Returning to Slovakia with medals and with the feeling of a job well done – SME
Honest summer training paid off for the Gašperíkovs. Karate player Michal scored points in two disciplines. More medals were added to the rich collection.
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BUDAPEST. Unique, exceptional, international. Those are perhaps the three most apt adjectives that have characterized the Budapest Open for many years. The traditional karate competition, which is also the last nomination championship to advance to the WKF (World Karate Federation) World Championships, has already written its 25th chapter. There was also one representative of Novohrad at the quarter-century of an important sports event that took place the weekend before last (September 17-18).
Or better said – there were two. The two Gasperiks, father John in the role of coach and son Michal (competitor), representing the colors of the Miyagi club. The young man from Lučen was definitely not lost on the tatami in the capital of Hungary.
Miško Gašperík was able to enjoy a well-deserved silver and gold medal at the 25th Budapest Open (source: archive of Ján Gašperík)
“Since the places at the Budapest Open were limited, only Michal Gašperík participated in the competition for our Miyagi club. Ten competitions traditionally take place in two disciplines, in team kata exercise and in a kumite match,” revealed coach Ján Gašperík at the beginning.
According to the coach, Gašperík junior, after challenging fights in the kata, fought his way through opponents from Australia, Israel and Romania to then meet one British and one Slovak karateka in the semi-final duels.
“In the winning match for the gold, Miško lost to the Bulgarian Nikolay Tsviatkov by one stop. He thus won an excellent second place. Later that day, he continued with a match in kumite, which Michal himself considers to be his favorite discipline. And he wants to be allowed to do it in the future . He participated in the match with representatives of several countries, karate players from Great Britain, Hungary, but also Slovakia were dominant. In style matches, Michal gradually eliminated everyone. Match by match, we were getting closer to the goal, which we had not even dreamed of before ,” continued Ján Gašperík, the proud father and coach of the Miyagi club.
Slovak talent from Lučenac Michal Gašperík (right) with Czech talent J. Stránsky (source: archive of Ján Gašperík)
The final confrontation with the English karate player Izaiah Sanders, which ended in favor of the young man from Lučená in the ratio of 9:0, only demonstrated Michal’s dominance. At the 25th edition of the Budapest Open, the representative of Novohrad stepped onto the podium as the winner in kumite in the U8 category.
“I rate Mišek’s weekend performance as the best in his competition season. His summer and holiday training, which often lasted into the evening hours, left a definite stop on his result. A very balanced performance and maximum concentration are rare in his competition category. The fight for the gold was also exceptional from my point of view as a coach. Michal won all the kumite matches before the time limit. No karateka can score him a clean point, so he won every match with a count, and even without giving a penalty point to the opponent. In Slovakia, we came away with two medals as a feeling well done work,” concluded coach and father in one role Gašperík Sr.