You are well-known as the coach who trained many of Russia's sports champions, winners of Russian titles and A1. How did you become a coach?

I've started training with Totraz Lelaev, he taught me the basics. I think he is one of the best coaches and teachers. Totraz served in Rostov, and when the time came for him to return home to Vladikaukaz, I was left treading deep waters. I had to learn various sports disciplines and also physiology, biomechanics, biochemistry, etc. I wanted to use that knowledge for myself, but I got injured during a fight- I broke my elbow joint and tore my ligaments, so my armwrestling career went out the window. In order to not let all that time go to waste, I've decided to prepare a couple of people for the regional championships. They all won easily in their categories. Now I have many students, but I never returned to being a fighter.

You are now invilved in the “Skanderbeg” project, where you share your knowledge with armwrestling fans. Where did that idea come from?

I keep in close touch with all that happens in armwrestling. I got the impression that many people miss the stories of “common sportsmen”. A lot is written about the stars, and that's fine. I found a group of people who had different ideas. We wanted to shed some light on the training of sportsmaster-level fighters. Also, we try to dig up some history behind armwrestling. We recall such great figures as Gazimagomed Gazimagomedov, Igor Starozhilov Alan Karaev. We also give a lot of attention to “transatlantic armwrestling”. As for training, I initially had no plans concerning that. But we got a lot of questions concerning videos, so we've decided to reach out to the audience.

What are the perspectives for the development of armwrestling, in your opinion?

Despite a difficult situation connected to the actions of Assen Hadjitodorov, I see many pisitive aspects of development. It's hard to ignore the great activity of Igor Mazurenko. Also prominent is the formation and actions of IAFD. Being a part of the World Games is a major accomplishment. Thirdly, there is doping control. No matter how you see it, it's worth understanding that it's a necessary element for the development of any sport. History has shown that many times. In my opinion, the only really strict control has been applied during the last year's Russian Championships. It would be great if other countries and federations would follow RAA's lead. As for perspectives, I see a lot of potential in TV. It's a great force nowadays, it dictates “fashions”. If armwrestling makes it on TV, it would be a breakthrough for the sport. I spoke to Igor Mazurenko and Aleksander Filimonov many times, and I see that they are working in the right direction; they would do anything for armwrestling to be on TV, starting with how fighters look during tournaments, and ending with contracts, negotiations, meetings with partners, etc. We are certain that soon the first fruits of their labors will witness the light of day.

Are you prepared to train people for both amateur and pro armwrestling? Do the training programs vary?

We have no strict division as yet, but a few serious “commercial” tournaments do exist. I' already prepared a few guys for successful starts in such events, as well as in amateur tournaments – Russian Championships. As for training programs – they are all different, avary person has their individual program, at least that's my method. Basics may be the same for everybody, but at certain level (in my case, that would be “candidate for Master of Sports”), personalization has to be applied.

We are witnessing a huge growth of popularity of armwrestling in the USA. Who in Russia, in your opinion, would be adequate for taking part in armfights?

You know the Russian Championships level very well. Any “top six” of our fighters can go to America and show a great fight. I'm not even talkong about the top guys here. Young people are always welcome. Guys like Soslan Gassiyev, Sasha Logvin, Veli Khalikov – any of those guys can be ready for an armfight straight away!

Izman Ilya