Azernews.Az

By Laman Ismayilova

The Shagan Olympic Complex hosted the third National Alpagut Championship on March 11.

The tournament brought together 370 athletes from country's 30 regions. Young athletes aged between 8 and 18 years competed in various weight categories, Trend Life reported.

The championship was held with the assistance of Azerbaijan's Ministry of Youth and Sports.

The national anthem of Azerbaijan was played at the official ceremony.

Firstly, attendees paid a tribute to the martyrs of the Karabakh war.

The President of World Alpagut Federation Farid Alizadeh, President of Azerbaijan`s Capoeira Federation,Taleh Orujov, MP Ganira Pashayeva, the head of the Center of National Costumes Gulnara Khalilova, officer of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces Ramil Safarov, World Youth Championship Farhad Ajalov, Kickboxing World Champion Ramal Aslanov attended the event.

In their remarks, President of Alpagut Federation Agil Ajalov, first Vice-President of the Federation, MP Ganira Pashayeva, President of National Kickboxing Federation Adil Aliyev, the author of the martial arts, modern Alpagut, Secretary General of the Azerbaijani Association of Martial Arts Vasif Namazov noted that the state has created all conditions for sports development. Azerbaijani sportsmen achieve great success at world and European Championships, Olympic games and various international competitions. A special attention is also paid to veterans.

The tournament aims at the development of ancient martial arts of the Turkic nations, the promotion of healthy lifestyles, education of younger generation in the traditions of patriotism and high moral qualities, training of athletes and judges, selection national selections for participation at international competitions.

The guests watched Alpagut battles with the participation of athletes representing the Interior Ministry of Azerbaijan. The concert program featured popular singers.

Members of the public and journalists, who contributed to the development of Alpagut in the country, were awarded with honorary diplomas.

"Mübariz alp" club (Surakhani) was announced a winner in Aypara competition.The second and third places went to teams from Agdam and Absheron districts, respectively.

"Dinamo" club (Baku) won in Batur competition. Teams of Neftchala and Absheron regions got second and third places, respectively.

The gold in "Jaimas" competition went to athletes from Neftchala. The athletes from Garadagh and Kurdemir region grabbed silver and bronze medals.

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.

Preserving its uniqueness Alpagut could retain its relevance nowadays. A lot of alpagut sports schools opened in Azerbaijan, Turkey, Georgia, Australia, Iran, USA, Canada, Germany, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

The ancient sport which unites mixed Turkic martial arts represents three systems: Aypara, Batur, and Jima.

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 9 minutes.

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

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