The Uzbek national wrestling kurash was included in the programme of the 2023 African Games, which will be held this summer in Brazzaville, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Dunyo News Agency reported.
The press office of the International Kurash Association issued a press release on the inclusion of kurash wrestling in the programme of the upcoming competitions. Secretary General of the International Kurash Association, Technical Director Mohammad Reza Nassiri visited Brazzaville to discuss the details of the kurash tournament of the upcoming Games. He met with Minister of Youth, Sports and Civic Education of the Republic of the Congo Hugues Ngouelondele to discuss technical and organisational issues of the African Games.
The Minister of Youth, Sports and Civic Education expressed a desire to visit Uzbekistan as the homeland of kurash.
Kurash is a traditional form of belt wrestling in Uzbekistan and of other Turkic peoples; it is included in the list of non-Olympic sports and supported by UNESCO. Wrestling emerged on the territory of Uzbekistan about 3,500 years ago; it was first mentioned in Herodotus’s works. The using of any shock, pain, stifling techniques, as well as grabbing below the belt is prohibited strictly in kurash.
