An Odessite, "Honored Master of Sports of Ukraine" - Angelika Terluga was recognized as the best karatist of the world in the weight category up to 55 kilograms.

Since the beginning of 2019, Angelika has won five gold and one bronze medal at the six KARATE I Premier League tournaments and three awards - gold, silver and bronze - at four KARATE I Series A tournaments. Following the season, the athlete scored 19,114 points. Her closest rival, Italian Sarah Cardin, has 18582 points.

Summing up the sports month, the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine has recognized karateka Angelika Terluga as the best athlete of January 2020 in Ukraine. Her personal mentor Denis Morozov was named the best coach.

In January she also successfully competed in two prestigious international tournaments: winning the Karate1 A Series tournament in Santiago (Chile) and becoming the silver medalist of the Karate1 Premiership in Paris (France). She received a gold medal at the Karate 1 Premier League tournament in the United Arab Emirates, which guarantees her participation in the Olympic Games in Tokyo. In the finals she defeated the representative of Egypt Attiy Yasmin. 

There were dances in my life as well, but not for long time

Angelika Terluga

And then somehow she got into karate, saw all kids wearing white kimonos, a bunch of guys, a good coach - young and strong. Very bright picture for her as a child. And then she decided everything at once: "I want to do karate." And so it turned out. In general, as a child she was a "fighting girl" - a fan of Xena the famous "queen of warriors."

She never dreamed to be a professional athlete. Even she entered the as an ordinary person, not as an athlete.

One of the brightest pages in my sport career was the tournament, which took place in Germany - "International Karate Krokoyama-Cup". It was a very strong tournament and it was very important to me. In addition, many of my teammates did not get into the "prize" place, and for me it was an indicator that I was able to get ahead of them.

And in the final she won over a fairly titled athlete. This tournament showed the result of working with the coach Denis Morozov, with whom she had just started working. Because his workouts were very different from what she had before as she began to work as a professional. The training was versatile: engaged in both functional and physical training, and training in the karate hall were very intense. It was a completely different level.

Also significant for her was the victory at the "Basel Cap" tournament in Switzerland , when she was just 18 years old. She won in the Masters category, where representatives of all weight categories took part. She then fought 15 fights, losing only twice.

There was a period in her life when she could not win the Ukrainian championship. There was no motivation. At some point, the thought came: "Probably that's all. This is the end". She gave up karate, began to live a normal life, worked. But after a while she realized that she's missing something. Due to her life situation, Angelika returned to karate, and she started to do much better than before.

The coaches of the national team of Ukraine offered me to participate in an international tournament, then - in another - in the Premier League tournament in Germany. Then I trained with Denis Morozov again. Went and won. And this is where my ascent began.

Angelika Terluga

Source: NOC