So, arm wrestling came to the conclusion that powerlifting survived 10 years ago - the emergence of an alternative Federation, which is the PAL league of Igor Mazurenko and the fight against dissidents by the WAF.

There are a lot of talks around this story. Everyone is trying to understand who is bad here and who is good, and what each of us should do in this situation. Let's start with the first - with the guilty.

Who is to blame?

The paradox of the situation is that there are no bad and good ones here. What is happening is the natural development of sports. Armwrestling is growing, there are more and more followers of this sport, and they no longer fit in one format. Let's just say this - what is happening will benefit our sport!

Firstly, competition is always good! Imagine if you had one “Iron rating”, with its annoying biceps curl! But you can find information for every taste, someone is watching BodyMania, someone likes Andrey Lutsenko, someone – Denis Gusev.

Secondly, the world armwrestling has long been in need of a professional division! Still, to win the world championship 14 times, it's like taking the final exams at school 14 times. It seems there is a school, but the institute has not been built yet.

Thirdly, with the growing popularity of armwrestling, there is simply not enough physical space for everyone in one federation. Imagine that there is only UFC in the world. Imagine what a queue for a title fight would be? There’s a confusion still, but in such situation fighters would have the right to fight for the title, along with a pension certificate.

No let go!

The restrictions on performance in competing organizations came along with the division.

The appearance of this item in the contract of athletes to participate in the TOP-8 can be logically understood. Each of the participants of the TOP-8 costs the League money: flight, accommodation, food, fee. It turns out that it is a job for sportsmen and a business for the League. And once the money is spent, they need to be returned, either through sponsorship contributions, or through paid broadcasts. It’s not important how the tournament will be monetized, what’s important is that if Trubin meets with Laletin at any other tournament, for example at the World Championships, then watching their fight at TOP-8 will not be interesting. Therefore, behind this prohibition, there is a reasonable economic component on the part of PAL.

If we discuss WAF’s bans, then they don’t invest money in athletes, on the contrary, the more participants, the more contributions. Therefore, the prohibition by the WAF is primarily a struggle with a competitor. A new league may well take away part of their sponsors and part of the athletes. In this case, each party protects its financial interests.

What to do?

The answer to this question is the easiest! Train and compete! Choose an organization with the best conditions for you and build your championship career.

Look at the world of powerlifting. Kirill Sarychev, Yuri Belkin, Andrei Malanichev, Dmitry Nasonov, Oleg Perpechenov, Murad Alibegov are all heroes of the alternative, and they live well and develop beyond the IPF with its accreditation in the State Sports Committee. Those, who need master of sports certificate and who like the more sporty rules, go to take part at the IPF. Who likes a bright show and great weight, he is in the WRPF. And everyone is happy!

P.S. We will return to this topic!

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