Brutal timekeeper error robs Terliuga of gold medal dream after defiantly standing up to Russian in earlier fight

It went from ecstasy to agony in mere moments for Ukraine’s Olympic silver medalist Anzhelika Terliuga at the World Karate Federation (WKF) World Championships, after a Bulgarian protest over a timekeeping error forced a partial replay of the semi-final fight she had already won on Oct. 25.

The drama unfolded after her emotional 1-0 Round of 32 win over Russia’s Anna Chernysheva, competing as an “Individual Neutral Athlete” at the tournament in Budapest, Hungary. Terliuga, whose former university and karate school were destroyed in a Russian attack on Odesa in June, declined to bow to her Russian opponent post-match.

Terliuga was initially declared the winner in her semi-final match against Bulgaria’s Ivet Goranova, a back-and-forth 14-11 affair featuring several Ippons (3-point head kicks) that had the crowd buzzing.

“I let out a scream because I was so emotional – I had put in so much time and effort into this”, she said in immediate post-match comments to NV, before being interrupted by coach Mykola Syrakovskyi, who made her aware of the protest.

Moments later, to the bewilderment of most that had watched the match, a partial replay was ordered.

“Yes, the Bulgarian team filed a protest due to an error with the clock. The protest was accepted and following the rules, the bout had to be restarted from the point when the error occurred,” the WKF explained to NV.

When asked how such a basic administrative error could happen in such a high stakes fight at the sport’s biggest event, featuring a favorite for the tournament, WKF has yet to respond.

Terliuga would go on to lose the partial replay, ordered to a time when she was down in the fight – ultimately ending with a score of 6-4.

“You stole my World Championship final," a devastated Terliuga wrote on Instagram after the replay.

"I will never forgive this day! And now they want to tell me to go and get ready for the bronze final?!”

“Does this look like a military facility?”

Odesa’s Anzhelika Terliuga is the world’s greatest under-55 kg fighter.

After winning silver at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, Terliuga has been close to unstoppable. She won World Games gold in 2022, gold at the 2022 and 2023 European Championships, and became European Games champion this summer in Krakow, Poland. She also won gold at three of the four WKF Premier League events this year. It was the third straight year she has won the WKF’s Grand Winner award.

She came to Budapest as the favorite to win her first World Championship gold medal, and things went according to plan with a straightforward 2-0 win over Greece’s Maria Stoli.

The win set up a fight against Russia’s 2021 European champion and 2021 World Championship bronze medalist Anna Chernysheva.

More than winning strictly on talent, Terliuga was forced to keep her emotions in check. Four months ago, a Russian missile destroyed her former university and karate hall in Russia’s deadly June 14 attack on Odesa.

“This was a karate gym!" she wrote on social media at the time over a series of photos of her now destroyed former karate hall.

"It was the gym of my club Royal Karate Team. A lot of kids had karate trainings here every day. Does this look like a military facility?”

Terliuga managed to keep her emotions in check long enough to secure a tense 1-0 victory. Following the victory, she declined the traditional bow, instead quickly running over to celebrate with coach Syrakovskyi.

“Our team was instructed not to bow to Russian or Belarusian athletes," Ukrainian Karate Federation (UKF) President Ivan Dutchak told NV.

"Nor to shake hands or hug. World Karate was made aware of our position beforehand.”

A monumental timekeeping error

While Terliuga’s decision not to bow was noticeable, the WKF seemed to have dodged the bullet that the International Fencing Federation faced when Ukraine’s Olha Kharlan declined to shake hands with Russia’s Anna Smirnova.

Olympic champion Kharlan was initially awarded the win, before being subsequently disqualified for her handshake snub.

But Terliuga didn’t have to wait long for her very own referee’s decision-overturned-by-federation moment.

A 4-2 win over Latvia’s Marija Luize Muiznice set up her controversial semi-final fight with Bulgaria’s Goranova – who had earlier beaten Terliuga for Tokyo 2020 Olympic gold.

