AzovHorizons_ChapterIII-100
July 29th 2022. Kerch, Russian-occupied Crimea. Eduard Onoprich, the coach (54) at the wrestling club "Patriot", a free sambo wrestling school in Kerch. The club founded in 2012 under Ukrainian administration is fully funded by a real estate businessman in Moscow originally from Kerch. The coach, a former Ukrainian champion, mentioned they were supposed to move into brand new facilities but due to the poor economic situation impacting the owner's business, they had to stay in this old Soviet building. He mentioned the poor current economic situation in Crimea and the lack of state support for sports. " War is bad, we wanted a peaceful resolution to this conflict. Kids suffer the most and there is no future in sports here." He also mentioned the impossibility to take part in international competitions for Russian wrestlers, and even more so the ones from Crimea.