Kazan hosted the second annual Tugan Batyr Wrestling Festival, which is supported by the Presidential Grants Foundation. As noted by the Business Online publication, this year more than 600 athletes aged 6 to 13 participated in the competition. Almost all of the participants were from Kazan, but some came from Tetyushi and Vysokaya Gora.
The guests of honor at the event were: Mufti of the Republic of Tatarstan Kamil hazrat Samigullin, President of the All-Russian Grappling Federation Rizvan Bochkaev and Head of the Wrestling Federation of the Republic of Tatarstan Ekzam Gubaydullin.
The guests and participants of the competition noted the high level of organization.
Many of the children came with their parents. All participants were mentored by their coaches. The older generation encouraged the younger generation to fight fairly and actively.
The winner received a valuable prize in the form of a PlayStation 5 game console. In addition, the participants received other prizes: backpacks with gifts, medals and cups. The organizers made sure that the awards had the “Tugan Batyr” symbols.
The executive director of the Tatarstan Wrestling Federation Nafis Minnebaev admitted:
"When we wrestled, we didn't have such gifts."
We would like to remind you that "Tugan Batyr" is the image of a national Tatar fairy-tale character, about whom books, comics, cartoons and comics for children are created.
"This is the image of a national hero who symbolizes our history, culture and traditional values. We instill these values in our young generation: love for the homeland, respect for elders and ancestors."
The main organizer of the Tugan Batyr festival is Radik Abdrakhmanov.
In total, three disciplines were presented at the competition: wrestling, Greco-Roman wrestling, and grappling, the most popular sport, in which about 300 participants took part.
“We decided to unite and hold the tournament together. This is aimed at the proper upbringing of our young generation. We want parents to bring their children to wrestling. Because this sport gives a lot: character development, discipline, the ability to achieve goals.”
The main organizer of the Tugan Batyr festival is Radik Abdrakhmanov.
A traditional warm-up took place before the start of the competition. At this time, some participants were already starting to look for potential opponents from their weight category and hold friendly fights to test each other’s strength.
“It’s great that we are holding the Tugan Batyr wrestling festival for the second time. We have guests, we are happy to welcome you all to the capital of Tatarstan. I see that this tournament will become All-Russian. Afterwards, we will consult and try to give the festival an international status.” Head of the Wrestling Federation of the Republic of Tatarstan Ekzam Gubaidullin.
Tatarstan Sports Minister Vladimir Leonov also spoke well of the sports competitions and Gubaidullin's achievements:
"We have created some of the best conditions for wrestling. This is an advanced sport in which we have made great progress in recent years."
It should be noted that one of the goals pursued by the creators of "Tugan Batyr" is to direct the child's energy in the right direction. Nowadays, children often waste their emotions on games on their phones, although they could give them to sports.
Chairman of the Kazan Wrestling Federation Ramil Suleimanov noted:
"We want to remove children from the Internet, make them take care of their health and, so to speak, their spirit."
At the same time, the project is aimed at the correct upbringing of the younger generation, which, of course, is very important in the modern world.
For the second year in a row, the festival is held on a positive note. For this reason, the organizers do not seek to limit themselves to Kazan alone, but plan to fully expand to the republican level.
"We have a proposal to make the festival republican. Of course, if we do so, it will not fit into one day." Executive Director of the Wrestling Federation of the Republic of Tatarstan Nafis Minnebaev.
According to the organizers, athletes from Ufa, Ulyanovsk and Omsk came to other Tugan Batyr competitions, so they can already be called All-Russian.
Today, about 8,000 children are involved in wrestling in Tatarstan and their number is growing. Ramil Suleimanov emphasized:
"Wrestling is developing by leaps and bounds in Kazan, Tatarstan and Russia. We are friends with different federations, we get along well with each other and work together."
A major tournament was announced at the festival in 2025. It is expected that Kazan will host the Russian Grappling Championship. Negotiations on this are underway, there are already verbal agreements, it remains to formalize everything in writing.
The President of the All-Russian Grappling Federation Rizvan Bochkaev said:
"We offered Radik Mukharlyamovich to hold our annual main championship in 2025 - the Russian Championship. He showed interest, so now we are discussing the organization of the Russian Championship among adults."
He cannot yet finally announce that Kazan will host the Russian Championship, since confirmation must be made at the federal level. At the same time, the commission of the Russian Federation on grappling discussed the option of holding the competition in the capital of Tatarstan. This proposal was put forward by its members.
Rizvan Bochkaev added:
"So far, everything is positive, positive: we can say that we have agreed."
Airat Gataullin, an analyst at the summer sports department of the sports training center of the Ministry of Sports of the Republic of Tatarstan, said that Kazan is ready to host the Russian Championship at the highest level.
If everything works out this way, and Kazan hosts the championship, then both in the regional capital and throughout the republic, even greater interest is expected not only in grappling, but in all sports wrestling. In this way, champions may emerge who will represent Tatarstan and the Russian national team at the strongest competitions in the world.
"There are no adult champions without participating in children's tournaments"!
https://presidentmedia.ru/blog/2023/06/12/kak-proshyol-vtoroj-festival-borby-tugan-batyr/