2017: champions teach and compete
In July, ITF Fight Evolution welcomed around 70 athletes from thirteen countries, including Argentina and Canada. Oleh and Kateryna Solovey taught in Czechia and Finland in August, then Amsterdam in September. Ukrainian coaching was attracting colleagues from abroad.
At the October World Championships in Dublin, Vitalii Solovey won his second junior world title after six victories. Ivan Hryshchuk took silver. Coaching and leading athletes’ own performances sustained continuity between generations.
The late-August Finnish seminar focused on national-team preparation, with fourteen athletes training under the Soloveys. Master Terry Moore, VII Dan, organised it. The relationship built on earlier exchanges: their Finnish seminar in 2014 had attracted more than one hundred participants.
2018: club development and European competition
Ivano-Frankivsk region, Kyiv and Kharkiv region led the Ukrainian Championships team standings. The Union’s children’s competition included pupils of 43 coaches from 34 clubs in sixteen regional centres. Lider Solovey Team, Vinnytsia’s Tornado and Kharkiv’s Dan Gun led the club standings.
National titles went to several schools. Sparring champions included Bohdan Tkachenko from Kharkiv region, Vladyslav Sobchuk from Rivne region and Kyiv’s Anna Bondar. Vinnytsia’s Karyna Kolomiiets and Maryna Tomliak were among the patterns champions.
Ukraine earned two golds and a silver at the European Championships in Maribor. At the European Cup in Sibiu, the team placed second among children and pre-juniors, and fifth among juniors and adults.
2019: world medals and an established network
From 22 to 28 April, twenty-nine Ukrainian athletes competed at the World Championships in Inzell. Three golds, one silver and three bronzes placed Ukraine tenth among 64 countries. Karyna Perkhulyn won junior silver in the over-65 kg division.
Head coach Oleh Solovey worked alongside Kateryna Solovey, Valerii Boiko, Iryna Kuznetsova and Ihor Maksymenko. Specialists from different clubs and disciplines contributed to the team’s results.
By 2019, the Union had about 3,500 members, 66 coaches and 79 umpires across sixteen regional centres. Four umpires held international Class A status. During 2018–2019, instructors attended IICs in Balatonfüred, Amsterdam, Sofia and Skövde.