History of Alysh
Every nation has an ancient and beloved sport that it is proud of. A sport in which the strength, courage and spirit of the people are most clearly manifested. Alysh has earned the right to be called a “business card” among national sports and is currently a sports brand of Kyrgyzstan. Wrestlers’ duels, which have been held since ancient time and to this day, remain the most fascinating and massive spectacle.
Artifacts serve as historical proof of the thousand year history of belt wrestling, among which a special place is occupied by a bronze statuette of two wrestlers found in 1938 near Baghdad – its age is about 6,000 years. In the IOC Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland, there is an image of athletes dated 2000-1700 BC. Evidence of belt wrestling is available in the literature of more than 70 countries in Europe and Asia.
But, perhaps, for the first time, the elements of belt wrestling are described in the Kyrgyz masterpiece of oral folk art — the epic “Manas”, in which historical figures Koshoy and Zholoy clarified their relations in a fight according to the rules of Alysh. This intimate information is very valuable in historical terms and is proof that Alysh is as old as the Kyrgyz people.
In 2001, the World Cup and the Asian Alysh Championship among women and men were held in Osh for the first time. 32 countries from 5 continents took part in the World Cup. The International Belt Wrestling Federation “Alysh” was also founded. The principal and cardinal innovations of the championships were:
– unification of the belt wrestling rules;
– for the first time, women participated alongside men.
At that time, no facts were recorded (or allowed) in any sport participation in sports events of covered women (who observed the canons of Islam). The participation of covered women in the 2001 championship was a revolutionary achievement in the field of gender equality and created an excellent opportunity for women and girls from all over the world to engage in Alysh wrestling, reach athletic heights, popularize and promote it among like-minded women and like-minded people. The essence of the female Alysh was that it welcomes not the gender of a person, but the acceptance of the philosophy, spirit and ideals of the struggle itself. Representatives from Russia, Lithuania, Armenia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, China, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Turkmenistan, Austria, Romania, Bangladesh, Turkey, Greece, Slovakia, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Iran, Czech Republic, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Moldova, Estonia, Germany, France, Italy, USA participated in this WorldCup, Belarus, Poland, and Israel. It should be noted that at that time “belt wrestling” was called differently in different parts of the world. In 2001, at the initiative of Bayaman Erkinbaev (Deputy of Kyrgyzstan National Parliament, vice president of the national type of wrestling), “belt wrestling” was proposed to be called “Alysh” in order to achieve linguistic and semantic uniformity. In order to unite all types of belt wrestling, the International Federation “Alysh” was created. The name “Alysh” owes its origin to the epic “Manas”, which talks about the struggle of two baatyrs. Since ancient times, when the baatyrs wanted to compete, they said “kel alyshaly”, i.e. “let’s fight or wrestle.”
