Representatives of five countries became the winners of “UZHGOROD OPEN 2012”

On April 28 – 29, in the regional center of Transcarpathia the 12th traditional international dance sport competition «UZHGOROD OPEN 2012" was held. During the two days on the floor of Uzhgorod sports complex "Yunost" (“Youth”) danced 1,500 participants from 20 countries (Italy, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Holland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Belarus, Romania, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine (represented nearly 25 cities), Russia, Japan). Duets competed in nearly 20 categories, 30 types of programs within 27 hours! Zakarpattya online was informed of this by in the press center of the competition.

The category “Adults” WDSF OPEN was a prestigious one. On the first day of the competition in the European program won the 40th world pair Michael Bilopuhov – Anastasia Shipilina (Kiev), which bypassed the compatriots from Kharkov and Poltava. The winners said that it was their third competition in Uzhgorod and they celebrated the fifth anniversary of a duet. The dancers from the capital especially liked the organization. Moreover the city stood out with its beauty. Therefore, the guests from Kiev decided to stay one day longer in the regional center of Transcarpathia for a stroll, especially during the time of cherry blossoming.

In the evening program of the second day of the competition, the first place was taken by Vladimir Lyatov and Veronica Mishko (club "Grace" Uzhgorod), which is especially nice to say. It was extremely difficult for our pair to gain victory. Indeed, just before these competitions Volodya and Nika left a lot of strength in the European Championships in Denmark (10 dances on the program – Final, 5th place) and Germany (the European program – reached the semi-finals). The winners said that fatigue, caused by frequent flights, was vivid, but in general, physically and mentally they were ready to fight, moreover with the support of the native city. And it should be noted that the judges from 13 countries unequivocally preferred Uzhgorod duet who managed to bypass two winner pairs from Moscow, and four star pairs (which are in the world top 50). You may enjoy the dances of the winners here.

Among Transcarpathians there should also be singled out Orest Turkevych and Andriana Turkevych as well as Bogdan Shtefanyuk and Valeria Vetrova (club "Gracia"), who won the first and second places in the category “Youth + Adults” Class C . A few more pairs of Uzhgorod clubs also took part in the finals.

The chief referee, the referee of international category (WDSF) Lisunova Tatiana from Simferopol noted that «UZHGOROD OPEN 2012" is one of the best dance competitions in Ukraine thanks to the participation of judges and rated athletes from different countries, the organization of competitions and even the design of the hall. The President of the Organization of Ukrainian Transcarpathian Regional Dance Sport Federation, the main organizer of the competition Mishko Alexandra said that due to the years of the experience they manage to make it better and better and a favorable geographical location contributes to the arrival of duets from many countries to Uzhgorod. Moreover, these are really strong participants.

Indeed, the fight on the dance floor will be remembered due to the outstanding rivalry in the best sense of this word. The fact that the third at the World Cup in 2009 under the program of 10 dances Italian champions from Naples, Francesco Esposito – Svetlana Kostenko though were trying hard to win did not manage to get among the winners, speaks a lot. However, both Francesco and Svetlana (she’s a Ukrainian) are satisfied with the tournament since that was their first time in Uzhgorod and they were glad to have the opportunity to compete with strong pairs at the well organized tournament (there were enough star duets in the Latin American program too).

 In total the winners of «UZHGOROD OPEN 2012" became the representatives of five countries: Ukraine (from nearly 25 cities – the most awards were won by the dancers from Kiev, Chernovtsy, Odessa, Lvov), Russia, Romania, Lithuania and Austria. At the competition representatives of 30 members of media were accredited.