Two Ukraine combat amputees win bronze at first veterans pickleball championship

Two combat amputees from Ukraine’s Sumy region teamed up at the first Ukrainian Veterans Pickleball Championship in Kyiv and won bronze. Their medal run became a showcase of rehabilitation, resilience and the growing role of adaptive sport for injured veterans.

Why it matters: - The bronze finish shows how adaptive sport is becoming a path back to competition, confidence and daily life for wounded Ukrainian veterans. - The event also put a national spotlight on veterans rehabilitation through pickleball, a sport now being used in schools, gyms and rehabilitation centers across Ukraine.

What happened: - Oleksandr Dehtiar and Mykola Zarytskyi paired up at the First Ukrainian Veterans Pickleball Championship in Kyiv in April 2026. - The two combat amputees won bronze in the tournament after entering as an untested team. - The Ukrainian Pickleball Federation and the Ministry of Veterans Affairs of Ukraine organized the championship. - The tournament drew 104 combat veterans from 20 regions competing in four categories.

The details: - Dehtiar is from Verkhnya Syrovatka near Sumy. Before the war, he worked as a press operator, lifted kettlebells, played table tennis and fished. - Dehtiar spent two years in eastern Ukraine after joining the military in 2022. - He was severely wounded in summer 2024, spent three weeks in a coma and later underwent rehabilitation at the Unbroken center. - The war took Dehtiar’s right arm and left hand. He had to relearn how to speak and walk. - Dehtiar entered a table tennis competition 10 months after the injury and finished second in the upper-limb amputee category. - Zarytskyi is from Bilopillia in the Sumy region. He studied mechanical engineering, served in the border guard service and trained in athletics from a young age. - Zarytskyi served on front-line stretches including Lysychansk, Bakhmut and the Kherson region before being severely wounded. - At the 2023 Invictus Games in Germany, Zarytskyi won gold in shot put, gold in rowing endurance, silver in discus and silver in rowing sprint. - Zarytskyi carried the Ukrainian flag at the opening ceremony and now walks on a prosthetic leg. - The pair used an elastic bandage to secure the paddle for Dehtiar’s left forearm, the same adaptation he had used in table tennis. - The official championship paddle was the Freedom Fighter Paddle, co-designed with Ukrainian artists Dasha Volkova and Andrii Voloshyn and marked with Ukraine’s national symbols. - The paddle also carried a verse by Taras Shevchenko: “Boriteсya – poboryete!” (“Fight and you shall overcome”). - After the tournament, the UPF gave Dehtiar and Zarytskyi a special Fantastic Team award.

Between the lines: - The partnership was not built on long training or formal coaching. It started almost immediately after the two veterans met at the event. - Zarytskyi helped Dehtiar read the game and build confidence on court. - The result suggests the tournament was about more than medals. It gave veterans a visible way to compete, connect and test what recovery can look like. - Dehtiar’s mother, Tetiana, came to the championship on the final day to thank organizers for helping motivate her son. - Tetiana said Dehtiar wants to train, participate and live actively again.

What’s next: - Dehtiar plans to keep playing pickleball and wants bionic prosthetics and the ability to drive a car himself. - The UPF and Anywhere Pickleball are positioning pickleball as a broader rehabilitation and development tool in Ukraine. - The two veterans said they share the same larger hope as many Ukrainians: an end to the war and a return home for everyone.

The bottom line: - For two wounded veterans from Sumy, pickleball became more than a game. It became proof that competition, rehabilitation and purpose can still fit inside a life changed by war.