Written by Alexandra Goranova and Victoria Ivanova
On the Nov. 16 and 17, “Geo Milev” 11th grade student Martin Zhelezchev won 3rd place in the karate discipline “Kumite” at a competition, the 20th State Kumita Championship.
The competition, held at “AQUALIFE” sports base in Kranevo, hosted bout 190 karatekas from 10 clubs. It was an initiative of BKA – IKO Bulgaria with the Chairman of the World Champion – Shihan Emil Kostov.
Martin trains at Kyokushin Spirit Burgas with trainers Shihan Gergana Kostova, Sensei Evgeny Prudnikov, and Senpai Zhivko Zhelev. While he competes at a high-level now, he started at a young age and worked his way up through intensive training.
He said, “Since I was little, I wanted to learn to defend myself.” He continued, “I went to my first practice, and I liked it. It became a discipline for me, and I went on to greater achievements.”
While he has been competing in Kyokushin kai for a long time, he said, “I can’t call myself a professional yet, but I have very big dreams for the future to become a European champion, and later a world champion.” He says that it is difficult to manage his intense training on top of homework, but to him, the right balance is giving as much time to training as he does to school.
To all his peers Martin wishes, “to not give up on anything and to dream, because if you always believe in what you want, it will happen.” He is motivated by knowing he can succeed in anything–be it sports or science–, so long as he does not give up.
Congratulations, Martin!