Spartak Sports Club honors Rena "Rusty" Kanokogi who passed away in November 2009 after a vigilant fight with cancer. Ms. Kanokogi held a seventh-degree black belt in judo, making her the highest-ranking American woman ever in the sport of judo. Kanokogi first started competing in the late 1950s, when women were barred from judo leagues. In disguise, she competed as a member of the all-men's team until she was discovered and disqualified. Soon after, Kanokogi dedicated herself to ensuring that women are able to compete in judo competitions. For her years of commitment, she received the honor of World Pioneer of Women's Judo, which was given to her by the International Judo Federation (IJF) Congress in Japan. In 2007 Kanokogi received the prestigious John Osako Award, which is given to those who have worked continuously to develop their referee skills and contribute unselfishly to the Olympic sport of judo.

Akbar Iminov continues to impress coaches with his progress and nothing short of stellar results. Recently, he has come back from Uzbekistan where he traveled with Coach Arkadiy Aronov to take part in Asia Open Juniors Judo International tournament. Participating in this competition that had around 40 competitors in his division was a challenging task. He overcame the difficulties and showed immense desire of victory. Akbar also was invited to fight as a team member of Uzbekistan Juniors Judo team. The team won the First Place. Further Akbar received the tournament’s prestigious Award for Sportsmanship and Desire of Victory. He will make another great addition to US Judo from Spartak.

Adam Ilayev is the youngest Gold Medal winner in the Spartak Team at the APA Tech Judo Championship. He showed commendable dedication and tremendous desire of victory that resulted in the first place at this regional championship. Adam is a hard worker, dedicated and always strives for betterment of his judo skills. We wish him further successes and more gold medals.

Big Apple Music Awards 2009. Spartak Sports Club is proud to be represented at this event. Members of Spartak are invited at a special rate.

2009 Seniors Judo World Championship will be held in Rotterdam, Netherlands at the end of August. The US athletes will represent the following divisions: Women's 48kg, 52kg, 57kg, 63kg, 70kg, 78kg, +78kg and Open divisions and Men's 60kg, 66kg, 73kg, 81kg, 90kg, 100kg, +100kg and Open divisions. The athletes will be accompanied by an outstanding team of coaches and officials. We are proud to announce that Arkadiy Aronov, Head Coach of Spartak Sports Club, was invited to consult athletes and will serve as Assistant US Team Coach. We wish our athletes and coaches the best of luck and a safe, victorious return.

Joel Lubinitsky and Moshe Shaulov returned from the Starrett Cup with the First Place in their pockets. Taking a long break from his last competition, not only did Joel come back as a winner, but also as a mature and skillful Judo player. Although one of his opponents was the number one in the nation in his category, that did not stop Joel from performing a brilliant Taniotoshi for an immediate victory. His final fight ended with an extraordinary execution of Osotogari, which brought him the First place.
     Moshe Shaulov has been actively competing for the last year and showed steady progress. At Starrett Cup he got himself three victories in a row with an absolutely extraordinary Tomoenage. At his young age executing such a technique so beautifully is simply impressive.

Akbar Iminov opened a new page of champions in Spartak. An absolutely spectacular demonstration of Judo skills (place the mouse over the photo to see the technique) brought him the first place at one the most prestigious championships in the Zebra Tour -The Morris Cup 2009. Akbar shows great potential to be number one in the country in his category. He would make another great addition to US Judo from Spartak.

Taraje Williams Murray is back on the national Judo arena. After more than half a year break since the Olympics in Beijing, Taraje appeared on the mat at the Senior National Championships. Taraje, now wrestling in -81kg category (a big leap from -66kg at the Olympics) showed he is still on the stallion riding fast, strong, and proud. Winning Silver medal at the Nationals is indication of his determination and love of Judo and victory. We welcome back Taraje and congratulate him on a great achievement in this championship.

03/29/2009 -- USAJudo.org
Yan Kafarskiy receives Outstanding Male Fighting Spirit Award from 2-time Olympian Leo White at the 2009 USA Judo Youth and Scholastic Nationals. While fighting in the semifinals match, Yan broke his finger. However, this did not stop him from winning the match. One handed beautiful Taiotoshi guaranteed Yan the third place and, most importantly, the highly prestigious award of the tournament. Well deserved, indeed outstanding performance.

Our advanced judoka, Daniel Yuabov and Daniel Palatnik, took on an immense challenge to compete in one of the most prestigious tournaments held in America - The New York Open. This International B level tournament had Olympic Medallists, World Champions and other world class Judo stars wrestling for the Gold and demonstrating the Great Judo in its best. Daniel Palatnik and Daniel Yuabov did not fall short either in this competition. They showed dedication, love of victory, and perseverance when matching with the "Big Shots" of this sport. Getting the 7th place amongst these giants of Judo or fighting with the European Champion for four and half minutes while making it very hard for the world class opponent is nothing short of a stellar performance. Both Daniels showcased outstanding Judo.

Saribek (Saro) Balagezyan joined Spartak Sports Club as a student almost a decade ago. With the help from the Head Coach Arkadiy Aronov, Saro has been coaching at the club for the last few years. Due to knee and back injuries Saro could not continue competitive judo and decided to get on the mat in a different yet exciting and challenging way. With the help from a mentor, Billy Martin a PJU level referee from New York State Judo Incorporated and the head coach of our club Saro embarked on a challenging journey of becoming a referee. Starting out with a few local tournaments at the end of 2008, Saro recently refereed at one of the Zebra Mats events - Pedro's Challenge. This point tournament was also a referee-testing site where Saro took and passed a test to now be a US Regional Level Referee. We wish Saro the best of luck and one day may he referee at the Olympics.

These have been quite great times for Yan Kafarskiy, one of Spartak's leading athletes. Recently, as a top athlete, Yan received $1000.00 monetary award from the Radomir Kovacevic Fund presented by Mrs. Rusty Kanokogi, the president of NYSJI. But this commendable achievement is just a beginning to Yan's great success story. On January 18th, Yan took part in the 16th Annual Starrett Cup where he fought in his regular category easily taking the First Place. Then Yan went on a daring journey to fight in the seniors division. This was a hard and brave move, and taking the risk paid off. Not only did Yan, just 16 years old, won the First Place amongst the seniors, but also had the privilege to fight with a National champion in this category and win by a beautiful Ippon. This victory in the seniors division also came with $250.00 prize. The coaches at Spartak along with Yan's family and friends and fellow judokas are proud of his accomplishments.