in the strangest places...

[Chang Style Novice]

I saw a feature on Turkish Wrestling on a segment on Comedy Central. It looked fairly interesting. Anybody know much about it?

[SevenStar]

http://www.kirkpinar.net/tarihi_e.html
http://www.kirkpinar.50megs.com/

[Martial Joe]

what i didnt understand was the part when they were sticking eachothers hand down their pants.

I was thinking to get a grip to set them up for a move but one guy moved his hand around to the front and it looks like he was koppin a feel.

[Martial Joe]

that wasnt disrespectful.

[Kristoffer]

Wrestling is Turkeys national sport. They have many different styles, not only the greko roman type.

[TjD]

i bet this will be the next big thing to hit MMA :) hell most of the mma trolls have enough body oil to skip that olive stuff :D

[Former castleva]

Never heard of it before but watching Sevenstar´s sites makes me think of Mongolian wrestling,which is highly based on brute force rather than technique.
Those guys in the pictures are rather big and muscular,I would make the decision that it´s quite rough&tumble stuff,but based on this minor experience,I could be wrong.

[Chang Style Novice]

I think the oil is a significant thing. Obviously, it's going to affect the types of techniques that are going to be possible, just from the difficulty of getting a grip and as a result gripping the pants becomes extremely important, similar to the significance of the gi in judo and jujutsu styles. I didn't get a good feeling for the rules, although the bit about touching both of an opponent's shoulders to the ground for a (win? point?) reminded me of judo as well. Seems obvioius that with slippery skin, most work is going to be done very close up in a pretty tight clench. It also looked as if and kind of blows were prohibited. I couldn't tell about foot and leg sweeps.

I admit I'm EXTREMELY uncomfortable with the idea that sticking your fist down your opponent's pants seems to be a big part of the game :eek: :confused: , but from what I read at the kirkenpar.net site, a properly fitted pair of pants shouldn't allow that.

The only other exposure I've had to this sport was some random website I saw months ago referring to a turkish wrestler in the 1800s who travelled the world looking for challenges. Can't remember anything else about it, but it sounds pretty similar to the legends of people like Count Koma, Kimura Mahasiko, Frank Gotch, etc.