Three-time karate champion of the USSR, president of the Novosibirsk Regional Federation of Karate Benjamin Park, commented in an interview with Vestnik Kavkaza on the first successes of the Azerbaijani team at the Baku 2015 European Games.
- Could you tell us about your first impressions of the Baku 2015 European Games?
- It’s an honor for us that the European Games have started in Baku. I mean we, who lived in the former Soviet Union. On the one hand. On the other hand, yesterday at the ceremony we were impressed by the organization, discipline, order, cleanliness, as well as the Azerbaijanis’ friendly welcoming of guests. Certainly, this is a great sports festival, so we must pay tribute to the organizers. We thank them very much.
- How do you appreciate the level of competition?
- The best athletes of Europe are performing at the competition. The eight best athletes who showed their worth and achieved the best results at the last European Championship, that is why we are watching the competitions, which should show who is the very best of the best.
- What are the chances of karate being included in the Olympic program after the European Games?
- Due to Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijani national karate team, and the initiative they have shown, today we are at the European Games, at the karate tournament. Karate has been involved in the Olympic European program for the first time. For more than 20 years we have been recognized by the International Olympic Committee, but we are still not involved in the program. Therefore, it is the first sign, and we hope that in 2020 in Japan we will be included in the starting program.
- What are the obstacles?
- The point is that we were not included by the Assembly held recently. But there is an initiative from Japan. If Japan, as the host of the Olympic Games in 2020, shows its activity and insists on it, I think that with the support of other countries karate can be involved in the Olympic program. It is very difficult, but we have a chance.
- You are one of the founders of karate-do in Russia. What is the level of development of this sport in the regions of the Russian Federation today?
- Karate is a popular kind of sport in Russia. We must pay tribute to the fact that the whole of Siberia, the Urals, the Far East, Sakhalin Island, as well as the central part of Russia, are passionate about karate. I think the mass development of karate is at a very high level. As for the level of professional athletes, here you need to compare. In the 1990s Azerbaijan was at the same level as the Russian Federation. Now in 2015, the national team of Azerbaijan is one of the best teams in the world. But the Russian team cannot win medals at world level. Therefore it is necessary to proceed from this, we need to receive more experience from our friends, including Azerbaijan. Certainly, it is obvious that the national team of Azerbaijan stands out, not only at the level of the Caucasus, but also out of the former Soviet Union countries at the level of the world's national teams. This is one of the strongest teams today.
- Certainly, the organization of the European Games is a chance to show what they have managed to organize such a strong karate team. As a result of it, the Federation is developing and bringing up such great athletes as Rafael Agayev. He is a young athlete, who was very young recently. At the age of 18 he began to perform and won the European Championship in Moscow, made himself known and always wins medals. Now he is over 30. He is the most respected, the most titled athlete in our world. We have two athletes who have won the world championship 4 times: Aegeus from Spain, but he finished his career in the early 1990s, and Rafael Aghayev, who performs now. He is also a four-time world champion. We have no four-time champions anymore. Azerbaijan can be proud of this athlete, and we are also proud of him.
- How is karate developing in the sphere of youth sports?
- We carry out pretty good work in the regions in the sphere of youth sport. Our clubs have great potential in youth sports schools, where children practice karate. There is no region that would stand out and has stayed in the lead all the time. But we have some leaders: Dagestan in the Caucasus, it is a very strong team, its representatives have almost always been a part of the national team of Russia. The Urals: Tyumen, Chelyabinsk, Yekaterinburg are strong regions. In Siberia: Novosibirsk, Omsk, Tomsk. Certainly, we cannot help noting Saint Petersburg and Moscow. It is one of the popular sports in Russia.
- If we speak about quality, we have a bit of a problem, as our country is huge. For example, children from Siberia cannot travel to European competitions. In European countries, it is much easier to do. They go by bus from Macedonia to Slovenia, from Slovenia to Slovakia, or the Czech Republic and so on. They can reach the competitions by bus. And we need to travel to Moscow, from Moscow we to fly to some European country. It demands some costs, so it causes some problems. Perhaps this fact influences the level of our child athletes, but they perform anyway. Our World Cup winner is from Novosibirsk.
- Therefore, we hope that our main sportsmen will show good results. Evgeny Plohutin performed. Unfortunately he lost his fight, but never mind. He showed good skills. Sport is sport. Tomorrow Zaitseva and our athletes from Chelyabinsk Urals will fight. So let's watch these fights.
