Mas-Wrestling
мас тардыһыыA Yakut national sport in which two seated competitors, feet braced against a board, pull on a stick. Entered in the All-Russian Register of Sports in 2003.
Quick Facts
RussiaCharacter & Origin
Training
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
Editorial rating on a 0–3 scale, based on how much room each area gets in ordinary training.
About Mas-Wrestling
Mas-wrestling, in Yakut mas tardyhyyta according to Manchurina et al. (2018), is according to Borokhin et al. (2019) a Yakut national sport in which competitors sit facing each other, brace their feet against a support board and hold a stick in their hands. The 2020 rules of the Ministry of Sport of the Russian Federation describe it as a strength contest without strikes in which even grabbing the opponent's hand is forbidden. According to Darya Novichkova (Lenta.ru, 2022), the word mas means wood or stick in Yakut. Zakharova et al. (2025) cite a description of stick pulling from the 1920s and state that the 1945 rules of Yakut national sports knew stick pulling also beyond a rope circle. According to Manchurina et al. (2018), folk games grew into full-fledged sports from the early 1990s. According to Alekseev and Govorov (2023), 2003 is the date of inclusion in the All-Russian Register of Sports, not the origin of the game. We have not been able to verify the year of origin or the founder in the sources. The International Mas-Wrestling Federation was founded, according to Alekseev and Govorov, in 2011, according to Kudrin et al. (2023) on 24 November 2012 in Moscow. For the All-Russian federation, Zakharova et al. give 2002, Alekseev and Govorov 2015. According to Novichkova, the first world championship took place in 2014 in Yakutsk with 144 athletes from 35 countries.
History
Zakharova et al. (2025) report that Yakut traditional games and contests were first described by participants of the Second Kamchatka Expedition, Gerhard Friedrich Müller and Ilya Petrovich Yakhontov, but they do not mention the pole pull explicitly. The International Mas-Wrestling Federation claims that the first researchers of Siberia described pole pulling as early as the seventeenth century. Zakharova et al. cite a description from the 1920s compiled by I. D. Balanov: two players sit on the ground, with a board or block between their legs, and try to pull each other over by the pole. According to the same authors, the rules of national sports were compiled in 1932 by F. N. Nikiforov, and the All-Yakut Spartakiads of 1932, 1935 and 1937 were held under them. The rules approved on 14 February 1945 recognised two pull disciplines, with the pole and beyond the rope circle. Since 1992, according to Zakharova et al., republic championships have been held annually. Alekseev and Govorov (2023) report that the sport was added to the All-Russian Register of Sports in 2003.
How it differs
Zakharova et al. (2025) write that the 1945 rules allowed only the stick at official competitions, which, according to experts, practically lost the traditional discipline of pulling on a rope ring 30 cm in diameter. Kudrin et al. (2023) note that traditional games, on gaining the status of a sport, cross ethnic boundaries and often change their rules for the sake of popularisation or to reduce injuries. According to the same authors, almost 80% of competitors in Russia and all in Yakutia use a two-sided tensioning of the stick at the start, in which one competitor's heels unintentionally jump off the podium, and because of injuries they propose a free stance of the feet. English Wikipedia states that stick pulling was a popular pastime of sailors and that its variants also occur in Alaska and northern Europe, especially in the nineteenth century.
Technique
Loginov et al. (2020) describe a match in mas-wrestling as acyclic work of maximum intensity with elements of cyclic work during active fighting. Under the rules of the Ministry of Sport, the grip, inner or outer, is chosen in the first round by the competitor from the red side, in the second by the one from the blue side, and at 1:1 a dice throw decides. With the outer grip, according to Loginov et al., competitors choose the stronger hand to hold the pole, while the weaker one supports it. Loginov et al. analysed 186 matches of the Yakutia championship and found that 66% of rounds were fought from the right-side position with the outer grip, from which competitors won 63%, only 35% from the left-side one. Zakharov et al. (2022) found in 343 matches that about 80% of rounds ended in under 10 seconds. Krivoshapkin et al. (2015) found by biomechanical analysis that the thoracic spine works entirely in yielding mode during the competitive pull.
