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106 ÍÅÄÂÈÆÈÌÎÑÒÜ, ÁÈÇÍÅÑ, ÈÍÂÅÑÒÈÖÈÈ
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As amatter of the fact, the pankration
is the same fightingwithout rules as the
ancient Greeks have invented such a
martial art where all tricks were allowed
except for themean ones like biting
or gouging eyes. As to the techniques
applied, it was allowed to use virtually
all striking and dashing techniques;
therewas alsowrestling in the kneeling
position (where the rules have allowed
nearly everything).
It is noteworthy that at 2004
Athens Olympic Games, therewas the
pankration display; thismeans that the
pankrationmay be soon re-introduced
in the program of theOlympic Games,
practically 1360 years after the first
appearance of thismartial art at
Peloponnesus (this Greek peninsulawas
the site of the first Olympic Games).
Then, in the 4th century BC, the
pankration, together with the army of
Alexander the Great, came to India,
fromwhere the founder of the Shaolin
Monastery Bodhidharmawent to
China and further, where themodified
pankration has been transformed into
different versions of oriental martial arts.
In the course of time, different
techniques of fighting emerged, with
a division into striking ones (boxing,
kick-boxing, karate, taekwondo etc)
and dashing ones (free-stylewrestling,
Greco-Romanwrestling, sambo, judo).
And finally, in 1990-s, amixed or hybrid
style emergedwhich combined the
striking and dashing techniques and
lead to the foundation of the universal
martial art dubbed soon “fighting
without rules”.
The idea to combinedifferent
techniques or, at least, to select themost
efficacious and flexibleone among them,
emergedof coursemuchearlier. Already
in the19th century and at thebeginning
of the20th century, in thedays of sporting
movement revival, so called “cross-matches”
were verypopular inGermany, England,
USA, for example, world champion
inboxing againstworld champion in
wrestling, or the European champion in
Frenchwrestling against the Japanese
master of jiujitsu. Also in Japan, at the
periodof the lateMiddleAges, therewere
similar tournamentswhere itwas possible
towineither by an successful blowor
holding theopponent as painful hold.
Withoneword, itwouldbe amistake
to consider thepankration and fighting
without rules anew-bornphenomenon.
The tournaments in this kindofmartial
arts –however, the rules differ slightly - are
being conducted inmore than50 countries
of theworld.
Is it possible to speak about these
sports as amass one and accessible to
many?Wedecided to speakwith aman
whosename is inextricably linkedwith the
historyof theevolutionof hand-to-hand
fighting inUkraine, a coachwhosename
became a legend– EduardKravchenko.
Whatspecificcapabilitiesyoushouldhave
inorder topractice fightingwithout rules?
First of all, youwouldneed adesire.
For instance, inour club “Hermes”there
areboyswho simply came and chose for
themselves thehand-to-hand fighting.
Therewereno specific requirements related
to their physical fitnesswhen theyhad
entered the club.
Whenwe speak about combat sports,
manywould think on the ridge-pole.
However, if thepersonhas awill power
and tenacity, wewill havenoproblems.We
have some specific training techniques and
the appropriatemethodologies enabling a
person after aweek toperform a cross split,
without toomuchefforts.
It is known that“Hermes” is themost
popular sportingclubnot only inKievbut
probably in thewholeUkraine. It is famous
not only through thenamesof tournament
winnersof Europeanandworld levels. Is your
goal apreparationof high-level sportsmen?
Of coursenot. It is verywell known that
it is impossible to raisea sportsmanof the
professional level in the isolatedmedium,
by looking for solelycapable youngsters
and rejecting thenon-prospectiveones.
Everybodymayenlist inour club. It is so
that after awhile someboys choose for
themselves thehand-to-hand-fightingnot as
a sport but as acaseof their lives.
