Stanislav Horuna joins the defence of his hometown Lviv. He says he is mentally ready for the fight. The karate star joins a group of professional athletes in doing so.
Ukrainian karate star Stanislav Horuna has joined the defence of his home country against the Russian invasion.
The 33-year-old is ready to defend his native city of Lviv in western Ukraine even without military experience. There he has joined the city’s defence, as so many Ukrainians have done across the country in recent weeks.
Horuna won the bronze medal in the 75 kg category at the Tokyo Olympics last summer. Shortly before that, he had become European champion, defeating five-time world champion Rafael Aghayev of Azerbaijan.
Horuna: “Mentally I am ready to fight “
“Mentally I am ready to fight. Because I know that I am not attacking, I am defending,” Horuna told Radio 5 Live. He believes that Ukraine “will soon return to normal life”.
“Of course, not all of Ukraine is destroyed, but many cities are completely destroyed, some are half destroyed, and the people who left their homes and cities are now refugees,” he said, describing the seriousness of the situation: “Many of them have left the country and their lives have completely changed. I live in a relatively safe place, and we are trying to help the people who have left their homes.”
Horuna is one of several Ukrainian athletes who have joined the resistance against the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. Among them are tennis player Sergiy Stakhovsky, heavyweight boxer Oleksandr Usyk and boxer Vasiliy Lomachenko.
Horuna believes war will end soon
The brothers Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko, both former heavyweight world champions, are important faces of Ukrainian defence anyway. For Vitali Klitschko, as mayor of the capital Kiev, this is especially true.
Horuna wants to continue with karate training soon. “I estimate that in 10 days, maybe two weeks, we will win this war, and my theory is that life will return to normal,” he expressed optimism.
He continued, “I will be able to go back to my gym, my dojo and continue my regular training. And I will start preparing for the next tournament or championship. We will see – I hope and believe that the war will end soon, because the Russian army is running out of resources. “