Press releases

VITEBSK, 1 December (BelTA) – Belarus will host the European Sports Chanbara Championship in 2019, Chairman of the Belarusian Spochan Federation, head coach of the Belarusian national sports chanbara team Andrei Kalistov told BelTA.

“The 42^nd World Sports Chanbara Championship in Tokyo gathered 1,500 athletes from 26 countries. It was the first world-level event that Belarus took part in. Maria Tatarinova won the 5Q Kodachi (short sword) silver. The schedule of the forthcoming tournaments was revised at the international congress held during the Tokyo championship. Belarus, which was supposed to be the venue of the European Spochan Championship in 2018, will host it in 2019,” Andrei Kalistov said.

The Belarusian delegation also delivered a report on the first International Spochan Festival held in Belarus in August 2016. The festival included a seminar for referees and the international spochan tournament Belarus Open 2016. Participants of the congress also discussed the Belarusian Summer 2016 interactive project that gathered athletes from Belarus, Russia, Japan, Estonia, Italy, and Ukraine. The congress participants hailed the organization of the event and decided to stage the second summer in Belarus as well.

Sports chanbara (spochan) is a modern type of Japanese martial arts, a safe method of sword fencing. In Japan spochan is the official sport, as in some countries. In Belarus, it is growing in popularity. The Belarusian Spochan Federation was registered in September this year. In 2015 and 2016 Belarus participated in open tournaments and championships in Russia. In May this year, Belarus debuted at the 9^th European Spochan Championships in Paris and won a bronze medal.