Yesilyesil becomes this year’s K?rkp?nar champion
- Tuesday, July 7, 2009, 13:28
- Turkish Wrestler
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Mehmet Ye?ilye?il won the championship at the 648th K?rkp?nar oil wrestling contest in Edirne on Sunday after beating Recep Kara, the winner for the last two years.Ye?ilye?il began the match with aggressive attacks and came very close to felling Kara almost immediately, but Kara, an experienced wrestler, rescued himself from the position to extend the match.
When the 30-minute normal period finished with a draw, the overtime periods began, but since neither of the wrestlers made an attack the referee warned them both. The first 15-minute overtime period ended with both wrestlers failing to score a single point; according to the rules if the match is tied after the normal period and the overtime period, the first to score a point after the overtime period will win the match. Ye?ilye?il managed to get the first point and beat Kara to become this year’s champion. Kara missed the opportunity to win the golden belt, which is given to wrestlers who win the championship three years consecutively.
For years, it has been a tradition for the president to come to K?rkp?nar to watch the competition, but former President Ahmet Necdet Sezer did not pay much attention to the wrestling competition. However, this year President Abdullah Gül visited K?rkp?nar wearing the traditional costume of a Ba?a?a (chief a?a). Deniz Baykal, the head of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), was also in attendance at K?rkp?nar. In addition to the Turkish media many foreign correspondents from the US, England, Denmark, Ukraine, Holland and Brazil watched the final match. Fifty-three wrestlers competed in the oil wrestling at K?rkp?nar this year.
Many people were inconvenienced by a lack of coordination from competition organizers and insufficient accommodation facilities. Some people were forced to spend the night outside in the gardens of Edirne’s big mosques.
Edirne is not the only city with a longstanding oil wrestling tradition. There are many wrestlers from other cities; for instance, Kocaeli and Antalya are two of the most successful cities in the oil wrestling world, and this year’s champion, Ye?ilye?il, hails from Antalya. K?rkp?nar oil wrestling has been traditionally sponsored by an a?a (local chief or boss). For the past two years Seyfettin Selim, a contractor from ?stanbul, has served as the a?a.
From: Today’s Zaman
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