The EUROPE mas-wrestling team is ready!

The choice of leader was obvious from the outset. The captain’s role has been assigned to the most experienced and most devoted mas-wrestler, Tamas Deli from Hungary.

He is known to mas-wrestlers all over the world. Charismatic and high-spirited, he immediately stands out in a crowd. His appearances on the platform, with expressive gestures and facial expressions, add vivid color to the sporting action in any country.

At the same time, he always shows leadership qualities not only among his teammates on the close-knit Hungarian team but also leads other foreign participants. Tamas has traveled to many countries and enjoys enormous authority among his friends. He is always there when a lone athlete needs help. Ready with advice and willing to act as an assistant to bring an athlete from another country onto the platform. It is no accident that filmmakers from the International Mas-wrestling Federation made a documentary about him. His achievements in mas-wrestling are impressive:

Champion:

Mas-Wrestling Championship at the Arnold Sports Festival North America;

World Mas-Wrestling Championship among veterans in the Masters I category;

Open European Mas-Wrestling Championship among men and women – 2023;

Open Brazilian Mas-Wrestling Championship within the Arnold Sports Festival South America.

Silver medalist:

2021 Mas-Wrestling World Cup: I Stage; Open Asian Mas-Wrestling Championship.

Bronze medalist:

World Mas-Wrestling Championship in the absolute weight category – 2021;

2021 Mas-Wrestling World Cup: II Stage; Open European Mas-Wrestling Championship;

European Championship in the absolute category for men and women – 2021.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yqTjwAKc18&pp=0gcJCUcMAYcqIYzv

In the men’s 60 kg category, Serbian mas-wrestler Nemanja Lekovic will compete – a silver medalist at the Open European Mas-Wrestling Championship among men and women – 2023 and the Open European Mas-Wrestling Championship among men and women – 2025.

Nemanja has long been part of the European and global mas-wrestling scene. At home in Novi Sad, he practices martial arts and is passionate about motorcycle sport. He is bringing with him a friend in the up to 70 kg category whom he introduced to mas-wrestling. His name is also Nemanja, surname Nikolic.

The next European participant, Oliver Kurek from Slovakia (80 kg), needs little introduction, but his achievements are still worth recalling:

Champion:

VI World Mas-Wrestling Championship among men and women;

2021 Mas-Wrestling World Cup: III (final) Stage.

Silver medalist:

IV World Mas-Wrestling Championship, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Yakut ASSR;

V World Mas-Wrestling Championship;

VII World Mas-Wrestling Championship among men and women;

Open European Mas-Wrestling Championship among men and women – 2023.

Bronze medalist:

Mas-wrestling competitions at the 5th World Nomad Games – 2024.

Oliver Kurek is not just an athlete but a personality capable of moving mountains for his beloved mas-wrestling. It is no accident that Jan Matej, president of the Slovak Mas-wrestling Association, appointed him vice-president. With his direct involvement, international tournaments and two Open European Mas-Wrestling Championships were brilliantly organized on Slovak soil—in Brezno and in his native Banska Bystrica. Every athlete who came to the heart of Europe felt the warmth of Slovak hospitality. Next year, the Slovak friends intend to organize another World Championship—and in all age categories at once, from youth 14–15 to veterans. There is absolutely no doubt that this event will become a bright moment in the history of world mas-wrestling.

In the 105 kg category, Yakutia’s spectators will see Czech athlete Martin Petrzilka. His run to the final against Dmitry Popov himself at the World Championship in Mongolia surprised many. And although the Russian athlete secured another decisive victory in that hard-fought bout, the Czech mas-wrestler wrote his name into history as a silver medalist of the VII World Mas-Wrestling Championship.

Martin prepared especially carefully for this tournament in Yakutia, because his sports friend and mas-wrestling coach, Algis Skryabin, comes from these parts.

In an unfamiliar up to 125 kg category, Azerbaijan’s well-known mas-wrestler Jahangir Yagubov will compete. For all previous years, we knew him as a 105 kg competitor. But in that category, the place on the European team is already taken by an athlete ranked higher on the results of the World Championship in Mongolia. Jahangir took an honorable third place there and was eager to challenge that situation, but under the competition regulations only one athlete per weight may compete. His great desire to come to Yakutia and take part in a prestigious tournament forced Jahangir to move up to his maximum weight this time.

