This year at EAC event there will be something that probably never happenned before. Current WAF champions of four different categories have decided to pull in same class.

75kg left hand WAF champion Sasho Andreev, 80kg left hand WAF champion Oleg Zhokh, 85kg left hand WAF champion left hand Stefan Lengarov and 90kg left hand WAF champion Artem Taynov are qualified at their national championships in 85kg left hand category.

I wonder if this happenned by chance or they had a challenge amongst themselves but i will not miss watching this class. Two of these tough guys already met at the Bulgarian nationals and Sasho won against Lengarov. We all knew that Lengarov is technically superior and his great technical ability helped him to enter the match with advantage but he was not able to finish Sasho whose joints are like rock. Once Sasho presses with his supination side of his hand then he creates a wall against the arms of his opponents. He used to be a wrestler and i believe that his wrestling background helped him alot in arm wrestling. I know a few other champion armwrestlers who used to be wrestlers. Just because Sasho beat Lengarov at the nationals it does not automatically mean that he will beat him at the Europeans as well. In such a tough class draw will play an important role.

Taynov is an explosive puller with so much power as well. Him going down from 90kg to 85kg may reduce his power a bit but still he has potential to flash anyone in that class. Power vs power Taynov most likely stronger than Lengarov but Lengarovs technical abilities may be enough to beat Taynov. Lengarovs hand control is one of the best in the world. If the match goes inside then Taynov would beat Lengarov as long as it is a fresh match.

Sasho vs Zhokh will be an interesting match up. I saw their after tournament pulling video from 2015 EAC and there Sasho was beating Zhokh but after tournament pulls may be very deceiving. Zhokhs wrist is very powerful, his hammer strength is incredible but his upper arm compared to his forearm is weaker.

He would most likely curl Sashos pronator to put him into fully supinated forearm position but it will not be enough to beat Sasho as i mentioned before once Sasho applies pressure with the low side of his hand he creates a wall there. So Zhokh has to be so fast to beat Sasho. Sasho does not so much care about his opponents forearm position, he just presses with his supinator and then hits side way to open his opponents bicep. So in my opinion if Zhokh can not finish Sasho quickly then Sasho is going to beat him, or Zhokh needs fully toproll Sashos wrist to unable him applying his deadly supinated joint pressure.

Lengarov vs Zhoks is a match that in my opinion has a clear favorite if they meet fresh. Both Zhokh and Lengarov are outside pullers and i believe it is very very hard Lengarov to toproll Zhokh. Lengarov hooking ability and hook strength will not be enough to beat Zhokh either.

Taynov vs Zhokh will be a match that result will be up to start. Taynov is a very explosive puller and him to hit so hard with a supinated side pressure may put Zhokh into a losing position and there Taynov would beat him. I dont think that Taynov has any chance of toprolling Zhokh. The only thing that i am having hard time to predict is what if they just end up in a deep hook at the center of the table? Zhokhs hook is not bad as long as he does not lose his affective angle.

Sasho vs Taynov will be another match that explosiveness of Taynov may be the key to determine the winner. I can see that match with Taynov hitting so hard and Sasho is stopping him near the pad and bringing back to the center. The question is if Taynov is explosive enough from outside to add a few more cm to bring Sasho to the pad or not? Lengarov brought Sasho to very near to the pad at the Bulgarian nationals. Lengarov is more technical than Taynov but Taynov is stronger and more explosive than Lengarov. So it is possible for me to predict by their skills but it is not possible to know all the answers without knowing their current forms or the draw of the tournament.

That is for sure one of the most exciting weight classes ever and i will be watching with a huge excitement!

Engin Terzi