Dima speaks little, he has learned only a few words of Italian, but when he gets on the tatami for the competition he knows how to make himself understood. She is just fifteen years old, her full name is Halich Dmytro and she loves judo. He arrived in Riccione a year ago. When bombs started falling in the Ukraine, my mother grabbed what she could and carried it away. “I remember they contacted us in March, the war had just broken out and they asked us if we could get a refugee boy to train – says Giuseppe Longo, the Judo sector master at Polisportiva -. His parents had contacts here on the Riviera and they left at the outbreak of the conflict. Dima arrived here putting his two judogi suits and little else in his bag”. From that moment he started training with the other Judo Riccione boys, and over time he started taking part in competitions. Last weekend Dima competed in Taranto on the occasion of the first A2 cadet national final. An important appointment that could have been the springboard for the A1 category final of the national championship to be held in Ostia in April.
Dima took that opportunity. He went through six matches placing one point after another, working with cunning and strategy, without conceding any points. Dima dominated, putting another brick to build her dream. After winning, you didn’t indulge in celebrations or cries of liberation. “He’s always concentrated, he doesn’t rejoice – says Longo -, he’s very measured and reserved. He wants to go back to his country, so much so that he doesn’t go to school in Riccione, but attends online school. He has learned very few words of Italian, but in training he bonded with Bruno”. Bruno’s surname is Karamba Badiane, a 17-year-old Senegalese who arrived several months ago in Riccione. He trains with the Judo sector and is good enough to win the national championship in his country. “They often train together – resumes the Maestro – one speaks a little English, Bruno the French, I find it hard to understand how they understand each other, but they are very close”. Meanwhile Dima thinks about his country and future challenges. He is showing off and the period he is spending in Riccione could be fundamental to cultivate his sporting dream in Ukraine when the bombs will no longer fall. “He can’t compete with the Italian colours, but he could do it with the Ukrainian ones. What we are trying to do is show the Ukrainian federation the progress and results that Dima is achieving so that in the future he can participate in competitions with them”.
Andrew Olive
