Kurash

Kurash is an ancient form of jacket wrestling originating in Uzbekistan. It literally means wrestling or grappling and is closely related to other wrestling arts originating from Central Asian nations.

Kurash incorporates features close to the spirit and character of the Uzbek people, namely courage, bravery, spiritual generosity, fairness and humanism- Islam Karimov

It has gone through a revival and has started to spread across the world since late 1990s.

One of the advantages of Kurash rules is that they prohibit ground wrestling. Once the knee of one of the players touches the floor the referee stops the action and players should restart action from the initial upright standing position. It is also not allowed to grapple below the waist.

The rules of Kurash strictly prohibit players to use any arm locks, chocking and strangling techniques. It helps players to avoid many injuries and makes Kurash one of the safest types of martial art to practice

New rules also specified the proportions of the field, length of the bout, and the dress to be worn. All these rules have contributed to making Kurash into a dynamic, fast, entertaining and safe sport. This has resulted in its current popularity as demonstrated by the participation of large numbers of players and spectators at international tournaments

Its benefits both physical and psychological were also appreciated. Presently there are over seventy national Kurash federations in all five continents. There is even an attempt to include it as an Olympic sport.

It is friendly, attractive, safe and rapidly developing sport. It is the synergy of philosophy and traditions of millenniums with the dynamically developing modern world.