Author: Ihor Stelmach

Elite Ukrainian fencer Olha Kharlan won the gold medal at the 2024 Women’s Saber World Cup held in Lima, Peru, on February 9-11. Because Kharlan is currently ranked sixth in the world, she was given direct entry into the main draw. She defeated Hungarian Lisa Pustai (15-11) in the quarterfinal and American Elizabeth Tarta­kovsky (15-12)...

UEFA’s Europa League playoffs kicked off in Hamburg, Germany, on February 15 with Marseille leading the match on two occasions only to be dramatically caught by Shakhtar Donetsk, which fought back to earn a 2-2 draw setting up a nail-biting second leg in France later this month. Goals by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Iliman Ndiaye proved...

Ukrainian boxer Anna Lysenko has already experienced the Olympic challenge, almost winning a medal at the 2021 Tokyo Games. She knows the stakes and how much preparation and training are required to attain elite athlete status in her sport. She has been hard at work in a modest gym in downtown Kyiv despite the unnerving...

Ukrainian athletes won a pair of medals in Para Nordic skiing on the first day of the Para Nordic Cup in Martell, Italy, on January 31 through February 4. Pavlo Bal won gold in men’s classic sitting and Liudmyla Liashenko took silver in women’s sprint classic standing. The inaugural event of the 2024 Para biathlon...

After Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) banned Russian and Belarusian athletes from international competitions. A subsequent ruling that allowed so-called individual neutral athletes (INA’s) to participate in the 2024 Summer Olympics was a softening of the IOC’s stance from its original position. In addition, many of the athletes already...

The 26th Congress of the Ukrainian Association of Football (UAF) concluded its business on January 25 at the House of Football in Kyiv. During this extraordinary session, Andriy Shevchenko was unanimously elected president of the UAF and the congressional delegates also approved the new composition of the UAF Executive Committee, which includes Shevchenko (president), Pavlo...

Twenty-three-year-old Dayana Yastremska, who qualified for the 2024 Australian Open (as opposed to being granted an invitation), took the competition by storm, winning her way to the semifinal of the major tournament. She was the first qualifier to reach the semifinal at Melbourne Park since 1978. And she was on a mission to ensure people...

Sixteen-year-old Ukrainian Yelyzaveta Kotliar has found herself entangled in some controversy after she shook hands with Russian Vlada Mincheva following their girls’ singles match at the 2024 Australian Open. Kotliar lost the match 2-6, 4-6 in a 70-minute affair. After the conclusion of the match, Kotliar walked up to the net and shook the hand...

A record nine Ukrainian women tennis players were entered in the main draw of the 2024 Australian Open held on January 14-28. Four made it to the round of 32, three continued onward to the round of 16, two played their way into the quarterfinal and one made it into the semifinal. Exiting in first-round...

After overcoming several obstacles in the last five years, Ukrainian Yuliia Starodubtseva took her place on tennis’ big stage when she made it to the 2024 Australian Open’s main draw. Two points away from losing to Gabriela Knutson in the third set of her qualifying match in Melbourne, Starodubtseva turned it around to win 4-6,...

If you didn’t know any better, you would have thought he was the mayor of Lake Placid, N.Y. A community leader, Dmitry Feld was president of the Shipman Youth Center’s Board of Directors, co-organizer of the annual I Love BBQ and Music Festival, the local face of humanitarian efforts to aid Ukraine, USA Luge marketing...

Ukraine’s Ministry of Youth and Sport and its National Olympic Committee (NOC) asked World Taekwondo (WT) to review a decision made to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes, especially Vladyslav Larin, to participate as neutrals in international competitions. Minister of Youth and Sport Matviy Bidnyi and NOC President Vadym Gutzeit have called on WT to follow...