Vendetta Top 8 treat for local fans
Levan Saginashvili, Vitali Lelatin are heading to 2nd Leg of Vendetta Top 8 in either Dubai or China
KUCHING: Levan Saginashvili of Georgia and Vitali Lelatin of Russia are heading to the 2nd Leg of the Vendetta Top 8 in either Dubai or China in confident mood after producing commanding performances in the 1st Leg at Hotel Pullman Kuching on Friday night.
Saginashvili, 32, standing at 191cm and weighing 170kg, was simply too strong for his 54-year old opponent from USA, Tim Bresnan, blanking the veteran American 6-0 in six rounds.
Bresnan tried everything he could but could not match the brute power of the puller who has won every honour in armwrestling.
In the match up between the towering Lelatin, who is the tallest of the eight contestants at 203cm, and Dmitry Trubin of Kazakhstan, the Russian dominated by winning six points to nil, with one of the points coming from a double elbow fault committed by Trubin.
Lelatin, a last minute replacement for compatriot Denis Tsyplenkov, proved true to his words when he said he feared no one and was ready to challenge anybody in the world’s elite armwrestling competition.
However, the match of evening was between 24-year old challenger from Kazakhstan Kyorgali Ongarbaev (weighing 100kg) who showed incredible defence and staying power to frustrate his older and massive opponent Alex Kurdecha from Poland who weighs 150kg and is 32 years old.
Kurdecha, a former American Football player, committed too many fouls to lose 1-5 to Ongarbaev. Both were exhausted after the bruising six rounds.
Meanwhile, in an all-Ukraine match up, Evgeny Prudnik capitalised on the many fouls committed by Rustam Babayev to win 6-0.
Winners in this first Leg will compete in the second Leg in Dubai/China in July to decide the top two pullers who will contest for the champions title in the Grand Final in Warsaw, Poland in November.
The eventual champion will walk away with 60,000 euros while the total prize money for the eight contenders is 120,000 euros.