For the first time, I visited "Nemiroff" in 2007, when I came to fight in the 95 kg category. I was in good shape, and had been preparing for several months. I was then third on the left hand, as I lost with John Brzenk and Ion Onescu. With Onescu the duel was very complicated, as far as I remember, I was even stronger than him, but I was short of experience and cunning.

In the open right class, I managed even to enter the first fifth, that made my very pleased. For the first time I fought with John, who wonderfully applied pronation to my wrist and easily won. Going the whole hog was out of the question as there was nothing I could have done, even in a very good position. John’s level was much higher, what he did not fail to demonstrate in the open category. "Nemiroff" has already been the best tournament - both in terms of organization and sports. Then, in 2007, John made a smart move in the "open", he did little, then gave up the fight to Pushkar, he let him pass and exposed to fight with Farid Usmanov, and then calmly beat both of them. As we know, time passes and Europeans from year to year are getting smarter.

This year, I was not preparing so much for Nemiroff, but thanks to the sponsor (Delfin Armsport) I was able to come. Weight - 106 kg, form -average and I did not put myself high goals: I wanted to get to the first fifth and fight with the Americans. Interestingly, it turned out that this year, I was fifth too and beat Cadorette. As it turned out, Jerry weighting 145 kg is not so terrible: Trubin beat him to the top, I did at the start, and Khadzhi held him with his hook. If I had not earlier cross Cyplenkov and Pushkar, maybe I could have got a higher position. Interesting were also struggles of Bagente and Trubin, but I did not competed in the open, I preferred to spare my hands for the World Amateurs Championships.

In the open category Rustam Babayew did really great, who held relatively fresh Puszkar and helped Cyplenkow win the cup in the open class.
The fight lasted half a minute. That was unbelievable, nobody could believe, including myself, that Rustam was holding Dennis so long in his crown left hand. But there is no victory without a defeat. The next day of the right hand rivalry in the open class Rustam lost with Khadzhi Zolojev. Most of the audience bet on Rustam, being impressed by his fighting on the left hand. Surprisingly, Rustam decided to "hit" exactly as Khadzhi expected.

Denis Cyplenkov and Andrey Pushkar were unbeatable. I suspect that they did not even fight in their respective categories surrendering hands to keep strength to the finals of the "open" and not to leave any chance for athletes of lower classes. Despite the fact that they met 8 times at a table I think that they really fought only once, in the right hand open category. Of course it is just a suspicion. But, as John Brzenk noted in an interview, "The need for thorough calculations and a little bit of luck to win the super heavy class." This is the part of the game. Denis and Andrey surly did not want to repeat the scenario from 2008 when it was Brzenk was the first and Rustam the second.

To sum up, we can say that the tournament was successful in 100%. The organization and number of strong competitors in the tournament increase every year. While taking part in Nemiroff and watching fights, you just get infected with energy and motivation for further intensive work. I want to prepare properly for the next tournament and compete again in this super tournament.
 

Author I. Matiushenko
Translator. A. Klimkiewicz