Azernews.Az

By Laman Ismayilova

European Mas-Wrestling Championship 2018 will be held in Baku. Agreement was reached between Azerbaijan Ministry of Youth and Sport and International Mas-Wrestling Federation, Sputnik Azerbaijan reported.

The decision to hold the tournament in Baku was also supported by the Republic Association of National Sports.

The Palace of Handicrafts in Baku was chosen as the venue for the championship.

During the meeting, Azerbaijani side suggested to include mass wrestling in the program of the Islamic Games 2021, which will be held in Turkey. This issue will be considered at the next meeting of International Mas-Wrestling Federation.

Mas-wrestling is the national sport of Yakutia.

The athlete that wins the coin toss chooses the stick hold position (internal or external for the first match), and the one who chooses the external hold, shows his position (left or right) and has no right to change it. In second match the grip is reversed/switched (internal/external), and if third match is necessary, another coin toss. The stick must be over the board and parallel to it, hands and fingers are not to overlap. Victory is declared when a contestant manages to pull his opponent over the board and keep the stick in his hands.

The sport was registered by the All-Russia Sports Registry (VRVS) in 2003 and has been governed by the International Mas-Wrestling Federation.

The World Strongman Federation started including mas-wrestling as an event, stick pulling, at the strongman competition in December 2011. The first United States Open tournament was held in June,2 013.

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

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