Nikolai, it's great to be able to talk to you about your “child” - I mean the World Armwrestling Grand Priх А1 Russian Open. What is the exact date of the event this year?

The official date is 23 – 25 th July 2015.

Let's recall the years that the A1 took place : 012, 2013, 2014. How were they different from each other?

That's a very large topic. I'll try to be brief. The first A1 was perceived by everybody as something unreal bordering on downright stupid.I felt like the naive romantic of our sport, I had very little support from anyone. Stories of armwrestling popularization, evolution and induction into the Olypmics caused laughter and doubt. But experience has shown something different. During that short period armwrestling has changed for better. At a global scale, the general popularisation and the works on disabled armwrestling led to the formation of IAFD and the historical inclusion into the IWAS games. The smiles were wiped. People realized there are no limits and that dreams are a part of reality now. We were never so close to Paralympic games. Ane we will not stop until we bring back the ancient times, where armwrestling was a part of the Olympic family.

At less global scale things have changed too. A1 started a bit of a trend for commercial tournaments and has brought money into armwrestling. It's hard to bring anyone in to fight for a “written thank you” note. An armwrestler from the top five of Russian fighters can actually make a living from armwrestling, which was unreal before. The great John Brzenk, in the 90's and at the beginning of the oughts, could make maximum 12 – 15 thousand dollars a year, going everywhere he could. It was considered a cool sum back then. Today is different. Prizes are at different levels now. I never thought I would actually have to turn down sponsors for lack of place for them. The winners of A1 will receive a year's worth of supplements. There are more and more people interested in our sport, from all walks of life.It's easier to talk to the media now, even from abroad. Some people started to pay attention to wrestling, so the gap between the first A1 and the last is very obvious. Now the most important thing is to make progress.

When you organized the A1, were you alone or did you have help?

I had no support outside the world of armwrestling. Let me remind you – everyone thought I have started a hopeless mission, everyone told me I should just give up and spend my money elsewhere. It helped me a lot when Alexander Filimonov and Andrey Petrov believed in me and started planning and acting. In fact, the previous A1 is their achievement. Also Igor Mazurenko deserves many thanks, he gave priceless technical support at the beginning of the whole event. He also spoke to the armwrestling stars. The rest we did ourselves.

How are the preparations for the tournament going on? Is Moscow waiting for us?

We are changing the venue now. Moscow is saturated with events, especially sports events, so we had no help there. This year A1 will take place in The Republic of Northern Osetia – Alanya, in the “capital” of Russian armwrestling – Vladi Caucasus . A lot of support is offered by the republic's government, led by the great man - Sergey Takoev, prime minister.

Everyone is interested if the level of the tournament will remain the same.

We try to raise the level every year. This year it will be even better, obviously, due to the governmental support. I won't talk details here, but it will be great!

Have you gained support of the local government?

The minister and vice-minister of sports, Hassan Baroev and Rustam Kelekhsaev are handling a lot of issues. Many Moscow officials could learn efficiency and speed from them! So everything's going great!

Ilya Izman