Jahangir Yagubov’s mas-wrestling achievements place him in the world’s top three:

Silver medalist:

V World Mas-Wrestling Championship;

2019 Mas-Wrestling World Cup: I Stage; Open European Mas-Wrestling Championship;

2019 Mas-Wrestling World Cup: final stage.

Bronze medalist:

VII World Mas-Wrestling Championship among men and women;

2019 Mas-Wrestling World Cup: II Stage; Open Asian Mas-Wrestling Championship.

The giant Vero Alex, a superheavyweight from Hungary, has deservedly made the elite lineup of the European team. Here are his titles:

Champion:

2019 Mas-Wrestling World Cup: III Stage;

Arnold Classic South America Mas-Wrestling Championship in the absolute category – 2024;

Open European Mas-Wrestling Championship among men and women – 2023;

Open Brazilian Mas-Wrestling Championship within the Arnold Sports Festival South America;

Holder of the Arnold Classic champion’s belt.

Silver medalist:

IV World Mas-Wrestling Championship, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Yakut ASSR;

European Mas-Wrestling Championship in the absolute category among men and women – 2023.

Bronze medalist:

World Mas-Wrestling Championship in the absolute weight category – 2021;

2021 Mas-Wrestling World Cup: I Stage; Open Asian Mas-Wrestling Championship;

2021 Mas-Wrestling World Cup: II Stage; Open European Mas-Wrestling Championship;

European Championship in the absolute category among men and women – 2021.

Cintia Csordas completes the Hungarian presence on Team Europe. Despite her petite figure and fragile appearance, Cintia has a will of steel and a strong character. Although she always competes at 55 kg, she is not afraid to enter even the absolute category. Her uncompromising bouts – when the Hungarian athlete fights to the last, when her strength is gone and she can no longer get up and stand steadily on her feet – are a model of true sporting spirit. Cintia’s achievements:

Champion:

Open Brazilian Mas-Wrestling Championship within the Arnold Sports Festival South America.

Silver medalist:

IV World Mas-Wrestling Championship, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Yakut ASSR;

Arnold Classic South America Mas-Wrestling Championship in the absolute category – 2024.

Bronze medalist:

2021 Mas-Wrestling World Cup: II Stage; Open European Mas-Wrestling Championship.

Her status as world vice-champion gives Cintia Csordas the right to present herself as a contender for victory among women in the up to 70 kg category at the upcoming team cup in Yakutsk.

In the women’s over 70 kg category, Slovakia’s Jana Vaskova will probably have no equal in strength. A pupil of Marcel Matej and one of the strongest women in the world, she announced herself loudly in 2018 at the World Mas-Wrestling Championship in Yakutsk, when she gave her rivals no chance and took the gold home. Since then, Jana has known few defeats. Her achievements:

Champion:

III World Mas-Wrestling Championship;

VI World Mas-Wrestling Championship among men and women;

VII World Mas-Wrestling Championship among men and women;

World Mas-Wrestling Championship in the absolute weight category – 2021;

World Mas-Wrestling Championship in the absolute weight category among men and women – 2024;

2019 Mas-Wrestling World Cup: I Stage; Open European Mas-Wrestling Championship;

2019 Mas-Wrestling World Cup: II Stage; Open Asian Mas-Wrestling Championship;

2021 Mas-Wrestling World Cup: II Stage; Open European Mas-Wrestling Championship;

2021 Mas-Wrestling World Cup: III (final) Stage;

Open European Mas-Wrestling Championship among men and women – 2025;

Open European Mas-Wrestling Championship among men and women – 2023;

European Mas-Wrestling Championship in the absolute category for men and women – 2023.

Silver medalist:

Open European Mas-Wrestling Championship in the absolute weight category for men and women – 2025.

Bronze medalist:

European Championship in the absolute category for men and women – 2021.

Slovakia’s Jan Doval is bringing the European delegation to the World Championship in Kazan, then to the Open Team Mas-Wrestling Cup and the anniversary celebrations of the Yakut mas-wrestling federation.

Jan Doval is president of the recently created Free Sports Federation (Slobodná športová federácia), which is currently undergoing official registration with the Ministry of the Interior of the Slovak Republic. The non-profit public association, based in Mikusovce, Slovakia, is intended to support sport in the broadest sense of the word. The organization brings together individuals, sports clubs and various structures regardless of discipline, supporting both amateur and recreational sport and high-performance sport.

The federation aims to represent Slovakia’s interests and coordinate the country’s participation in sports initiatives and events linked to BRICS countries, including the BRICS Games, Kardo, the Nomad Games and other international sports projects.

Incidentally, Oliver Kurek is also one of the founders of the Free Sports Federation, whose general goal is to grow the organization into an authoritative national sports structure comparable in status to the Slovak Olympic and Sports Committee. The long-term vision is to create a professional platform that will open access to international opportunities for Slovak athletes, clubs, sports organizations, coaches and experts, based on the principles of independence, openness, sports neutrality and cooperation.

Jan Doval will speak about the prospects for mas-wrestling development at a scientific-practical conference in Kazan and at various meetings during his stay in Yakutia. It is encouraging that mas-wrestling in Europe is becoming a foundation for the establishment of such significant international sports organizations.