Young wrestler wins in Kırkpınar
Güncelleme Tarihi:
by Ben McIntosh
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Temmuz 07, 2009 00:00
EDİRNE - In a final that came at the end of an exhaustive two days of wrestling on oil-soaked grass, a young wrestler from Antalya ends Recep Kara’s dream of winning three consecutive titles in Kırkpınar and becoming the permanent recipient of the Golden Belt.
This year's Kırkpınar oil wrestling event in the northwestern city of Edirne culminated in an upset on Sunday, with Mehmet Yeşilyeşil grappling a historic victory away from the tournament favorite in a hard-fought final that went into extra time.
With two consecutive victories, Recep Kara was the favorite going into the weekend to secure his third "başpehlivan" (master wrestler) title in a row, which would have seen his name immortalized in oil wrestling history, not to mention given him permanent possession of the coveted 1.5-kilogram Golden Belt (Altın Kemer).
Favorite
Ahead of the final at the Sarayiçi wrestling ground, Hüseyin Çokal, a former wrestler and himself one of the few permanent başpehlivans - winning in 1982, ’83 and ’84 - said he was as certain as you could be in oil wrestling that Kara would go on to become the permanent recipient of the Golden Belt.
But the 23-year-old Yeşilyeşil never looked like he was going to be content with being just a footnote in Kara's run into history, and after the allocated 40 minutes of regulation time went to sudden death, the wrestler from Belek scored the vital point with the clock reaching the one-hour mark.
Sunday evening's final came at the end of an exhaustive two days of wrestling as the 2,000-strong field was whittled down to two. The day began with the quarterfinals for the top category wrestlers, and both Kara and Yeşilyeşil had little problem progressing. However, during the semifinals while Yeşilyeşil managed to dispense with his opponent Ekrem Yavuz quickly, Kara battled for a lot longer with Ali Gürbüz under the oppressive mid-afternoon sun, only a few hours before the final.
The extra time appeared to have taken its toll on Kara with Yeşilyeşil taking the first point early in the bout. Yet the defending champion came back and after equalizing with a point of his own, his strength and experience looked to dominate toward the end of regulation time. But Yeşilyeşil appeared to be moving more quickly, and as time wore on Kara was becoming visibly exhausted.
After the two titans had been on the now olive oil-coated pitch approaching an hour, all the time to the continuous and menacing beat of traditional drummers who themselves had been playing for three days without let up, Yeşilyeşil grabbed the elusive winning point and almost instantaneously his contingent of supporters erupted in celebration with large numbers of fellow-club members and fans invading the pitch. Meanwhile, Kara collapsed in both physical and emotional dejection, his dreams of oil wrestling immortality as shattered as his battled body.
New ’ağa’ selected
President Abdullah Gül, along with Deniz Baykal, leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, were on hand to present the new başpehlivan with his Golden Belt and trophy to Yeşilyeşil, who capped a successful weekend for the Belek club from southern Antalya.
The final day of the 648th Kırkpınar Oil Wrestling Tournament also witnessed the selection of next year’s "ağa." As a tradition, a tender is held on the last day of the event and the highest bidder is named the "ağa" for the next year. A businessman from Trabzon, Seyfettin Selim, won the bid with an offer of 250,000 Turkish Liras, all of which will be spent on the event’s expenses.
With two consecutive victories, Recep Kara was the favorite going into the weekend to secure his third "başpehlivan" (master wrestler) title in a row, which would have seen his name immortalized in oil wrestling history, not to mention given him permanent possession of the coveted 1.5-kilogram Golden Belt (Altın Kemer).
Favorite
Ahead of the final at the Sarayiçi wrestling ground, Hüseyin Çokal, a former wrestler and himself one of the few permanent başpehlivans - winning in 1982, ’83 and ’84 - said he was as certain as you could be in oil wrestling that Kara would go on to become the permanent recipient of the Golden Belt.
But the 23-year-old Yeşilyeşil never looked like he was going to be content with being just a footnote in Kara's run into history, and after the allocated 40 minutes of regulation time went to sudden death, the wrestler from Belek scored the vital point with the clock reaching the one-hour mark.
Sunday evening's final came at the end of an exhaustive two days of wrestling as the 2,000-strong field was whittled down to two. The day began with the quarterfinals for the top category wrestlers, and both Kara and Yeşilyeşil had little problem progressing. However, during the semifinals while Yeşilyeşil managed to dispense with his opponent Ekrem Yavuz quickly, Kara battled for a lot longer with Ali Gürbüz under the oppressive mid-afternoon sun, only a few hours before the final.
The extra time appeared to have taken its toll on Kara with Yeşilyeşil taking the first point early in the bout. Yet the defending champion came back and after equalizing with a point of his own, his strength and experience looked to dominate toward the end of regulation time. But Yeşilyeşil appeared to be moving more quickly, and as time wore on Kara was becoming visibly exhausted.
After the two titans had been on the now olive oil-coated pitch approaching an hour, all the time to the continuous and menacing beat of traditional drummers who themselves had been playing for three days without let up, Yeşilyeşil grabbed the elusive winning point and almost instantaneously his contingent of supporters erupted in celebration with large numbers of fellow-club members and fans invading the pitch. Meanwhile, Kara collapsed in both physical and emotional dejection, his dreams of oil wrestling immortality as shattered as his battled body.
New ’ağa’ selected
President Abdullah Gül, along with Deniz Baykal, leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, were on hand to present the new başpehlivan with his Golden Belt and trophy to Yeşilyeşil, who capped a successful weekend for the Belek club from southern Antalya.
The final day of the 648th Kırkpınar Oil Wrestling Tournament also witnessed the selection of next year’s "ağa." As a tradition, a tender is held on the last day of the event and the highest bidder is named the "ağa" for the next year. A businessman from Trabzon, Seyfettin Selim, won the bid with an offer of 250,000 Turkish Liras, all of which will be spent on the event’s expenses.