Artistic Sports: Wrestling
Wrestling is a sport involving two competitors who compete to show their physical strength. The military receives combat training as part of the self-defense systems. The common people, who used lethal weapons in ritual combat, also practiced it. Professional wrestling uses techniques such as holding, clinching, leverage and locking.
The act of wrestling has been mentioned in many religious scriptures such as the Old Testament Book of Genesis, where Jacob wrestles with the angel, and The Mahabharata, where Bhima and Jarasandha wrestle. In recorded history, Chinese wrestling or Shuai Jiao is the oldest form of wrestling that has endured for four thousand years, which the Yellow Emperor deployed to defeat the rebel Chih Yui and his army. Both armies wore horned helmets to aim at the opponent. This first form was called Jiao Ti. The hands replaced the horns later. According to documented evidence at the tomb of the Old Kingdom philosopher Ptahhotep, Egyptian and Nubian wrestlers engaged in wrestling for competitive purposes, around 2300 BC. Later during the Greek era, 1100 BC – 146 BC, Greek wrestling was practiced in a competition where a wrestler forced his competitor to the ground and made him accept defeat or pushed him out of bounds.
Wrestling can be broadly divided into two categories, international wrestling and folk wrestling. International wrestling includes freestyle wrestling, sambo, Greco-Roman wrestling, beach wrestling, judo, and grappling. Freestyle wrestling is an Olympic sport. It is a form of amateur wrestling where two wrestlers of the same weight class compete against each other. A wrestler is declared the winner when he defeats his opponent by five methods. They win by fall, win by superiority, win by decision, win by injury and win by disqualification. The basic rule is that a wrestler can hold their opponent's legs and trip them up. . It is the only form of international struggle intended for women.
In the Greco-Roman style, a wrestler cannot hold their opponent's leg and trip them up nor can they hold the opponent below their waist. It is also a type of amateur wrestling that is part of the Olympic Games. Grapple or submission wrestling involves no striking, gripping, manipulation and control to defeat the opponent. There are many grappling techniques involved. Grappling can be practiced standing or on the ground. They are known as standing grappling and ground grappling respectively.
The Japanese martial art of Judo was born at the end of the 19th century, in Japan. The opponent is knocked to the ground and is forced to accept defeat by choking or locking their joints.
The unique feature of beach wrestling is that wrestlers wrestle inside a ring filled with sand. Heavy and light are the only two weight categories. Wrestlers in bathing suits throw the opponent to the ground, to put themselves on their backs. Women also play this game.
Sambo is a modern martial art that developed in the Soviet Union and is part of amateur wrestling.
There are many versions of folk wrestling depending on the place of origin and the culture in the specified area. Folk wrestling has not yet received international wrestling status.