Terliuga quickly jumped to a 4-1 lead, before Goranova slowly crept back into the fight with a series of Yukos (1-point strikes), taking a 5-4 lead with 1:14 left in the fight. Unbeknownst to the crowd – there was no indication, nor on-the-spot protest – there was “an error with the clock” on the restart. A wild final 75 seconds ensued, with Terligua landing two high-difficulty Ippons, before Goranova scored one herself to make for a tense final 15 seconds.

The fighters threw everything they had at each other, but the 14-11 score would stand and an emotional Terliuga let out a loud scream of relief. She had qualified for the final of the one tournament she had yet to do so.

“That 14-11 semifinal against Ivet Goronova was incredible!" Terliuga said about the fight.

"Every point in this fight was fair! I have never felt such happiness as at that moment."

Successful protest

It didn’t take long for the team to realize that the result had been questioned.

Terliuga had not even finished her post-fight interviews when she was interrupted by her coach. There were no such fireworks in the replay of the final 1:14. Goranova would score a single point to win the semi-final 6-4 and clutch a victory out of the jaws of defeat.

The fact that the Bulgarian coach declined to complain about the timing error on the spot – when his athlete was winning – had Terliuga call into question the Bulgarian team’s sportsmanship.

“The Bulgarian side files a protest with WKF that there was a clock failure in the middle of the fight," Terliuga said after the replay.

"That is, they were silent the whole match and at the end, when they lost, they decided to use the situation with the clock. When they returned to the fight, the Bulgarian opponent (Goranova) ran away to the corners and refused to fight anymore. You have to live with it, Ivet. Is this how you wanted to go to the final of the World Championship?!”

But the bigger question is how a fight of this magnitude, at a tournament of such importance, could be decided by such a basic error.

“Individual Neutral Athletes”

The scope of the supposed "timekeeping error" is compounded by the attention given to the fight – considering that the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes was only confirmed days prior to the tournament's commencement.

The decision upset the UKF, who filed a protest with the WKF and shared photos on social media tying Russian athlete Ernest Sharafutdinov and Belarusian athlete Aliaksei Furyk to their respective militaries.

According to IOC guidance, Russian and Belarusian athletes that are tied to their militaries, or who have expressed public support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, are ineligible to compete in international events.

When asked about how the WKF vetted the Russian and Belarusian athletes that registered to compete at the 2023 World Championships, the organization declined an interview with NV, instead providing a written statement stating that: “Russian and Belarusian athletes … met the requirements of neutrality as expressed by the IOC and upon written confirmation that they are not taking part in the conflict and [will] refrain from any activity or communication associated with the national flag, anthem, or any other symbol of the Russian Federation, the Republic of Belarus, their NFs (national federations – ed.) or NOCs (National Olympic Committees – ed.), or support for the war in Ukraine, at any official venue or in the media.” The organization added that this decision was taken by the WKF  WKF Executive Committee as a whole.

The WFK also responded to the photos provided by the Ukrainian federation, though they dismissed them as hearsay.

“We do not usually comment on rumors or issues that are not proven facts,” the WFK stated, insisting that each particiating Russian and Belarusian athlete had signed a document attesting to the statement provided above.

Spoiling karate’s Olympic ambitions

Karate last saw Olympic inclusion at Tokyo 2020, and was passed over for the Paris 2020 program. It will also not be included as a Olympic sport in Los Angeles 2028, either.

A devastated Terliuga shared her frustration after the event, and pointed to the timekeeping error as a reason for karate's omission.

“Now you don’t have to think about why karate is no longer an Olympic sport," she shared in an emotional Instagram post.

"Because where else can such a situation happen!”

“I just hate this sport!" Terliuga expressed.

"I didn’t let anyone down today! I honestly won and should be in the final! My dream was stolen from me. My heart hurts, my hands are shaking as I write these words, I want to scream in pain, and I don’t know what to do next.”

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine