PARIS (AP) — Oksana Kozyna’s Paralympic debut was positive to have some surprising moments, however the shock she obtained would possibly beat something that might have occurred on the court docket.
The Ukrainian para badminton participant was raised in an orphanage for disabled youngsters in Dnipro, Ukraine, alongside teammate Oleksandr Chyrkov. Earlier than her first singles match within the SL3 classification (standing with decrease limb impairment), she met one in every of her former academics from the orphanage — a reunion that introduced again recollections of studying the game whereas additionally that includes all of the feelings felt by Ukrainians because the warfare continues again residence.
“I didn’t acknowledge her at first after which, once I acknowledged her, I simply couldn’t imagine it,” Kozyna mentioned of her instructor, Svitlana Shabalina, whereas assembly with reporters Sunday night. “It’s like a dream.”
Shabalina had left the orphanage years earlier and just lately emigrated to Sweden. Kozyna fled Ukraine shortly after Russia attacked in 2022 and now lives with Chyrkov, two different Ukrainian athletes and their households in France, the place she skilled for the Paralympics.
Kozyna has been a key participant in Ukrainian para badminton since successful silver on the European Championships in 2017. The 29-year-old additionally gained Ukraine’s first world para badminton championship in 2022.
Shabalina didn’t plan to see her former college students. Chyrkov really shocked Shabalina whereas coaching close to the place she lives in Sweden. The 2 had stayed in contact within the years after Chyrkov left the orphanage, and he invited Shabalina to observe him and Kozyna compete. Two weeks earlier than the video games started, Shabalina determined to go.
“Ever since we started the warfare, we’ve tried to determine do it in a correct approach,” Chyrkov mentioned. “It actually helped as a result of a whole lot of Ukrainians got here and supported.”
Kozyna mentioned the trio has spent the previous few days discussing how life has modified since they left the orphanage. Kozyna had not seen Shabalina since earlier than the warfare started.
Kozyna had her first ladies’s singles loss on Sunday, falling in straight units to No. 1 seed Qonitah Ikhtiar Syakuroh of Indonesia. She’s going to play Nigerian Mariam Bolaji for the bronze medal on Monday.
“I did have favourite pupils, (and) they had been one in every of them,” Shabalina mentioned about Kozyna and Chyrkov. “I cherished what I do and my youngsters, as a result of I actually assume they’re like my youngsters.”
___
Jack Leo is a scholar within the undergraduate certificates program on the Carmical Institute of Sports activities Media on the College of Georgia.
___
AP Paralympics:
window.fbAsyncInit = function() {
FB.init({
appId : ‘870613919693099’,
xfbml : true,
version : ‘v2.9’
});
};
(function(d, s, id){
var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];
if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;}
js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;
js.src = ”
fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);
}(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));