Khapsagai

It is in the All-Russian Register of Sports.

About

Khapsagai is the national wrestling of the Sakha (Yakuts). The rule is simple: the winner is the one who forces his opponent to touch the ground with any part of the body other than the feet. Grabbing the clothes, throws and trips are allowed.

Khapsagai was the basis of a warrior's training and is part of almost every gathering, including Yhyakh, the main festival of the Sakha calendar; it also appears in epics and myths. Up to 20 competitions of different levels are held each year.

History

Listing the national wrestling of the Turkic peoples, O. Karataev gives that of the Sakha under a name of its own: kurosh among the Kyrgyz, kures among the Kazakhs, kuresh among the Bashkirs, kuryash among the Tatars, and khapsagai among the Sakha.

As N. Shkurko and co-authors write, the first All-Yakut Spartakiad was held in 1932, and since 1968 the Manchaary Games in national sports have been held; khapsagai is one of their sports. Today khapsagai is included in the programmes of United World Wrestling and in the World Wrestling Games.

Peoples

• Sakha (Yakuts)

Research: Vasif Namazov, Turan Games Concept

Sources

1. Ümumrusiya idman növləri reyestri
2. Yakutiyanın milli idman növləri — Arctic Russia
3. N. Shkurko et al., Yakut Experience of Reviving the Cultural Tradition in the Field of Ethnosports — European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences, 2021
4. О. Каратаев, Түрк-монгол дүйнөсүндөгү күрөш… — Türk Halklarının Geleneksel Spor Oyunları, Bişkek, 2015, s. 195
5. İllüstrasiya: süni intellektlə hazırlanıb, Komitə təqdim edib