Igor Mazurenko sent me a link to a match. What’s so special about the match? – I thought to myself. It’s pretty normal. As I watched it I realized that the competitor wearing white trunks looked familiar. He reminded me of some armwrestler, someone from the old days.

But I couldn’t figure out who this warrior was. Let’s listen to Igor.

It was Vasiliy Kuznetsov, he won the match!

The Kuznetsov who directed a film about the popularity contest “The Iron Rating”? The one that we liked so much? http://pl.armpower.net/article/pl/kto-bedzie-lepszy-niz-denis-2679.html

Yes, it’s him!

I guess he took part in a match in Poland a long time ago.

Yes, but above all he was the first to organize armwrestling duels one on one. It was right at the beginning of the twenty-first century in St Petersburg. Three left-hand and right-hand matches took place then. In a way this idea has given rise to Vendettas.

It was Kuznetsov who took part in the first professional match in Poland, which directly led to our Vendettas and ARMFIGHTS.

What was it like? Let’s go back to the archive.

The whole story began in 2001 with a match (to see it go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXKEouKDR4Y&feature=youtu.be).

Marcin Kreft took part in the XXII World Championships. He was the only Pole to approach the podium taking fourth place in the category of 110 kg. Since 2002, Marcin has dominated the national armwrestling scene in 95 kg category and the open. It was time for a professional fight. 2003.

There was a project to fight Vasiliy Kuznecovem. Vasiliy was a master of Russia, winner of the Golden Bear International tournament, in which the strongest athletes in Russia compete, he’s a coach of St. Petersburg team. It took Kuznecov a lot of time to make up his mind. He did not know Martin and he realized that the level of Polish athletes had increased significantly compared with the previous year. Watched by over 2000 people, this match took place during the International Tournament of St. Dominic on August 6.

Kuznetsov (31 years old) is a recognized figure in Russia. He’s President of the Federation of St. Petersburg and vice president of the Russian Armwrestling Federation and winner of prestigious awards in the tournament “Golden Bear” in Russia. Marcin, 8 years younger than Vasiliy, but with great innate predispositions to armwrestling, entered the stage extremely focused, but tense.

After a spectacular battle the result was 2-0 for Marcin, and then 3-0. The crowd literally went wild. Finally the 5- round match ended with the result 5:0 for the Pole.

At that time it was a huge event promoting Polish armwrestling.

Marcin’s opponent - Kuznetsov competed also in Gdynia in 2004 in VENDETTA # 1. The matches were held in GEMINI Center on Kosciuszko Square.

A few years later....

Kuznetsov is a director, journalist, screenwriter, producer. He works and hasn’t competed in armwrestling tournaments for some time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXKEouKDR4Y&feature=youtu.be

It’s time for an interview with an athlete who “theoretically” has finished with the sport, but a leopard cannot change his spots.

Vasiliy, tell me how you got involved in armwrestling?

Vasiliy Kuznetsov: It all started at school, I do not remember when exactly. I practiced SAMBO and treated it very seriously, I would take part in competitions, I was in the youth squad of Leningrad. Then, when I was about to graduate from school, I was going through adolescence and I gave up the sport. But it didn’t last long for I soon began to pump iron in one of the gyms.

I took up armwrestling when I was in the technical college. Once, after the classes, or rather when playing truant, I went to a video shop where I came across the movie Over The Top. I remember exactly that, when leaving the place, I already knew what I would be doing in my life. I would armwrestle! I had a bar at home and I began to train on my own. In my free time I would go with my mates to all sorts of gyms and look for the strongest guys to pull. Well, and then there was my first championship Pitra. I joined the local Armwrestling Federation. Then I competed in my first championship of Russia, and in the “Golden Bear” tournament. There’s no denying that I have a lot to recall!

Why did you decide to compete in the “street fight” tournament (Russian СТРЕЛКА)?

