The Russian town where wrestling is a way of life
Kayakent, Russia: Eyes focused on each other, boys in colourful singlets practise wrestling takedowns as others watch from the side of the modest studio, leaning against walls covered with peeling paint and splintering wood panelling.
The sports hall in Kayakent, a small town in Russia’s Dagestan region in the Caucasus, has seen better days.
But it is immensely popular with local children, who come from humble origins and one day hope to repeat the triumphs of their older peers in bringing home world championship medals.
And in Dagestan, successful wrestlers can gain almost iconic status.
Such was the excitement about homegrown celebrity Khabib Nurmagomedov when he became the first Muslim or Russian national to win a UFC title in April that he was mobbed by about 2,000 people at the airport and needed a police escort for him and his father.
The 30- year- old mixed martial arts fighter is set to apply his wrestling techniques on Saturday when he defends his title against MMA star Irishman Conor McGregor in Las Vegas in the headline UFC fight, arguably the most anticipated in the sport’s history.
Nurmagomedov, known as The Eagle, grew up wrestling and was initially mostly coached by his father, before moving to Dagestan’s main city, Makhachkala, to train with a coach there.
HUMBLE BEGINNINGS With Dagestan becoming a steady supplier of world and Olympic champions, the mountainous region’s training grounds have even started attracting foreign athletes. “After we opened this school in 1996, we saw the first results already in fourfive years,” said Magomed Arangereyev, who coaches at the Kayakent sport school.
“After six years... Our boys started winning in Europe, then world championships.”
The facility initially didn’t even have mats.
Arangereyev had to work on concrete floor until a fire wrecked a larger town’s sports school, which closed down and gave him some equipment.
Now, he says, the school is over capacity, with 60 young boys sometimes coming to practise, in the town of just 11,000 people.