Dear Mr Alexander Filimonov!

We wish to express our gratitude for your concern for the disabled in armwrestling, and taking our cause to a new level. Remember that we are all on the same side. We have a couple of questions and suggestions we’d like to discuss with you.

Male categories:

Two suggestions: make two weight categories for ARM-1 (seated) and ARM-2 (standing up), every 10kg: 60kg, 70kg, 80kg, 90kg; or as on Nemiroff: 55 kg, 63 kg, 70 kg, 78 kg, 86 kg, 86 kg – for ARM – 1 (stand up fighters are much lighter and don’t have many people in the „plus” category; and 63 kg, 70 kg, 78 kg, 86 kg, 95 kg, 95 kg - for ARM – 2 (stand up)

For female contestants in the 2013 world cup the stats were thus: below 60kg – 6 people, below 70kg – 2, below 80kg – NONE, +80kg – only one person. In light of this we suggest categories below 65kg and +65kg – that will be most appropriate. For Junior categories we will pose our proposal after the European Cup. We need to see how many people will start in seated and stand up categories. At the 2013 World Cup there were less than 3 people in some categories, and some categories were totally empty! It would be wise to make categories from 50 or 55kg. 3-4 categories could be made, every 10kg for both groups, female and male juniors. That is of course relative to number of contestants in every category.

The notion to cancel the limit of 2 people per country in one category is unsound! Why have national championships, if everyone can attend? This cancels the sporting rivalry. I suggest 3-4 people per country in one category. Contestants need to be the best in order to go to European and World Cups. Most people support the idea of a maximum 3-4 people, but are against cancelling the limit entirely. The sight- and hearing-impaired categories are ok for now. First conclusions as to any changes could be drawn after the 2013 European and World Cups.

Next, we move on to qualifications.

At the present, not every disabled contestant can enter, even in ARM-2 (stand up), so we’d like to know in advance if there’s a chance of starting in one’s category without “tourists” tagging along.

We propose the following: minimum 3-4 months beforehand every contestant must send a doctor’s note, to decide whether someone deserves transport or not. We’d like to ask for more information on procedure and what documents need to be shown to the committee.

Next question is about the amputee contestants. I triathlon there is a chart to account for ablation and weight, to calculate as additional weight to be added to weight proper. Is this system applicable to armwrestling? If a person has only one arm, will they be classified as ARM – 2?

Drug testing

The number of contestants and classes has increased, so we’d like to know how many tests will be run at the event. There is no way to deny drug testing. Maybe it’s worth consideration to raise the starting requirements? Many are anxious about the A-1 Tournament. Considering the weight categories, every disabled person can compete! I suggest two weight categories: 78 and 78+ or 80 and 80+, depending on the median.

Of course there are bound to be more controversies in the future, but for now I would like answers to our questions. Signed under this document are national, European and world champions. From Belarus - Victor Bratchenya, Vadim Kowalczuk, Sergei Chavlytko. Ukraine - Aleksander Poklonsky, Alexander Pinczuk, Nyasa Izmailov, Sergey Telyatitsky. Russia - Anatolij Shusharin, Ruslan Zinyattulin, Alexander Izotov.
Olga and Roman Sedyh, and Alexei Kazantsev also endorsed this document, with a few suggestions of their own. These are only the people who were a part of the “disabled people in armwrestling” discussion on vk.com. Of course there are possibly other opinions, but here we have gathered the opinions of the majority. We’d like to hear from sportspeople from other countries.

Alexei Kazantsev’s propositions for categories:

-juniors: 55 kg, 65 kg, 75 kg, 75 kg,

-men: 60 kg, 70 kg, 80 kg, 90 kg, 90 kg,

-female juniors: 50 kg, 60 kg, 70 kg, 70 kg,

-women: 55 kg, 65 kg, 75 kg, 75 kg

Alternative propositions for men’s categories from Olga and Roman Sedyh:

58 kg, 67 kg, 78 kg, 90 kg and 90 +, with a variable of 9, 11 and 12 kg.

Of course there are many examples like this, but here we take into account the interests of women and female juniors. Let me remind you, that the weight categories will be decided based on the number of 2014 European and world Cups’ contestants.

It would be great to get a video of your answers to our questions, and some suggestions as to the direction in which our new federation should move. We’d like to know our chances of getting into the Paralympics.

This letter was delivered to Alexander Filimonov. His answer was posted on armpower.net.

Victor Bratchenya