Training
Zakharov et al. (2022) report that palm lacerations make up 70 % of all injuries in mas-wrestling. Kudrin et al. (2023) found at the 2022 Yakutia championship that the most common injuries were skin damage to the palms, followed by strains or tears of the hamstring and spinal injuries. The 2020 rules of the Ministry of Sport permit elastic bandages, belts, palm guards up to the size of the palm, taping and magnesia. According to Zakharov et al., both competitors wore palm guards in about 60 % of bouts, and only 10 % of bouts took place without them. Krivoshapkin et al. (2015) recommend for special pulling strength the toe deadlift and pulling on a training machine, always only to knee level with a small amplitude. The International Mas-Wrestling Federation states that coaches are trained by the M. K. Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University and the Churapcha State Institute of Physical Culture and Sport.
Ranks and progression
Zakharova et al. (2025) report that under the rules of 1945 the pole used for pulling was 70 to 80 cm long with a diameter of 2.5 to 3 cm, whereas current rules prescribe a pole 40 to 50 cm long with a diameter of 34 mm. According to Kudrin et al. (2023), the international federation changed the rules seven times in 11 years, in Dubai in 2013, Moscow in 2015, Cholpon-Ata in 2016, Moscow in 2017, Yakutsk in 2018, Pabianice in 2019 and Pyhtää in 2021. Alekseev and Govorov (2023) report that international and All-Russian rules have been approved and that regional, All-Russian and international competitions are held regularly. Akakieva and Zakharov (2020) found in Scopus, as of October 2020, sixteen articles on mas-wrestling from 2014 to 2020, most of them from the M. K. Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University and the Churapcha State Institute of Physical Culture and Sport.
Competition
The rules of the national sport mas-wrestling were approved by the Russian Ministry of Sport in Order No. 686 of 7 September 2020, and according to their text the All-Russian federation drew them up in line with the rules of the international federation. A match has two or three rounds, played to two wins, and a round lasts at most 2 minutes. A round is won by whoever pulls the stick from the opponent or drags him over the support board, or when the opponent lifts both feet off the board, lets go of the stick or receives a second warning. The stick is, per the rules, birch or another hard wood, 40 to 50 cm long and 34 mm in diameter. Men compete in weight categories from 60 to 125+ kg, women from 55 to 85+ kg, and both also compete for the absolute champion. Borokhin et al. (2019) state that since 2014 the world championship has been held every two years. According to Novichkova (Lenta.ru, 2022), the 2022 world championship in Yakutsk had 130 participants from 42 countries. Zakharova et al. (2025) list mas-wrestling in the programme of the Children of Asia games, the Arnold Sports Festival and the Nomad Games.
Today
Zakharova et al. (2025) report that mas-wrestling is developing in more than 50 countries on all continents, while according to Murzina (EastRussia, 2018) 47 countries practised it. The International Mas-Wrestling Federation states that it brings together 49 countries and that in Yakutia mas-wrestling is taught in school physical education and clubs operate in all uluses. According to Murzina, Georgia, Hungary and Azerbaijan, among others, hosted the world and European championships, and the World Cup final is traditionally held in Moscow. According to Murzina, matches are easiest to see at the Yakut Ysyach festival. The Moscow city hall reports that at the Moscow Ysyach festival in Kolomenskoye on 13 July 2024 a tournament named after the Yakut sniper and Hero of the Soviet Union Fyodor Okhlopkov was held. Zakharova et al. cite experts' recommendation to hold the competitive part of the festival under the old rules.
Did you know
The Ministry of Sport rules of 2020 require competitors to greet each other with a traditional bow after stepping onto the podium. The International Mas-Wrestling Federation writes that every young Yakut was expected to have certain physical qualities in order to be called a real man, a bogatyr, and counts Platon Platonov among the famous Yakut strongmen. Kseniya Murzina (EastRussia, 2018) states that Arnold Schwarzenegger became a supporter of Yakut wrestling and an organiser of competitions in the United States. English Wikipedia states that the first US Open in mas-wrestling took place in June 2013 and that the World Strongman Federation included pole pulling among its disciplines in December 2011.
Frequently asked questions
Since when has mas-wrestling been an official sport?
According to Alekseev and Govorov (2023), mas-wrestling was entered in the All-Russian Register of Sports in 2003. According to Manchurina et al. (2018), folk games grew into a sport from the early 1990s.
How is a bout won in mas-wrestling?
According to the 2020 rules of the Ministry of Sport, a round is won by whoever wrests the stick from the opponent or pulls him over the support board. A match is played to two winning rounds.
Which injuries are most common in mas-wrestling?
Zakharov et al. (2022) report that lacerations on the palms make up 70% of all injuries. Kudrin et al. (2023) also mention a strained hamstring and spinal injuries.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.