Brothers Babaev divide and conquer!

They've been coming to Poland to win for many tears now. Rustam, in 2009, after winning his category, had and unforgettable fight with John Brzenk. In Sopot, Rustam Babaev (starting in 86kg), landed at the OPEN podium, with 2^nd place in left and 3^rd in right arm. His younger brother, Ruslan, ended 4^th in left. In their category, those two shared the 1^st place – Rustam in left second in right, Ruslan – the reverse.

John a weight up

Everyone was very surprised with John Brzenk fighting in right arm only, in +95 kg. John himself said that he doesn't want to take away the chance of other contestants, and he beat the right-arm winner – Dzambulat Tsoriev from Russia – easily in the OPEN category.

In the heavyweight, everyone expected the fights between John Brzenk, Denis Cyplenkov and Andrey Pushkar.

Denis prepared mainly for his USA opponent for the whole year. He concentrated alone, standing by the window and hiding from cameras and reporters. When he has won in the end, he was literally jumping around the stage like a little child. Denis also beat Pushkar, wining both left and right. Andrey came back home with two silver medals.

King Denis!

The heavyweight and OPEN categories were dominated by Denis Cyplenkov, who won everything there was to win in this tournament. Only Rustam and Andrey got anywhere close to him. Brzenk was injured, in poor shape, and had to contend with 4^th places in right and in OPEN. Denis Cyplenkov was the first armwrestler in history to win two cups at once in OPEN (both left and right arm). He also won two times in +95 kg.

Dominance of Russia and Ukraine.

This cup generally showed Russian and Ukrainian dominance. In left arm, only a few contestants (Georgia, Armenia, Slovakia) took the podium. The same in right, with Romania joining in. The Poles enjoyed the 2^nd place for Radosław Staroń, making his debut at such a big event.

The men fought in 7 weights: 63kg, 70kg, 78kg, 86kg, 95kg, +95kg and OPEN. The women in one category – 65 kg. The 5^th November saw left-arm bouts, 6^th – right arm, all fights to two losses. The prize money was 26 000 $.

Tur grows stronger!

The sports level of the tournament keeps getting better every year. In 2010, we had, among others: BACKMAN SARAH (Sweden); ILIUSHYNA VIKTORIIA (Ukraine); RYDSTEDT FELICIA (Sweden), some of the strongest ladies in the world.

Among the men, there were: CHOMAEV ROBERT (Russia); AFANASIK IVAN (Belarus); KVARATSKHELIA OMAR (Georgia); KODOEV ALAN (Russia); FABRIZIO GAMBIRASIO (Italy); GRALAK MACIEJ (Poland); KUZNETSOV ALEXEY (Russia); ASMONAS MANTAS (Lithuania); MNATSAKANYAN VLADIMIR (Armenia); BICHILOV TIMUR (Russia); BALAMUTOV DMITRY (Russia); GROCH DAWID (Poland); AMOLINS JANIS (Latvia); CHIPREANOV ANDREI (Romania); VORONETSKIY ALEXANDER (Russia); TSVYETKOV OLEKSANDR (Ukraine); MALAKHOV ANDREY (Russia); Rustam i Ruslan Babayev (Ukraine); TSORIEV DZAMBOLAT (Russia); CYPLENKOV DENIS (Russia); PUSHKAR ANDRIY (Ukraine); BRZENK JOHN (USA), and many others.

Piotr Szymanowski