Thanks to George Teseleanu and his team, the Ukrainian Judo Federation (UJF) and the International Judo Federation (IJF), with the support of the Ministry of Youth and Sport and the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine, have already evacuated 300 children under the age of 18.
They are now accommodated and will be able to continue practising judo in Constanta, on the shores of the Black Sea in south-eastern Romania.
“Our young sportspeople were welcomed by George Teseleanu, the owner of the local sports club on a bank of the Black Sea,” explained UJF, before adding, “As long as the war continues in Ukraine, our young judoka will be provided with accommodation and food and they will be able to continue their studying and training process.”
Everything began with an idea and a few phone calls. Following an idea of George Teseleanu, the offer to evacuate children was proposed by the President of the Judo Fight Federation of the Transcarpathian region, Valeriy Peresoliak and it was immediately supported by the president of the Ukrainian Judo Federation, Mykhailo Koshliak. It then needed to be implemented.
The transfer of the young judoka took three days, from 1st to 3rd April. They came from all parts of the country, including regions around Kyiv, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, Donetsk, Luhansk, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Ivano-Frankivsk, Vinnytsia, Cherkasy, Khmelnytskyi, Volyn and Transcarpathia.
The IJF was contacted and asked for help to evacuate the young and talented judo people to the nearest European Union country and to take them away from the war.
IJF President Marius Vizer, together with the President of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine Sergey Bubka, offered help and coordinated the project with George Teseleanu from Constanta who was willing to welcome more than 300 people and provide them with all the necessary support.
You can find the full information HERE.
