Second Alpagut World Cup ends
Baku hosted the second Alpagut World Cup held in “Sarhadchi” Olympic Sports Complex on November 24-26.
Co-organized by the Youth and Sports Ministry, Martial Arts Federations, World and Azerbaijani Alpine Federations, the championship was held in the following styles: aypara, batur, jaimaz and guresh.
The event was addressed by the Chairman of the Board of the World Alpagut Federation, Vasif Namazov, the President of the Association of Martial Arts Federations of Azerbaijan Azer Hasansoy, head of the Main Directorate of Youth and Sports of Baku Ragif Abbasov, President of the Azerbaijan Alpagut Federation Agil Adzhalov, Honorary President of the World Alpagut Federation Farid Alizade.
The speakers made remarks on the importance of holding the World Cup in Baku, attention of the state to sports, the development of the ancient martial art of the Turkic people, the promotion of healthy lifestyle, the upbringing of the younger generation in the traditions of patriotism and high moral qualities.
Athletes from Azerbaijan, Germany, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Iran, Georgia, Russia, Hungary, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Ukraine took part in the championship.
The victory was celebrated by Azerbaijani athletes, while the second place was taken by the Iranian team. Turkish athlete claimed the championship’s bronze.
Alpagut is a martial art with its canons, traditions and philosophy. The word Alpagut consists of two words- Alp which means ‘warrior’ and kulsal that means ‘saint’. These are saint soldiers who battled for the sake of national and universal ideals.
The Azerbaijani team ranked first in the overall medal count of the first Alpagut World Cup held in Georgia last year. The national fighters won 51 medals, including 24 gold, 22 silver and 5 bronze.
The ancient sport which combines mixed Turkic martial arts consists of three systems: Aypara, Batur, and Jima.
Preserving its uniqueness Alpagut could retain its relevance nowadays. A lot of alpagut sports schools were opened in Azerbaijan, Turkey, Georgia, Australia, Iran, the U.S., Canada, Germany, Hungary and the Czech Republic.
The first one is similar to full contact karate, but there are also grabs and throws. The Batur system is similar to the fighting. However, it is not allowed to fight on the ground more than 20 seconds.
The Jaimas system is similar with K1 and Thaiboxing.
The fighting usually takes place in the wolf and falcon circle. Wolf and falcon circles are the totem that belongs to the Turkic world. The fighting lasts nine minutes.