We could all observe the opposition of the strongest teams in Russia this weekend at the Buhurt League tournament with the Challenger status.
The battles took place within the framework of one of the largest and most famous festivals of the military-instore movement REKON.
It was planned that HMB athletes from Russia, Poland, Serbia, Great Britain, the Czech Republic, and Belarus would fight for the championship here, and the tournament itself would receive the status of Masters.
However, due to the restrictions associated with Covid-19, foreign teams, except for the representatives of Belarus, could not come.
Therefore, according to the rules of the Buhurt League, the status of the tournament was downgraded to Challenger. However, this did not stop the athletes from Russia and 14 HMB teams came to fight for the REKON medals.
The battles were intense and hot and nobody planned to give in. As the participants later said, meeting with such strong rivals became a real HMB holiday for them.
“The fights are great, the teams are good. It’s always hard to fight with Russian teams.
It is more difficult than with the others”, said Konstantin Berngardt, the captain of the NSK team.
The tournament was attended by the only foreign team Syabry from Minsk (Belarus).
The guys showed excellent fights and made an impression on many participants in the tournament:
“Today we have wonderful fighters here, we have been meeting many of them for several years already. Much is going on as expected, the fighters’ level is expected as well. Both groups are very strong. We had to work hard to win the fights. We are glad to meet Syabry at last. There were very tough fights against them. All teams are in a high-level group.
Syabry is a great team, very well-coordinated and well-developed”, – said Valerii Glyantsev, a fighter of the HMB School team.
Syabry team themselves, according to their captain Maksim Skorikay, are glad to participate in such a large-scale event.
“I really like REKON! As always, everything is at the highest level – the fights are difficult, the opponents are strong. But we are used to it because we constantly go to REKON. All teams are good, everyone is growing, everyone is at a good level, everyone has the strong will to win. The level of the NSK team has grown, the Bears Cubs are really good fighters.
As for me, the HMB School team was a surprise, they performed very well.
Weak teams do not come to the REKON”.
As we can see, the team of Valerii Glyantsev was also remembered by Syabry team members.
It should be noted that the REKON Buhurt League tournament for many fighters became the first serious tournament in their careers. Many teams included newcomers who have only recently become part of the teams or the teams themselves are relatively recent.
“We now have guys who are at an event of this level and scale for the first time.
They have matured in terms of combat and we took them with us, ”said the captain of the “Syabry” team Maksim Skorikay.
The same situation is with the famous Bear Paw team. According to Vitaly Gryzlov, the captain, they entered the tournament with three novice fighters on their roster. However, the newcomers of the Bear Paw were preparing to enter the team for 2 – 4 years!
Bear Cubs also brought novice fighters:
“Today we have an interesting roaster – we brought our new fighters.
There is a lot of work to do. We will watch the recording of the battles and work on our mistakes. The guys have a fighting spirit”, said Oleg Vachrameev, the team captain.
Particular attention should be paid to the modified lists with a wide horizontal bar added to the sides of the lists. A similar configuration is being tested at Russian tournaments as part of an additional agreement between HMBIA and HMB Russia.
Let us remind you that Russia entered the tournament tests project with the aim of possible adaptation in the future of the existing rules and regulations since it is here that the most suitable conditions have been created for carrying out such experiments.
“In the current regulations of the Buhurt League there is no information about the width of the board, so now the organizers can discuss such modifications with HMBIA, add information to the regulations on the tournament and notify the participants in advance.
I think soon such lists modifications will appear at all major tournaments since their use increases the spectacularity of battles”, noted Artem Vasiliev, brand manager of the Buhurt League.
Many fighters also noted the advantages of the new type of lists:
“I liked the lists. There is no more grasping,the skill of fencing and wrestling is working better now – it shows the art of combat. When a person hangs on the side – that is not fencing, that is not art, ”said Artemiy Gershvald, captain of the Bayard RED team.
“Very dynamic, very interesting. Thanks to the non-standard sides, the combat dynamics were good. We could have done a good job in the center”, said Pavel Kostrykin, the captain of the Kraken team.
Experienced fighters, who still gained strength, showed brilliant fights, but fans of HMB sports could see them only thanks to the online broadcast of the tournament.
This year, for the first time in 5 years of the REKON festival, there were no spectators. This measure is due to restrictions related to Covid-19.
