had won regional gold.
In April, Baranova joined Ukraine’s 14-athlete team at the world championship in Bled. Four wins in individual under-51 kg sparring took her to the final and a silver medal. Team events brought another silver in power breaking and bronze medals in special technique and sparring. Baranova became an International Master of Sport, while Sliusar became an Honoured Coach of Ukraine.
Vladyslav Kim won a veterans’ world title in Birmingham. Competition across age groups allowed Ukrainian masters to continue their own sporting careers alongside training students.
2008: club victories and new qualifications
The Kyiv school won the Baltic Countries Cup. At the European championship, Valentyn Aheiev and Volodymyr Nazyn won silver, while Serhii Bilobrov took bronze. Uk Dara Chan received IV Dan.
2009: Sparta’s registration and a veterans’ title
Kyiv’s Sparta club was legally established. Its later generations included Hennadii Lytovchenko, Bohdan Melnychenko, Tymur Sydorenko, Yuliia Borysenko, Maksym Firsov and Denys Kozlov.
Volodymyr Isakovych, Bohdan Melnychenko, Maksym Firsov, Oleh Svyrydov, Kyrylo Nemykin, Oleksandr Zharuk, Pavlo Dubytskyi and Andrii Surovtsov joined the coaching team. The club was becoming an important source of national-team athletes.
Vladyslav Kim won a veterans’ European title in Slovenia.
2010: a new generation of strong clubs
Kyiv’s Sparta won the First Capital tournament.
Kateryna Solovey continued winning European titles through 2010. A strong generation developed alongside her and Oleh Solovey: world champion Vasyl Voitovych; European champion and World Cup winner Andrii Pasichnyk; European champion and European Cup winner Ihor Maksymenko; and European champions Dzvina Tokareva and Tetiana Voitovych.
2011: clubs make a major contribution to the national team
At the European championship, 22 of Ukraine’s 74 athletes came from Kyiv’s Sparta. Romanna Hrynkiv and Viktoriia Moiseienko became overall champions. Vladyslav Kim’s veterans’ career continued at the European championship in Tallinn.
2012: a generation of athletes becomes a generation of teachers
Sparta’s national-team representation rose to 35. Mykola Yakovenko became overall junior European champion. Vladyslav Kim competed at the world championship in Tallinn.
Andrii Nashchynets and the Moiseienko sisters
Andrii Nashchynets progressed from Ukraine’s early national competitions to become an Honoured Coach of Ukraine, an International Master of Sport and an international instructor. He held VI Dan in 2012. His teaching combined technical preparation, discipline and individual attention to each athlete.
Sisters Viktoriia and Anna Moiseienko became two of his outstanding students. By 2012, Viktoriia was a world champion, a two-time World Cup winner, an overall European champion and the holder of 13 European titles. Anna was a world medallist, an overall European champion, a ten-time European champion and a European Cup winner. Their achievements grew from years of work between coach and athletes and became a prominent part of Ukrainian Taekwon-Do’s international record.
Women’s Taekwon-Do: competition and teaching children
Anzhela Makeieva started at seven, coached by her older sister Viktoriia, an international coach holding VI Dan. Over 11 years on the national team, Anzhela won 12 Ukrainian titles, became overall European champion and earned world medals. She began assisting with children’s classes at fifteen, with 48 students in her first group.
Tetiana Tetereviatnykova came to Taekwon-Do with a friend after previously practising swimming. By 23, she was a multiple European and world medallist, an Honoured Master of Sport of Ukraine and a teacher of younger athletes. Her generation combined international competition with preparing its successors.
Madonna Baranova began teaching children at 18. Her students Anastasiia Semenova and Ivan Sliusar continued their teacher’s work by earning European medals.
Regional centres and their people
By 2012, the Volyn school had trained around 25 black belts. Karyna Kinakh, I Dan, won world bronze in sparring in Birmingham and joined the regional federation’s leadership. She organised the Liubart Cup with her father, Oleksandr Kinakh. Former students Denys Karasiukevych and Roman Romanskyi continued teaching abroad, in Argentina and Italy respectively.
The Luhansk school produced coaches Serhii Matviienko, Andrii Bochkov, Volodymyr Leontiev, Yehor Bahdasarian, Viacheslav Kaluhin and Yurii Tychynskyi. Athletes carrying its tradition forward included Mykhailo Popov, Volodymyr Leontiev, Viacheslav and Vladyslav Hrafshyn, Vitalii Holub, Anna Kovaliova, Volodymyr Yuseiev, Oleh Bibikov and Serhii Hanzhara.
By then, Shevket Vaniiev’s record included three world championship medals, four European championship medals and numerous Ukrainian championship and Cup victories. An Honoured Master of Sport of Ukraine, he combined competition with organisational work in Crimean Taekwon-Do. Uk Dara Chan headed the regional network in Kyiv oblast.
2013: the daily work of clubs
Ihor Achkasov began Taekwon-Do at nineteen after practising judo and karate. Naval college, military service and his return to his home city of Feodosia shaped the path that led to the Taifun club. In 2013, the international instructor, then IV Dan, led a club of around 300 students with classes across Greater Feodosia. His education in physical rehabilitation supported his coaching of children and adults.
National and international medals grew from this everyday work. Teachers opened training halls, took students to seminars, prepared teams and passed responsibility to younger coaches. The Ukrainian community carried that experience into the next period of its history.