Yaroslava Prudnikova and Valentin Zhelev, from Burgas club SKK Kyokushin Spirit, won titles at the sixth international Kyokushin karate championship in Bursa, Turkey. Prudnikova won gold in kumite in the women's over-65kg category after extra time in the final. Zhelev took the super-heavyweight title, beating a French opponent by waza-ari. Both train under shihan Gergana Apostolova-Kostova.
Zhelev also won first place in men's kata and got the championship's special award for "strongest fighting spirit". Prudnikova also took bronze in kata in the girls' 16-17 age group.
Among the older girls, Victoria Pehlivanova finished second in the over-60kg category, and Maria Taneva took third in the under-50kg category. Danaya Lana placed third in the 10-11 age group, under-40kg category, and Tervel Vasilev took third in kumite among 16-17-year-olds in the under-70kg category.
In the girls' event, Yaroslava Anurova failed to get through the qualifiers, and Ivan Pavlovski was knocked out in his third bout in the men's under-70kg category.
Bulgaria sent 23 competitors, and the IKO Bulgaria national team came home with 13 gold medals. The team was led by shihan Emil Kostov and shihan Gergana Apostolova-Kostova, both world champions.
At the championship, Kostova served as a referee, sensei Evgeni Prudnikov was on the judging panel, and Emil Kostov attended as an observer.
The championship ran on October 3 and 4. On the first day, the 8-15 age groups competed, and the second day opened with kata, followed by the junior, girls', men's and women's categories.
This year's tournament brought together 240 karatekas from 12 countries: Turkey, Kuwait, Iran, Lebanon, Belgium, France, Kazakhstan, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Austria and Bulgaria.