There was a lot of work – says Szymon Walczak, one of the two masseurs and the initiator of the idea. – On the first day most of our clients were the Polish contestants, the foreigners didn’t quite get the idea and I think they didn’t trust us completely. On the second day that changed. On Saturday I gave support mainly to Polish guys, my main two “patients” were Darek Juszczak and Tomek Szewczyk. The foreign guys came to me sporadically.

There was a lot more to do on the second day of the tournament, because there were a lot more contestants entering on Sunday.

On Sunday everybody knew who we were and that we mean no harm, so they came to us in larger numbers – says Szymon. – The main bulk of problems came from the fastenings of wrist muscles, arm muscles and tension in the trapezius muscles. This is a very injury-risk sport and we often meet with those problems. It’s really hard to avoid them, they’re a professional risk.

We fought alongside the contestants in this tournament, only our fight was against the injuries they had – says Kerem Mahmoud, professional masseur. – I think this made fighting and recuperation much easier for them.

Karem is very happy with the job he’s done on Nemiroff.

It was hard work, but I love sports massage! – says Karem. – At the same time, it was also amazing to meet armwrestling champions from all over the world, seeing as armwrestling is my hobby.

Szymon is already planning how to develop the idea of massage on tournaments.

There are a few ways to do this: there should definitely be more people doing it, better working conditions, etc. I think massage is crucial at this kind of event, massage and sport must go hand in hand. I hoped all our clients were satisfied with our efforts. Greetings, and see you on the Polish Cup!

Iza Małkowska