Oil wrestling
traditional wrestling practiced among the Turks
Oil wrestling (Turkish: Yağlı güreş), also called Turkish oil wrestling, is the national sport of Turkey. Oil wrestling includes oil and traditional dress, and its rules are comparable to karakucak. But it was originally an Ancient Greek sport perform at a series of panhellenic games.
In Assyria, ancient Egypt, and Babylonia, oil wrestling was performed. It spread to Iran and Anatolia during the First Achaemenid conquest of Egypt. Oil wrestling was performed by ancient communities 4,500 years ago in Thrace and the Balkans. As the Ottoman Empire extended into Europe, oil wrestling competitions have been held ceremoniously until modern times.
Unlike Olympic wrestling, oil wrestling matches may be won by achieving an effective hold of the kisbet, the loose-fitting leather pants worn during oil wrestling. Thus, the wrestler aims to control his opponent by putting his arm through the latter's kisbet. To win by using this move is called paça kazık.
“Oil wrestling” enters the record as traditional wrestling practiced among the Turks. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what wrestling, traditional and practiced can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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This entry incorporates text from “Oil wrestling” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.