Vasiliy Kuznetsov: When you’ve experienced sports excitement, you can’t just train for yourself. You start looking for a challenge. You really need the workout, excitement and achieving the results. That’s why I always take on some challenges.

I participated in my first “street fight” as a journalist. Our coverage of the tournament was viewed by 600,000 people on Youtube. “Street fights” is a great project. The name and the rules turned out to be a success! There is no time limit, the fight ends with a competitor either giving up or knocking his opponent out. Like on the street. But the organizers select competitors so that opponents with similar skills could confront each other. Most frequently, athletes who are not professionals take part in the tournament. There are no financial rewards. And that’s what fans like about this tournament. No one brags about their achievements here, they just enter the ring and fight putting all their heart in it. Fans may identify with the competitors and many of them think  that they could do it as well. Well, so did I. Once I mentioned that I would also like to compete in the “street fights”. So, when I got an invitation from the organizers, there was no way out. I’m not saying I wanted to beat anyone, but I was excited about the very challenge!

You started preparing yourself for the fight.

Vasiliy Kuznetsov: I began with running. I would take my tracksuit and shoes to my work and when I was done with the job I would go by the Neva river, change my clothes in a car and I run from 4 to 7 km. A month before the fight I began individual workouts with Sergey Nikitin (Сергеем Никитиным), European champion in SAMBO, coach, whom God has given the talent to work with athletes. We practised takedowns, defense, used the shields. What’s interesting, I managed to find plenty of time for training, despite the fact that the amount of my duties at work was the same. But the desire to do well and survive makes you stronger.

What do you think of your fight? Are you satisfied?

Vasiliy Kuznetsov: I’m not satisfied with what I did. Yes, I won, even before the time, but I was not able to show what I could do. You can’t fool yourself. I was nervous, yet I haven’t been in the ring for twenty years. It is true that I sparred with my coach while preparing for the fight, but it’s different. Your coach doesn’t beat you like a real opponent! My fight was quite chaotic, it might have been much better. But, the very preparation process and participation in an event are exciting. I won’t give up on it!

What are the conclusions? First of all, good athletic preparation will pay off throughout your life. Thousands of reps of a hip throw, or other techniques once learned, won’t be forgotten. During a fight fractions of a second count. So if you’ve repeated a given move thousands of times, you’ll act instinctively during a fight.

And it’s very important in armwrestling. I would like young athletes to realize that. Work on your neuromuscular coordination. When you’re working on a given technique, try to do every move automatically, without thinking about it. That’s the way you should pull a weaker opponent. Do not waste your time, just use your best technique and that’s all.

Secondly, as my experience shows, you need to spar regularly and make it a real fight. You can be a “master of training”, but the real fight is different from a workout.

What can armwrestlers learn from your experience?

Vasiliy Kuznetsov: Thirdly. Armwrestling is a wonderful sport! It gives an excellent basis for further development later in any other sport. Armwrestling is one of the most complex and fair sports. What I mean is that, you cannot be strong during competitions and weak on the street. You cannot fool yourself, either you’re strong, or not!

To armwrestle you need to be strong, otherwise you will not get far. But on the other hand, speed is also needed. This is a dangerous mix. For example, Dzambolat Tsoirev’s (Дзамболат Цориев) punching power is 1083 kg - that’s the result he got at the tournament, “PUNCHER”. There’s no doubt that armwrestling is the best choice!

What’s next?

Vasiliy Kuznetsov: Now I weigh 85-90 kg. Earlier on, I wanted to be beefy, but now I concentrate on being fit. I don’t armwrestle that often now for the ligaments in my right hand hurt. I started training my legs, I haven’t done this before.

What’s the moral?

Sitting in front of the TV, or even practising a sport won’t be enough to a person who has experienced the thrill of sport. They will always be addicted to the thrill, to the effort and to fighting.

One more thing. Take a look at Kuznetsov’s armbar. Strong, very strong arms are useful not only in armwrestling.

We will come back to this topic.

PeSzy