In the north-west of Turkey on Friday, July 7, the 662nd Kirkpinar tournament started (a form of freestyle wrestling, in which the body of a wrestler is lubricated with olive oil).
In three -day competitions in the province of Edirne, 2,141 wrestlers take part.
According to historical sources, the oil struggle is considered the most ancient after the Olympic Games for a sporting event held on a regular basis.
According to legend, 40 soldiers-tanes entering the vanguard of the army made a halt in the Edirne area. To pass the time, they started to fight.
At the same time, two brothers Ali and Selim fought for a long time, but could not overcome each other. As a result, both of them fell from fatigue.
Comrades buried fighters in the area of the village of Akhykey. Returning from the campaign, they saw a stream brothers in the place of the graves of the brothers. After that, the area was called Kyrkpynar (40 streams).
After Murat I, who conquered Edirne, founded the house of fighters, annual competitions in this city became a tradition. The organizers were the noble persons of Kyrkpynara.
The tournament was not held during the Ottoman-Russian war, the Balkan War and the First World War.
Since 1946, tradition has resumed. Edirne municipality organizes the tournament annually.
The very interest of the audience is caused by the final fights of fighters with the status of the “main poverty” that will be held on Sunday. If for 40 minutes one of the wrestlers will not be able to prevail over the other, at the next stage the one who receives the first “gold score” will win.