Until the very end we did not really know how would the Moscow Open class on the second day of the Russian Championships work out. There would have been more people eager, if so many of them had not nagged themselves in their weight classes and had not been able to fight for the award of 300 000 roubles. Due to this amount of money an idea of the development of new direction of our discipline – show developed. No one expected that during those last three hours in Moscow Martial Art Centre, will not be enough seats for the audience, who wanted to watch the duels live. Also the duels that have already become the historic ones. Aleksander Filomonov and  Nikolay Mishta, the main two organizers of the event said before the beginning of the Open class:

“The most important is that it was the main test before incoming A1 tournament which will be taking place on 27^th-29^th July in the same complex and according to the same scheme. No one has ever imagined how it would look like, and there were, of course many concerns for the show to last too long. However we are sure, that it will be a new and dynamic performance – so exactly what the audience is waiting for.”

Of course our editorial agrees with that, just as the one who saw the tournaments and enjoyed it.

An important issue was that everyone who wanted to, even foreigners could take part in the tournaments. There were many people willing to take off, also Andrey Pushkar from Ukraine came. Due to triceps ache he agreed to take part in right arm rivalry. The main favourite, candidate for the first place Denis Cyplenkov did not intend to yield to the guest, but he had not expected such a cup-final...

The names of Denis and Andrey as the winners of the Open class appeared in the earlier comments, but there was one man Mairbek Zoloev who said that he was sure of the win of Arsen Liliev. And so it was Arsen Liliev and Khadzhimurat Zoloev became the starts of the night. First Khadzhimurat beat Andrey Pushkar and ranked third, and the after a tough cup-final Arsen Liliev grabbed Denis the victory and ranked first.

1. Arsen Liliev
2. Dennis Cyplenkov
3. Khadzhimurat Zoloyev
4. Andrey Pushkar

The first four of the Open class in Moscow was selected. The question is if during the A1 tournament in July we would also see the same four gladiators on the podium. We will get to know soon.

Armpower.net editorials would like to thank the representatives of the Russian Federation Armsport A. Filimonov and N. Mishta for the invitation to the 21^st Russian Championships and the Moscow open class.

Igor Mazurenko