He’s a mechanical engineer by education. His specialty is manufacture technology and machine cutting. His career started at an auto repair shop. Then he was employed at a shipyard, where he was sure he was going to stay and make his career. When later on he took up making metal fences, barriers and other metalwork, he never even dreamed he was going to be a part of a project that would affect the whole world of armwrestling.

To tell the whole story, we need to go back to the year 2001 and the II Zloty Tur in Gdynia. In Igor Mazurenko’s opinion, the tables back then were the weakest link of the sport. Manufactured in Russia, they broke after every tournament. Just a few hard jerks of a strong arm, a few pulls and the legs came right off the table.

To make everything perfect, we needed one last thing: tables – says Igor Mazurenko. – One of the sports equipment manufacturers took up the production, but their product wasn’t the most practical. Made as one piece and with fixed pads, it was a pain to set up and transport. It was heavy, hard to sell and expensive to manufacture. I’ve decided to look for a company that would design a table to suit the demands of armwrestling.

And so Metal s.c. came into play. A company that made decorations for the Musical Theatre every day, and dealt in metalwork in general.

Our prototype was too thin and rickety, too light and with too sharp edges – recalls Jerzy Lasek, designer. – So we started making alterations, Igor set up the parameters, I did the documentation. We tested pressure force, thickness of the bolts that kept the whole thing together. By trial and error we finally came to the right conclusions.

Then came the testing stage. We jumped on the table and threw it around. Soslan Kozayev became a tester by chance, when he threw the table at the referee committee. The table had no dent whatsoever. Lasek stood by and just observed the fruits of his labor. He was very happy with every success, every fight that the table took on was his own victory.

Some alterations were still made, such as the covering of the table and detachable legs. This was the sale-ready product.

This was very big for us, especially seeing as we have presented the table during the 2002 World Championships in Springfield, Illinois, as a proposition for the official WAF table, and it has won by majority of votes over American and Canadian tables – recalls Mazurenko.

Another alteration made was to cover the table legs with gum, so as to protect the fighters’ legs from bruising against them – says Lasek. New pad fastenings were installed. Recently we’ve also added adjustable platforms, for the disabled contestants

The table is still a work in progress. The Lasek & Mazurenko duo are still making alterations. Lasek is overseeing the manufacture and quality, Mazurenko is designing new solutions. The two also keep working on other specialist armwrestling gym equipment.

I take great care for my technical documentation to be easy to implement in real life – says Lasek. – The real challenge is to foresee certain situations and actions that often happen during real-life tests and trainings. Not everyone can do that. Not every welder can create documentation, my engineering background is very useful to me in making sure that everything is up to scratch.

Lasek himself has never arm-wrestled.

Well maybe a little, back I school, like every other boy – he fondly recalls. – But I’ve never dreamt that I will play such a major role in armwrestling history.

Igor Mazurenko is very happy with his cooperation with Lasek. For years now they’ve been making not only tables, but also gym equipment for armwrestling purposes.

We’ve come a long way from the prototype, jumped many hurdles, but today our equipment is used all over the world – says Mazurenko.

One of the latest devices constructed by Lasek at Mazurenko’s request is a device for measuring the strength of various muscle groups. All based on experience and scientific research. The device is currently being tested and pending patent procedures.

What’s next? A plyometric machine, the hydraulics for which are already in readiness. But we can be sure that there’s plenty more to come from those two!

Iza Małkowska