On 14–15 May, the Polish Junior Olympic Taekwondo Championships were held at the University of Wrocław sports hall. The competition was not very successful for UKS Ilyo Bolesławiec. After a series of qualifying tournaments, only Kamil Serafin (competing in the −59 kg category) qualified for the final eight. Adam Filipek finished outside the final eight (in the −68 kg category).
In the finals, Kamil fought just three bouts. In his first bout, he lost to AZS AWF Warszawa athlete Andrzej Butkiewicz. In the third round, the Bolesławiec fighter launched an effective attack on his opponent’s head. However, the judges made a controversial decision and did not award Kamil 3 points for the action. The Warsaw competitor won.
The Bolesławiec taekwondo fighter still had a chance to win bronze in the repechage bouts. Kamil won his first bout at the beginning of the second round, defeating Kacper Krzyżan (UKS Sokół Kościan) 8–1. Unfortunately, the judges called the Bolesławiec fighter for his next bout four minutes after he had completed the previous one.
The course of the repechage semifinal was dramatic. The final result was decided by just a few seconds. Kamil received a second warning, which gave an additional point to his opponent, Damian Słupecki (from Taekyon Sierpc). Słupecki’s narrow victory ended the UKS Ilyo athlete’s hopes of winning a medal.
“Without the two controversial decisions by the judges, we would have won at least a bronze medal for Bolesławiec,” comments Mariusz Sulma, president and coach of UKS Ilyo. “I am lost for words. Although an electronic scoring system is used at the competition, far too much still depends on the judges.”
(UKS Ilyo/ii information)
