Igor Liubchenko, one of the strongest Ukrainian and world’s muaythai athletes; also one of the main contenders for the gold medals in 63.5 kg weight division at the World Games 2017 in Wroclaw, Poland.
IFMA would like to shed light on the Igor’s path towards one of the most important events in every muaythai athlete’s career.
Igor became 4 times world champion in Sweden winning the gold medal and at the same time earning the right to go to the World Games 2017 in Wroclaw, Poland. He proved a long time ago that today muaythai is strong all around the world, and his convincing victories against Thai superstars were the best proof for it. After the triumph in Sweden he came back to his native city Odessa as a real hero becoming a true role model for young muaythai athletes. Igor has gold medals in his athletic record from the 2010 and 2013 World Combat Games and he hopes that soon this true celebration of combat sports will again invite all martial artist for the following edition of the Games.
Among his athletic achievements Igor is also involved as a coach sharing his vast experience with young ones who only step on the path leading to the awarding podiums. He will be one of the coaches for the Ukrainian youth team at the upcoming Youth World Championships which will be his debut as a coach on the international level.
In 2015 he was awarded with the Triumph of the Year award by the Ukrainian NOC as the most outstanding sportsman. It was a true honour to receive the award presented by the NOC of Ukraine; muaythai has given him so much in his life, and that this is one of the highlights of his career.
The head coach of the Ukrainian team Pavel Yevtushenko says that Igor has achieved a lot for his age and he is sure that his hard work and love for muaythai will bring him many more victories, and for Ukraine fame around the world. Pavel says that even though Igor leaves his spot at the European Championships 2016 in Split to younger athletes he continues to train at his maximum despite Odessa summer weather which is very close to the motherland of the sport Thailand.
Both Pavel and Igor, as well as all Ukrainian muaythai, are looking forward to 2017 as this will be one of the most important moments in a career of any muaythai athlete. All Igor’s family, his father, mother and sister give him their support taking pride in having the world champion as a part of their family.
IFMA wishes Igor all the best in his athlete career and in his role of the youth coach in Bangkok.
