In this new episode of our web-series “Meet…”, we introduce you to STANISLAV HORUNA, Ukrainian karateka and one of the most popular athletes of the international scene. 

In this new episode of our web-series “Meet…”, we introduce you to STANISLAV HORUNA, Ukrainian karateka and one of the most popular athletes of the international scene. 

With his distinctive attitude, his outstanding fighting abilities and his trade-mark hairdo, Stanislav Horuna is one of the most recognisable athletes of today’s Karate. All these unique attributes not only made him stand out from the crowd. They also made him a Karate celebrity. 

It is not hard to find the affable 29-year-old athlete surrounded by fans hoping to get a ‘selfie’ with the idol or trying to chat with the star. In social media, posts featuring the Ukrainian hero are an instant hit; and last year, Horuna made his debut at WKF’s most massive event, the Youth Camp in Umag, to become an immediate icon for the over 2000 underage karatekas attending the event. 

“I don’t know if I am popular or not, I just try to do on the tatami what I know that I am good at,” says Horuna who responds to his popularity with remarkable humility. “I will do what people expect of me: moving, offensive karate... I will try to do on the tatami as much as I can to win,” adds the Ukrainian star. 

TOUGH YEAR 

Born in the city of Lviv, the first-dan Shotokan karateka acts as current Grand Winner after his sensational season last year at the Karate 1-Premier League.  This year, Horuna is also on track to a successful season, with three medals in five international appearances.  

“It’s being a very tough year. I started very well but now I feel that I am getting too tired. During the summer I will work on my physical and I will try to get in better shape for the period of Olympic qualification. I hope I can get a good mentality to keep on getting good results,” said the winner of the 2018 Karate 1-Series A Guadalajara. 

At the European Championships, Horuna reached the tournament as one of the front-runners and current silver medallist. The Ukrainian ace defeated Petr Kubika of Czech Republic (1-0), Tomas Silva of Portugal (3-1) and Logan Da Costa of France (2-0) to fight for the ticket to the final. In semi-finals, Horuna was defeated by Hungary’s Gabor Harspataki (3-0)

“After four fights I could not qualify for the finals. (In semi-finals) I was very tired from my previous fights, I felt that I lacked the energy and I could not punch and move well. I will try to go for bronze and show people a good fight,” said Horuna. 

The Ukrainian champion will clash for bronze against Croatia’s Enes Garibovic in Male Kumite -75kg, in one of the highlights of the day. 

BALANCING KARATE LIFE AND WORK

Much to the surprise of many of his fans, Stanislav Horuna works as a lawyer at a firm in his home-town of Lviv. His followers sometimes have a hard time imagining the athlete who is well known for his sense of humour doing such sober tasks as those of jurisprudence. 

“My work is very different from Karate. Sometimes it is very boring but it helps me to switch my mind. During the day, I work at the office and in the evenings I go to the gym and train,” said Horuna. 

The Ukrainian karateka has earned 19 medals in international competitions in over 11 years of career and he is always on the line to reach the podium at events. Regardless the results, Horuna is also well-known for keeping good spirits and for defending the values of Karate. In victory or defeat, Horuna has a lesson for all of us to learn: 

“It does not matter what you do, it is just physical. It is all in your head, all of our problems, all of our concerns, they are just in our head”.