In 2012 during the A-1 tournament a fight broke out between Kemran Aktayev and Vadim Akperov. There are many opinions and speculations about what happened, but we’re trying to get the truth. Here to help us is one of the participants – Vadim Akperov.

- It was the match with Kemran Aktayev on A-1 – says Vadim Akperov. – Everything was as usual, we approached the table, greeted each other and started the match. I won. Kemran was one of the favorites in my weight category, I was very pleased with myself for beating him. After the fight Kemran started to wave his hands around. At first I didn’t realize what was happening. I never expected him to punch me – we were good colleagues, often guests at each other’s houses. Yet still the punches came. At first I just stood there, not responding in kind. Not that I feared disqualification, as many people think. Everything happened so fast, I had no time to think of the consequences. I just couldn’t believe that the man I thought of as a friend was hitting me. After the second blow I had to act, otherwise I would look like a fool: being hit and not doing anything about it. So I struck back, and he did too. We were separated then. Atayev was punished with a fine and disqualified, but the cause of his attack was still a mystery to me. Some time later our mutual friends decided to find out what happened. Turns out that Atayev thought he heard me scream insults at him during the fight, which of course I didn’t. Camera records can confirm that. Finally we shook hands and made up, and I really hope nothing like that will happen ever again, to anyone.

As we can see, Vadim is being reasonable about the whole situation and wishes nothing but for something like this to never happen again. Sadly, the Internet is full of comments and videos of the fight. Should it be called an act of hooliganism? Personally, I’d call it a “scrap”. But it’s not the name that is the problem. The question is – why is the internet full of such spiteful and biased comments and materials? Let’s try to answer that.

- Me and Kemran speak seldom nowadays, because we live far from each other – says Vadim. – I have no bitterness towards him, and I hope he doesn’t either. But the internet is full of videos of our fight. The comments leave me speechless: “Two highlanders fight at armwrestling event”, “Dagestan and Armenia scrap” – those descriptions show that the people behind them know nothing about us. They’re just trying to show us up. And besides – I’m not from Dagestan or Armenia, but from Azerbaijan! I never understood people who write things without knowing the full scope of the situation. Virtual heroes who sit home and rag on us, not even trying to understand what happened. Some do this on purpose, out of jealousy and spite, not worthy of a real man. Everything I have, I’ve worked hard for. And the thing with Atayev was just a misunderstanding, but some people use it as a weapon against me, to destroy my reputation. It’s a real shame, but I guess that there will always be fans and haters. The way that the information is passed on determines the way it’s viewed.. Just look at how they try to makes us look: Turks, hooligans and thugs – just some of the names we’re called. What’s more, many commentators are not even connected to armwrestling. But that doesn’t stop them from insulting others. Yes, we’ve behaved badly, but it was a misunderstanding, it was cleared up, end of story. But this is clear only to people who follow armwrestling. The rest still hurl mud at “those two guys fighting”.

Unfortunately, there’s no escape from this type of situations. There will always be people who feed off sensation and controversy, without trying to understand what really happened. Why? For controversy’s sake. As Vadim rightly noted – presentation is everything. If the videos were titled “a misunderstanding at the table”, and the comments explained what really happened – the cause and effect – they would have a much different impact. But being what they are, they’re just another cause for haters to vent their hate and frustration.

Аrtur Grigorian © Gra