The hope of Ukrainian judo changed citizenship: won a medal at the world championship for Slovenia

16-year-old Ilaria Tsurkan, who was one of the main young hopes of Ukrainian judo, this week won silver at the cadet world championship as part of the Slovenia team.

Several promising Ukrainian judokas refused to represent Ukraine at the international level. This was reported by 'Glavkom' referencing the Base of Ukrainian sports.

The Ukrainian team skipped this competition, likely due to a boycott.

Ilaria's brother, Igor Tsurkan, a silver and bronze medalist at the European championships among juniors, also now represents Slovenia at the international level.

Recently, another promising Ukrainian judoka, Oleksiy Boldyrev, obtained Polish citizenship.

Currently, there are no comments on the official resources of the Judo Federation of Ukraine regarding the above-mentioned cases.

We remind you that Ukraine entered the top 10 of the overall medal table of the European Youth Olympic Festival, taking 10th place. The Ukrainian team's haul includes: 5 gold, 8 silver, and 10 bronze medals.

This is the second most successful performance by Ukraine in the entire history of participation in the Festivals since 1993! The 'blue-yellow' team has only won more medals in 2019 - then there were 25 awards. The most successful sport became judo - our athletes won six medals, including bronze in the mixed team tournament on the final competition day.

In addition to judo, awards for Ukraine were won by representatives of such sports as swimming (2 gold, 2 silver, and bronze), athletics (gold, silver, and 2 bronzes), taekwondo (2 silver and bronze), shooting (silver and bronze), artistic gymnastics (silver and bronze), and table tennis (bronze).

Ukrainian judokas have refused to represent the national team, choosing other countries for participation in international competitions. The vulnerability of the Judo Federation of Ukraine is highlighted in the context of the overall success of various sports on the international arena, which may influence the future prospects for the development of judo in our country.