Roman Holovatiu, 28, a kickboxing world champion and the Master of Sports of Ukraine, lost his life while serving in the Ukrainian military on the front lines.
“Roman chose a career in sports at the call of his heart, and he volunteered to go where he was most needed during the early days of the [full-scale] war,” the Kamianets-Podilskyi City Council stated.
According to the Ukrainian Sports Committee, Holovatiuk would have turned 29 in September.
Born in the western Ukrainian region of Khmelnytskyi Oblast, Holovatiuk was a top-tier athlete in the WAKO kickboxing competition.
“He became famous in Ukraine and beyond aged 22, when he won a medal during the X World Games in Poland in 2017. He then continued his illustrious career in sports, becoming a WAKO kickboxing champion, World Games finalist, world champion, World and European Cup winner and the champion of Ukraine on multiple occasions,” the Sports Committee noted in a statement.
In October 2019, Holovatiuk won the K-1 world championship in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, according to Wikipedia. He finished third in the low kick division in the World Championships held in Lido di Jesolo, Italy, in October 2021.
