Recently, a video from the World Grappling Championship, which took place in Astana from October 7 to October 12, has spread online. At a competition among wrestlers under 20 years old in the grappling-gi style, a real scandal occurred. Before the quarterfinal bout in the up to 92 kg weight category, Ukrainian Ivan Poremchuk pointedly refused to shake hands with Russian Aliyar Nagiyev, although our wrestler offered to do so.

As a result, Nagiyev took revenge on his opponent within a few seconds.

“This is punishment”

In the first minute of the match, the Russian wrestler performed a spectacular “hanging” technique. Nagiyev caught his opponent’s hand on the elbow lever in the standing position, and completed the painful one already on the ground. The Ukrainian athlete had no choice but to knock as a sign of surrender. Karma overtook Poremchuk instantly.

– This is a punishment for not shaking hands! – came from the stands during the announcement of the Russian’s victory.

At the end of the fight, Nagiyev no longer extended his hand to Poremchuk. The Russian had enough of the offensive gesture the first time, and he was no longer going to tolerate such disrespectful attitude towards him.

Aliyar Nagiyev and Ivan Poremchuk / Photo: © Social networks of Aliyar Nagiyev

Aliyar Nagiyev reached the final of the World Championship, but in the decisive battle lost to the representative of Romania Stefan Loboda and took second place.

Will the Ukrainian be punished?

It is worth noting that the rules of grappling do not stipulate a mandatory handshake before a fight, so Poremchuk’s action will most likely not even be paid attention to.

Many fans were indignant at the behavior of the Ukrainian athlete, recalling an episode from last year’s World Fencing Championship. Then the scandal was really loud. After the head-to-head duel, Ukrainian Olga Kharlan refused to shake hands with Russian Anna Smirnova, pointing a saber at her. As a result, Kharlan was disqualified from the competition for violating the regulations. Even in the West, where they certainly do not have sympathy for our athletes, they reacted negatively to the Ukrainian woman’s unworthy behavior.

However, it is unlikely that a similar wave of condemnation will arise in such an underground sport as grappling. In this case, Russian athletes can only silently do their job and win, despite all the irritating factors.