The incredible success of the masters of Lithuanian Traditional Karate at the European Championship – it was raining medals

10 athletes of various age groups from the traditional karate club “Lūšis” fought for two days with the best European traditional karate masters. Already titled athletes – Hermis Dranevičius, Dalius Dulevičius, Gvidas Ropė – started in the adult age group, and Darija Jočytė in the women’s group (coaches Giedrius Dranevičius and Hermis Dranevičius). Athletes competed in both individual and team events. This quartet won 4 gold, one silver and 7 bronze medals for Lithuania. The athletes tried to make the most of all competition categories, check where they are the strongest and what is missing in preparation for the most important event of 2024, the World Traditional Karate Do Championship, which will be held in Cambril, Spain, on October 23-28 this year. It is a very huge load both during the preparation period and at the start, but the Lithuanians proved to themselves and others that nothing is impossible.

We hung up the team’s oldest athlete, D. Dulevičius, and asked him three questions:

– If you had to describe the championship in three words, what would they be?

– Peace. Concentration. Confidence. I have never felt so emotionally calm, focused and confident. These are the three most important personal victories of this championship. It was because of them that I had never felt so strong before. All this is reflected in the results.

– Which fight did you remember the most?

– One of the first. When in the first round of the Fuku-Go match I faced the titular representative of the Italian national team, Lodato Ettore. After defeating him in the Kitei match, I realized that I am not afraid of anything. That everything is possible.

– You are the oldest representative of the national team, how do you manage to prepare for such physical overloads.

– It’s very simple – we have coaches with a capital letter “T”. Each member of the national team worked according to an individually compiled preparation program, according to an individual physical preparation plan, we polished individual techniques. Yes, I am almost twice as old as some of my direct opponents. But I really didn’t feel that good physically in my thirties or twenties.

Team starts were the most successful of the athletes playing in the “Lūšis” club: H.Dranevičius, G.Ropė and D.Dulevičius won historical awards for Lithuania. For the first time in the history of Lithuanian traditional karate, team Kata (H. Dranevičius, G. Ropė and D. Dulevičius), En-Bu man/man (H. Dranevičius and G. Ropė) and team Kumite – in free fights without weight restrictions (H. Dranevičius, G.Ropė and D.Dulevičius) became European champions.

D. Jočytė won the title of European champion in individual Kumite, in the women’s category, where there are no weight restrictions, who later won another bronze medal together with H. Dranevičius in the En-Bu man/woman category.

Having become the European champion for the first time, D. Jočytė returned with a great mood and answered several questions:

– How would you generally assess your performance at the European Championship? What worked, and what needs to be worked on more? What did the coach say after the starts?

– I will be very happy that I got the opportunity to compete in this competition. I brought back a lot of new experiences and learned new lessons. I would consider my starts not bad, but there is still a lot of room for improvement. I am most satisfied with the Ko-Go kumite and Fuku-Go autumn starts. I also liked to start enbu in August after a very long break. In Juyi’s kumite tournament, not everything went as I wanted, but I am satisfied that I was not afraid to stand up against a strong Italian athlete. The most disappointing was the start in the kata in Riga, and that is what we will probably have to work on the most now. I am very grateful to my coaches Giedrii Dranevičiis and Hermas Dranevičiis for the preparation for this competition and the comments and praises given.

– Who did you remember the most, who left the strongest impression?

– The most memorable part was the team’s start, – answered the athlete briefly and clearly.

– The world championship is coming. How do you feel about the preparation for it?

– I am a little worried about the World Championship, because I will have to test my strength in such an event for the first time in the adult group. However, this competition helped me clear up my weaknesses, so I know what I still need to improve before the World Championships.

In the individual Kumite men’s category, the oldest and youngest athletes of the team, Dalias Dulevičius and Hermios Dranevičius, had successful starts. 2023 paved the way for D. Dulevičius in the semi-finals. world champion from Poland, Pawel Tomasik. The fighter from Poland ended the streak of Lithuanian victories leading to the grand final and D. Dulevičius won the bronze award. H. Dranevičius met an athlete from Israel, G. Rokah, in the semi-finals and was disqualified for contact by the judges’ decision, so he did not make it to the finals and stood on the bronze podium. On the same podium, H. Dranevičius was invited one more time to receive the 3rd place medal in the individual Kata event. Our athlete left Polish representative P. Tomasik and G. Rokah from Israel ahead.

Also, D. Dulevičius won another bronze award in Fuku-Go (a match in which Kata (form) is performed in one round, and after winning it in the next round Kumite (free fight)) was won, in which in the semi-finals the result was 2:3 and again had to be conceded Mr. Tomasik advantage. D. Dulevičius managed to win the highest achievement in individual categories in the Ko-Go kumite (free fight with technical restrictions) event. Cosic Nemanja qualified for the final after convincingly defeating an athlete from Serbia in the semi-finals. In the final, our athlete fought with the multiple world champion of this event from Israel, G. Rokah, who was awarded the victory by the judges’ decision.

– How do you assess your performance at the European Championship? – we asked the most titled traditional karate athlete in Lithuania, Hermios Dranevičius?

– It was one of the best performances of my entire career. I felt confident in my own strength, during the fights I fully relied on my skills and intuition, and in order to be able to rely on my body during the competition, of course, I had to put in a lot of work. I worked according to a personal physical training program, polished technical aspects every day, analyzed the fights of my opponents, their strengths and weaknesses, which later helped me a lot when fighting against them.

What I liked most about the competition was the atmosphere of our team. Everyone supported each other endlessly and at the same time did not pressure me to achieve certain results, which helped me to relax and perform better. In my opinion, it is extremely important not to pressure the athletes to bring back the “gold” or to ask, “what place will you take now?”, because then a person gets stressed thinking about the results and forgets to enjoy the process itself, which for me is the essence of all competitions. I go to competitions to train, learn my main mistakes and show my opponents the main mistakes. When I go to a competition with such a mindset, it is not rare that the results are automatically higher.

After this championship I come back tired but inspired to move on. I saw what I need to work on more and I can’t wait to get to work. – H.Dranevičius finished the comment

In the youth age group (16-17 years), Tomas Vaitilavičius and Adam Goda pleased with their fights. The guys showed not only strong masculine character, but also great skill. A. Goda won as many as 5 awards: 2nd place in the En-Bu man/man event together with T. Vaitilavičius, 3rd place in the team Kata event together with teammates Džiugus Bardin and Jokūb Dulevičius. A. Goda won another silver medal in the Fuku-Go event, leaving behind his teammate, T. Vaitilavičius (3rd place in Fuku-Go). In this event, A. Goda’s way to the golden award was paved by a fighter from the Czech Republic, Neradil Jakub. And the last two 3rd place medals were won in individual Kata and Fuku-Go events.

In the youth age group (14-15 years old), the two Lithuanians who started – Jokūbas Dulevičius and Džiugas Bardinas (coach H. Dranevičius) shone with their skill and character. J. Dulevičius even won two European vice-champion titles in individual Kumite and Ko-Go kumite events and two bronze medals in Fuku-Go and team Kata events. D.Bardinas brought 3 bronze awards to Lithuania – in individual Kumite and Fuku-Go and in team Kata.

Children up to 14 years old in the age category, Arnas Federas (coach H.Dranevičius) performed well, winning the European Children’s Cup vice-champion title in the individual kumite event and the bronze medal in the team En-Bu event, paired with Mata Černauskas (coach H.Dranevičius).