This article was written by Engin Terzi in Armwrestling John – Engin. I asked Engin if I can also post it here on XSportNews, because on facebook it’s impossible to find anything after a period of time. Google indexes the articles from XSportNews, and this way it would be easier to be found in the future.
Engin Terzi ► Armwrestling John – Engin:
I have been involved in world level armwrestling for more than 20 years and the effectiveness of the techniques have always been put into a competition such as hook vs toproll. In fact these 2 techniques do not cover the question as they have different forms within themselves. So to put the question as “outside vs inside” can be a better expression..
During the years that i have been competing i always heard analyses about how the inside pullers were dominant that year, or how the outsiders were dominant this year etc. People sometimes believed that future of sport will be in the hands of the inside pullers, and they sometimes believed outside pullers will dominate the world from now on. But the truth is these 2 main ways (inside & outside) to win will remain forever as both are very effective and appliers’ genetics and abilities are determining the results.
When i watch the matches from 80’s i see very well rounded pullers who were able to pull in different directions, and they were able to switch from one technique to another. John Brzenk is the best example of pulling very effectively in any technique and also being capable to successfully switch from one technique to another.
After mid 90’s Eastern European countries started to dominate the world of armwrestling but this dominance was mostly based on strength. With time they also progressed about technical pulling but it usually was all about 1 great move. While John was keeping his own with the well roundness the eastern european pullers were depending on 1 dominant weapon. This continued to be this way for about 15 years. But some pullers such as Genady Kvikvinia, Sergey Tokarev, Vadim Akperov and especially Ievgenii Prudnyk started to prove that it is possible to be versatile and reach to the top by finding the weak spots of the opponents.
I wrote “esspecially Ievgenii Prudnyk” because i just can not say enough of positive words for his armwrestling abilities and intelligence. So far he is the 2nd best puller ever i have seen (best ever is John). He is the actual example of being the versatile puller who is the best in the world. This year him to beat Lengarov was very impressive because his left hand is not as great as his right while i believe it was Lengarov’s first left hand loss since 2010. I knew that Prudnyk was getting closer to Rustam’s level in hook though as it was obvious but I never thought that Prudnyk would be able to toproll Rustam after a deep hook position. So on the day Prudnyk beat Rustam, he did not only end the greatest right hand winning ever record of Rustam, but he also broke the barriers of last 15 years of armwrestling world.
So let us go back to beginning of the subject which is about hook vs toproll competition. Inside and outside styles will always remain in our sport effectively but something that John has been doing for decades are now giving it’s fruits in eastern armwrestling world as well.
Ievgenii Prudnyk has just opened the door even wider to the rest of the top targeting eastern armwrestlers, that the future of the sport will be in the hands of the armwrestlers who can pull in all ways very effectively and also can switch from one technique to another smoothly. Only one way pulling monsters will still exist and they will still win but only until they reach these future pullers who will have the abilities of Brzenk and Prudnyk.
John opened the door and Prudnyk is the one who entered first. The good news is that while some are trying to make a dark future for armwrestling by their negative “pulling” propagandas , this new versatile TOP future pullers will rock the armwrestling world. The future will belong to the ones who will say not “i am a hook puller” or “i am a toproller” but “I AM AN ARMWRESTLER AND I CAN PULL IN ANY TECHNIQUE AS EFFECTIVE AS POSSIBLE”
EuroArm 2013 – R.Babaiev vs E.Prudnik (finals 85kg right hand)
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Source: armpowernet
