Ukraine sent a team composed of 155 athletes, its largest ever squad, to the 2016 Rio Paralympics. The Ukrainian team is participating in 14 out of 22 sports. The sports include rowing, sitting volleyball, judo, table tennis, power lifting, swimming, archery, wheelchair fencing, football seven-a-side, road cycling, track cycling, paracanoe and goalball. Ukraine is debuting in paracanoe and goalball.
Sports Minister Igor Zhdanov announced Ukrainian Paralympic champions will be rewarded with a bonus of $40,000, silver medalists will get a cash prize of $26,000 and bronze winners will receive $18,000. Ukraine reportedly spent some $2.7 million to prepare its team for the Paralympic Games, being held from September 7–18 in Rio de Janeiro.
The Ukrainian team was the pride of the nation during the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, winning 32 gold, 24 silver and 28 bronze medals. Ukraine ranked fourth over all, behind China, Russia and Great Britain.
Ukraine first took part in the Paralympics in Atlanta (1996), winning seven medals and earning 44th place. Sydney (2000) saw Ukraine win 37 medals and placed 35th over all. In Athens (2004) Ukraine tallied 55 medals and was sixth over all, while in Beijing (2008) Ukraine improved to fourth with 74 medals.
A total of some 4,500 Paralympics athletes are expected to compete for 528 sets of medals in 22 sports. New sports in 2016 are paracanoe and paratriathlon.
Symashko ready for third Paralympics
Ukrainian football seven-a-side goalkeeper Kostyantyn Symashko has totally prepared himself for his third Paralympic Games at Rio 2016. His squad arrives in Brazil as the world’s No. 1 team, having recently shown its dominance at tournaments in Salon, Spain, and Arnhem, the Netherlands.
The 35-year-old approached Rio nervously, especially after watching the UEFA Euro Championship. He habitually replays in his head moments he may have in games, drawing a parallel between able-bodied soccer and Paralympic soccer. This is his way of preparing himself psychologically.
The Paralympic Games are a chance for the world’s best cerebral palsy footballers to reach the top of their game in front of a global audience. That fact is not lost on Symashko as he ponders his future. The goalkeeper hopes to have a happy retirement from football, and since the sport’s inclusion in the 2020 games is not certain, this could be the time to finish on a high note.
The support for Symashko achieving his goal comes from his team and his family, his wife and son. He dreams of winning the sport’s championship for the team, his son and himself. He realizes it is all up to the team.
The team did all it could to reach Brazil in peak condition. The tournament in Salon was more about the players testing themselves and assessing the form of their opponents, rather than winning. Symashko realizes the competition level is about to get fierce with several rivals.
Ukraine is bracketed with Ireland, Great Britain and Brazil in Group A. Ukraine played both in Salon, and Symashko recognizes where their strengths and weaknesses lie, as well as those of his own team. Great Britain is a big rival tough competitor, physically strong and technically advanced. Brazil is more technically skilled and, if it adds some more fitness, it may become the favorite. Ukraine’s plus is physical advancement with a bit of technique and peak physical conditioning; it hopes to out-last the field in terms of stamina.
Tournament winners
Ukraine, the world’s No. 1 team, claimed the title in Arnhem, the Netherlands, on June 19-26, showing great form by winning the football seven-a-side International Tournament with a perfect 4-0 record. The Netherlands, the U.S.A. and Ukraine played against each other twice in a round-robin format.
The London 2012 silver medalists started out with a 4-1 opening victory against No. 4-ranked the Netherlands. They followed with three more wins: 8-2 against the hosts, and 9-0 and 5-0 versus the United States.
First medals
As of press time, Ukraine was in 12th place in the medals standings after team members won two bronze medals: Ruslan Katyshev (men’s T11 long jump) and Roman Danyliuk (men’s F12 shot put).
Katyshev, 33, finished with a distance of 6.20 meters in the long jump and Danyliuk, 23, finished with a distance of 15.94 meters. Danyliuk holds the world record at 16.64 meters that he scored in Doha, Qatar, in 2015.
In judo, Yuliya Halinska (48 kg) won in the quarterfinal against Karla Ferreira Cardoso of Brazil, and Davyd Khorava (66 kg) lost to Utkirjon Nigmatov of Uzbekistan in the semifinal match on September 8. And in the final B, Liudmyla Lohatska (52 kg) lost against Priscilla Gagne of Canada after losing in the quarterfinal against Sandrine Martinet of France. Two Ukrainians are in the bronze medal hunt, with Halinska against Shizuka Hangai of Japan and Khorava against Jongseok Park of South Korea.