Belt wrestling

Belt wrestling is a form of wrestling that is one of the oldest historically recorded sports. It involves contestants aiming to knock each other over by grappling with a belt.

Gilgamesh engages in a form of belt wrestling with Enkidu in the Epic of Gilgamesh written around 2000 BC about a king of Sumer who lived around 2800 to 2600 BC. One of the oldest recorded illustrations of wrestling is a bronze statuette, dated to around 2600 BC, found in 1938 at Khafaji, near Baghdad and now stored in the National Museum of Iraq. In the 11th Century the scholar and philosopher Avicenna, spoke of this type of wrestling. Every country has its own kind of struggle. Originally, wrestling was intended as a means of survival for ancient civilizations. Put literally, the struggle for existence was carried on in much the same manner as natural selection.

To accommodate the many variations of belt wrestling throughout the world, the philosophy of the new International Belt Wrestling Association (IBWA) founded in 2005 now headed by H.E Mr. KHALIL AHMED KHAN of Pakistan has been simple and logical; it has adopted two sets of standard rules and a standard costume. Their reasoning is that some styles do not permit trips and some do. However, according to the new association, to compete without trips is called ‘classical style’ and with trips is called ‘free style’. The standard costume is an attractive feature, which allows for all styles to be completed so that no participant can conclude that his or her national style or costume has been slighted. IBWA unites all belt wrestling lovers in the world.

Different parts of the world have different variations on certain rules in the sport. As the name suggests, the central component to the sport is a simple device, such as a belt, ordinary towel, or girdle. For example, within Central Asia, Kuresh wrestling of Turkic people is popular. It is distinguished by throwing an opponent by tearing him away from the floor or from the mat without using one’s legs. Such rules are usually specific to that particular region. As a result, the rules of the game can differ between continents or even countries.

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