Russian karate champion Stepan Makarov has died after receiving a lethal electric shock, the country's karate federation said Monday, just months after a fellow competitor was murdered in the same part of Siberia.
Makarov, 21, died last week following an accident, according to a federation statement. He was electrocuted by a broken high-voltage line outside his home in the Novosibirsk region, the Mir Karate (World of Karate) magazine reported.
Makarov was a multiple Russian karate championship winner who coached for the Soyuz sports club and also competed for the regional Novosibirsk karate team, the federation said in its statement.
News of his death comes just months after the remains of Anton Krivosheyev, a prominent practitioner of kyokushin karate, were discovered in a plastic bag in Novosibirsk city center.
A 67-year-old mechanic later confessed to murdering Krivosheyev, who reportedly held international and Russian titles in kyokushin karate, Interfax reported at the time.
