Zloty Tur 2017 was probably the biggest and toughest one in general. 78 kg, +105 and 63 kg categories were the toughest in order. 78 kg class was the toughest because WAF’s 75 kg & 80kg finalists were there. When I saw the list of 78kg class I knew that it was going to be mostly about the endurance. With left hand Alizhan Muratov from Kazakstan who is the winner of U21 80kg won the class after a tough final match against the Russian puller. With right hand my teammate Hamza Ziypak surprised everyone by winning the class over world’s very best pullers in 75-80kg. Hamza has been an unlucky puller but he was improving in every event that he has participated. This year at EAC and WAF he has beaten pullers like Zurab Tavberidze from Georgia, Viorel Dobrin from Romania and Cvetan Gashevski from Bulgaria but he did not win a medal. This event he only tried hook and he was successful. His win against current WAF champion in hook amazed me. My generation from Turkey has been passing but some talented young guys are coming to replace us and this makes me happy. Mazghan Shamiev from Kazakstan pulled great as well and he won silver with right and bronze with left. It was a surprise to not to see finalists of WAF in 75 kg & 80kg not being able to reach to final.

For me the second toughest class was +105 kg, Levan dominated class with some minor problems (Laletin caused some problems with left arm). Other than Levan the rest were mostly closed to each other. With a different draw the result may have been different as some tough battles had effects on the results. Liashuk vs Laletin match was one of them. Alex Kurdecha from Poland was an impressive puller with a big passion for winning. 2016 EAC champion Arif Ertem came there with 1 month preparation as he had been injured and we as a team decided to participate only some weeks before the Zloty.

63kg class was the third toughest class with a lot of Kazaks. Imeda Tchintcharauli from Georgia won with both hands. Kazaks were his toughest opponents but he was the victorious.

  I have also pulled this year and I did not perform too bad but I realised that my body apart from its weakest link once its limits are pushed. Daniel from Moldova won with right hand very well deservingly but Aktayev and I gave some serious problems to him. With left I beat Aktaev but he managed to beat Daniel twice in the final to win the gold. Aktaev’s hooking ability is very dangerous while Daniel has steel joints.

The rest of the classes are resulted as expected. In women categories Verina vs Illushina and Gabriela vs Egle matches were very interesting. First time I have ever seen Illushina was in 2001 Italy Worlds and to see her winning Zloty in 2017 was amazing. Women 55kg category was the toughest class in 2017 WAF. One of the most prestigious class in women classes. Gabriela From Brazil to come to pull heavyweight class against the World’s best heavyweights was something great. Ekaterina Afonina and Esra Kiraz were the double gold winners of the event.

 Open right category was interesting but many of the heavyweights were very tired already. Ongarbayev, Slaev and Lamparelli were the impressive ones even though Levan was the winner. Levan was too big and strong for anyone on that day.

 Congratulations to all the winners and PAL for organizing such a great event!