“Of course, I want the audience there, because they are also a fighters for the team. Especially when they support your team”, said Evgenii Emaletdinov, a fighter of the ConGo team.
“The battles are intense and the support is greatly felt online. But we miss the spectators a little”, agreed Evgenii Vitaly Gryzlov, the captain of the Bear Paw team.
On the first day of the tournament, the men’s 5v5 teams delighted us with incredibly beautiful fights. All the teams wanted the victory, many have significantly improved their skill level, and this is noted by their opponents:
“Bayard was very interesting to fight. A very well-coordinated team and the result of the tournament confirmed their strength. It was great to fight with each opponent, but the team of the HMB School was like a surprise for us. They showed good results.
As always, NSK showed good results and improvement.
There were a lot of good teams that have gathered here” said Mikhail Panchenko, the captain of the Old Friends team.
The final fight between the Bayard White and Bear Paw teams was incredible. Strong, experienced, and aimed only at victory, the opponents did not want to concede.
The whole world could watch this battle. The rivals turned out to be too strong and only the judges were able to identify the winner as a result of lengthy meetings and revisions of the fight. This result did not satisfy any of the teams.
“We are not happy with such a victory. The fights could have gone much better.
The wait, the pause, all of this darkened the joy of victory. This is not ideal for the fighters, nor for the judges. We just had to win cleanly. We will do our best to achieve that from now on. But in general, I liked the tournament. Many thanks to the organizers”, said Artem Savanovich, the captain of the Bayard White team.
Nevertheless, all the participants of the tournament on October 23 warmly and sincerely congratulated each other on their victory and participation, and it was great!
The second day of the tournament, which took place within the framework of the festival of the military-historical movement REKON, was marked by women’s buhurts 5 vs 5 and 12 vs 12 battles.
Here, in 5 vs 5 Bayard also took the gold, the Bern team won silver and the HMB School took bronze.
Irina Fedorova, fighter of the Bayard team:
“For me, the tournament was cheerful but difficult – there have not been so many fights and teams for a long time.
Nevertheless, it was effective. Although, I’m not happy with myself.
I could fight better, but not this season”.
Anastasia Meshcheryakova, captain of the Bern team:
“The tournament was tense, the battles were not easy.
It is pleasant to note the good organization, a fairly large number of women’s teams, which is pleasing. Our results have been taken into account, there is something to work on”.
Anna Muzalevskaya, a fighter of the HMB School team, on the contrary, noted that the tournament was calm for her.
“Probably, most of the emotions splashed out when I was supporting and worried about our men and only the attitudes of our coach Alexey Nayderov, who prepared us so much for this tournament, remained in my head for women’s fights.
We are satisfied with our results.
We have a great team and, entering our first tournament of this level, we did everything that was required of us”.
We are sure that not only the fighters themselves and their coach but also their opponents were satisfied with the work of the HMB School team because the fights were very tough and beautiful.
The well-known Katyusha team, led by their captain Marina Golovina, were unhappy with the results of their battles:
“We tried to meet the high level of organization of the event, to comply with all official requirements, as well as unwritten rules.
But of course, we are not happy with the result. Definitely could have been better, but something went wrong.
REKON discovered the need for a global rethinking of our team’s approach to starts. And we are grateful to it for that”.
Also, the participants of the tournament noted that they felt the absence of spectators in the stands near the lists.
However, the athletes quickly found positive in the current situation:
“Of course the lack of audience was felt, but I cannot say that it was worse without spectators.
It was calmer, freer, and quieter. You could hear what the coach was suggesting during the fight”, said Anna Muzalevskaya.
“The absence of spectators at the moment of being on the lists was not too felt.
Our friends-reenactors from various festival areas, sports colleagues – all of them created a familiar noise background, and waves of support from the stands invariably reached the addressees ”, Marina Golovina shared with HMBIA News.
“I also liked that the atmosphere was friendly,” added Irina Fedorova.
But this is the most important thing! Outside the lists, all our athletes have been friends for many years, and the anger here is only sports, which remains in the lists!
In addition, on October 24, on the second day of the tournament, spectacular and technical 12 vs 12 battles were also held.
The tournament ended with another very important result! It showed that all teams are developing and improving their level of training.
Experienced practicing fighters also become excellent trainers who prepare great teams. And these are remarkable results, indicating that HMB sport is developing!
