The Democratic Union of Turkish-Muslim Tatars in Romania responded to the invitation of the Romanian Wrestling Federation and the City Hall of Constanța and participated on Saturday, 25th of September, in the World Beach Fighting Championship with demonstrations of traditional Tatar-Kures fights.
Romania was chosen for the first time to host this year’s edition of the World Beach Fighting Championship for all age groups, so that, between 23th and 26th of September, Constanța was the capital of the best fighters in the world. More than 600 athletes and officials from 50 countries were present on Neversea Beach, the venue of the competitions that attracted spectators of all ages for four days. The organizers, the Romanian Wrestling Federation and the City Hall of Constanța, combined the sports competition with cultural-artistic events that would highlight the multiculturalism of the Dobrogea space.
Also in the same note of promoting the multiethnic component that ensures the note of uniqueness of Dobrogea for hundreds of years, the organizers included in the program of the event a demonstration competition of traditional Tatar-Kures fights. Thus, the Democratic Union of Turkish-Muslim Tatars in Romania supported this demonstration moment, on this occasion bringing to the attention of the officials of the Romanian Wrestling Federation the opportunity to include kureș – the traditional sport of Tartars- in the category of official sports, with the possibility of establishment in the future even a Romanian Federation of Tatar Battles – Kureș. In fact, UDTTMR started the discussions, but also the steps related to this aspect since 2013. Among the main arguments in support of this approach is the organization of annual competitions, starting from 1st of May to September, in more and more local competitions in Constanța County, the competitions being open to all those who wish to compete, regardless of ethnicity. Kureș is, along with other cultural-artistic activities also organized by UDTTMR, an important identity element of the Tatar community and a means of transmitting identity values to future generations.
The president of the Romanian Wrestling Federation, Răzvan Pîrcălabu, also attended the demonstration matches that took place during the World Beach Wrestling Championship.
„It was a real honor for us to participate in this competition organized at a high level, to be with performance athletes and to be able to support a few demonstrative kureş matches. We are convinced that we have convinced the officials in the field of Wrestling to go further with the steps started in order to include the Kureş in the list of official sports.”, declared the president of UDTTMR, Gelil Eserghep.
The Kureș demonstration competition took place in a single category, Open. This time too, there was no shortage of the prize won by any winner in the race: the sheep.
