SWiFS trainer won a gold medal in the Polish Open tournament

At the university, she is responsible for training beginner and intermediate groups as part of the Academic Sports Association section (AZS), she also leads Shotokan Karate classes with elements of self-defense, which are very popular among students. She, in turn, trains under the supervision of Andrzej Zarzycki and takes part in national and international competitions. 

During the Polish Open tournament in Bielsko-Biała, Iga fought four exciting duels, and left the fighters from Scotland, Norway and the Polish national team far behind. She even defeated the current Academic European Champion. During the same competition, Michał Bąbos, a player of  the AZS UP Wrocław club, won a bronze medal in the men's kumite competition. Together with Iga Butrym, they promote karate at the university and spread their passion for martial arts. 

– It was my first tournament of the season and the 2022/23 academic year, so I went into the competition to check my form after the pre-season, without much expectations and focus on the result. This turned out to be the key to success. Apart from the enormous joy of achieving one of the best results in my career, I was surprised that my form was so good right from the get go. I have to admit that the first tournaments after the summer break have never been my best and in previous years I needed more time to get into top gear – says Iga Butrym. 

As she admits, winning a tournament of this rank is never easy. The Polish Open is a competition full of medalists from the European and World championships, it is also a competition for the participants of the Olympic Games in Tokyo. 

– Interestingly, I started all of my fights by losing a point. But thanks to my experience, calmness and instructions from coach Andrzej Zarzycki, I made up for the losses and emerged victorious from the duels – says Iga Butrym. She won the first fight with a fighter from Scotland 9:1. As she admits, the most difficult and exciting fight was the second round, where she competed with the current European Academic Champion Kinga Harast. 

– There were a lot of ups and downs during the 3-minute fight. Ultimately I won 5: 4, but it was very difficult. The semi-final fight with the Norwegian contestant was also not the easiest one, and the result of 4: 3 shows that it was another close match. During this fight I also made the most mistakes, but again I was saved by my calmness and experience and I didn’t let her take away my victory. I assumed that in the final I would meet the Scottish fighter– a medalist of the European Championship in the 21 yo age range – reports Iga Butrym and emphasizes that once again the sport has shown its unpredictability, proving that it is not the rankings that matter, but how you fight on the tatami. The favorite was defeated in the semi-finals by a young and promising Polish fighter – Julia Daniszewska.  – So I fought the final fight with a friend from the Polish national team. On the podium I stood next to two medalists of the European Championships, which makes winning the gold medal even more satisfying – says the fighter.

According to Iga Butrym, martial arts are not only about speed, endurance, flexibility, but above all the ability to adapt your techniques to the opponent, to the situation on the tatami, and this requires years of practice, and a victory in such a large tournament takes years of preparation. Training camps during the summer holidays are a necessary element for a fighter to be in top shape at the beginning of October. However, without many years of experience and several dozen fights at the biggest international competitions, this success would not be possible. 

The next tournament coming up for Iga is the Polish Senior Championships in WKF karate in November. This fight will determine who joins the Polish national team for the World Cup in Guadalajara in Spain, which will take place in March 2023. And then the European Games will be held at the turn of June and July next year.

– In order to qualify for these fights, we will have to take part in some very difficult European tournaments. But we’re aiming high, and the 2022/2023 season looks like it’s goig to be intense – says the gold medalist.

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