Crimea to hold Kurash World Championship

Yesterday, June 10, the Head of the Council of Ministries of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (ARC CM) Victor Plakyda had met with representatives of the International Association of Kurash and the Federation of Kurash wrestling in Ukraine which initiative to conduct the VII World Championship of Kurash wrestling. QHA is informed about this by the ARC CM press-cutting service.

According to its information, this meeting was attended by the Secretary General of the Kurash International Association (Tashkent, Uzbekistan) Umid Yakubov, president of the Ukraine's Kurash Federation Volodymyr Machuhin, member of the World Commission on national wrestlings (Turkey) İldırım Hasanoğlu, president of the Crimea's Kurash Federation Anvar Nazarov, Olympic champion Rüstem Qazaq, chief of the ARC Republican committee on physical training and sport Petro Kashchavtsev and others.

The Crimean Premier thanked the guests for selection of Crimea as place of such prestigious sport event and he promised all-out organizing support. The VII World Championship of Kurash wrestling is planned to hold in this October in Aluşta.

Reference: Kurash is a form of upright jacket wrestling native to Uzbekistan, practiced since ancient times. It is an event in the Asian Games. There is an effort to include Kurash in the Olympic Games. Turkish güreş, Uzbek kuraş and Tatar köreş are the same word in different Turkish dialects. It originally means martial art. The word exist in all Turkish dailects almost without exception, basically refers to martial arts similar to wrestling. This Central Asian sport developed thousands of years ago as a form of training for fighting, for both self-defence and war. This is reflected in the rules, where clothing is required which mimics armour or battle-garb, and where grips on the trousers and ground fighting are banned, since bending over low or going to the ground make a fighter vulnerable to weapon thrusts. The emphasis on standing fighting develops strong balance and quick footwork, which help greatly when fighting with weapons. Upright grappling was an integral part of ancient and medieval warfare because most hand to hand weapons needed several feet of space to be effective to deliver their blows, such as swords and spears. Once within this range, the warriors were obliged to grapple with each other. The first one thrown to the ground would, by falling down, create enough space for the sword or spear of the thrower or another soldier to do its work, and therefore the fallen fighter would be at great risk of death. This is why falling to the ground is considered a decisive loss in almost all traditional wrestling styles around the globe.

The Federation on Kurash wrestling in Crimea was founded and registered officially on the ARC territory on April 10, 2008 as the regional branch of the Ukrainian Kurash Federation. The I Crimean Championship on Kurash was held in this May that gathered 68 athletes from 6 regions of Crimea.

QHA