Estonian Taekwondo Team Returns From Minsk, With Bevy of Medals
The Estonian taekwondo team has returned from the European Championships in Minsk with a successful showing of 15 medals.
The championships saw 600 athletes from 27 countries take the field in myriad categories, such as individual throws and self-defence.
Estonian athletes took one gold - the men's team in a special leaping technique - two silvers and 12 bronzes.
The same men's team, consisting of Eduard Svarval, Vjatšeslav Ištšik, Aleksandr Antonov, Deniss Presnetsov, Aleksandr Kozin and Igor Aleksandrov, took a team bronze in sparring.
The coach is Mihhail Kõlvart, a deputy mayor of Tallinn.
"The gold and the championship title is the most important, but the bronze is a good result as well. We lost very narrowly in the semifinals to a men's team where we had a real shot at beating Europe's strongest athletes. We did beat Britain in the quarters, though," Kõlvart was quoted by uudised.err.ee as saying.
The silver medals went to juniors - Aleksandr Jonasing from Haapsalu in the 75 kg sparring and Ilja Makarov from Kohtla-Järve. Olga Borissenko from Paldiski won two bronzes, as did Vladislav Žarov of Tallinn.
A month from now, Estonia's taekwondo athletes can be seen in the biggest Baltic tournament, BaltCup, which will be held in Tallinn on May 10-11.