Slovak Mas-Wrestling Association invites friends to Brezno

The corresponding Decree “On introducing changes to the Calendar Plan of the International Mas-Wrestling Federation for 2023” was signed by President Alexander Akimov, control over implementation was entrusted to General Secretary Arnold Mokhov.

The official European Mas-Wrestling Championships have not been held since 2021. And therefore, despite the fact that the 2023 world championship will be held in early September in Uzbekistan, European colleagues still continued to insist on a general meeting on their territory.

Hungary initially submitted an application, there was a heated discussion and even documents were prepared indicating the venue in the capital of Hungary, the most beautiful city in Europe - Budapest. But, as they say, something went wrong, and we had to make a decision to cancel and postpone it until next year. It seemed that the hopes of Europeans had melted, but just the other day good news came from neighboring Slovakia.

On September 26, 2023, on behalf of the President of the Slovak Mas-Wrestling Association, Jan Matej, a meeting was held between Vice President Oliver Kurek and the Mayor of Brezno, Mr. J.D. Tomas Abel, Ph.D., who officially agreed to hold the European Mas-Wrestling Championship on November 23-27, 2023 in the municipal gym on a free basis, including the European Mas-Wrestling Championship among boys and girls, as well as in absolute categories among men and women.

We are pleased to announce that today the necessary procedures on the part of the International Mas-Wrestling Federation have been followed and the Regulations have been signed. The competition format will be open this year and in this regard, mas-wrestlers from Azerbaijan, Argentina, Brazil, Hungary, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Colombia, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Poland, Russia, Serbia and the Czech Republic have already expressed a preliminary desire to participate.

According to the Competition Regulations, the Slovak Mas-Wrestling Association can field two or three national teams at these championships, which will give them a certain head start for the final medal standings, since the competition will also sum up the results in the team competition.

Active activities to promote mas-wrestling not only in Slovakia itself, but also abroad, are carried out under the leadership of Jan Matej. The country regularly hosts mass competitions of various levels, including international ones. And the city of Brezno has long become a gathering place for European mas-wrestlers.

The Slovak Mas-Wrestling Association can rightfully be proud of its athletes - the absolute world champion, world champion Jana Vaskova, two-time silver medalist of the World championship Oliver Kurek, prize-winners of international tournaments Attila Kitanovic and Peter Puha. They are followed by promising Ema Misovcikova, Martin Lovicek, Oliver Sidoryak, Joseph Buvala, Dominika Kyzekova. And, of course, we cannot help but remember the head coach of the Slovakian mas-wrestling team, Marcel Matei, who left us untimely. It seems that many members of the national team will dedicate their performance to his memory. We are sure that the best pages of Slovak mas-wrestling are yet to come!

We invite all friends to hospitable Slovakia. Admission conditions will be written in the next publication.