Kuresh — Kyrgyz waist wrestling — is one of the most popular national sports in Kyrgyzstan. This wrestling is similar to freestyle wrestling. Until recently, there were two variants of wrestling widely practiced among the people — southern and northern. The southern variant, prevalent in the Osh region, does not allow the use of leg hooks, trips, or sweeps. In the northern variant of kuresh, a variety of techniques are used; this makes it closer to freestyle wrestling.
Modern wrestling conditions are developed based on the northern variant of wrestling. The rules allow for: sweeps and leg grips, capturing a leg with a leg, one-handed neck grips, front and back waist grips, throws over the thigh, front and side waist throws, and half-bridge throws.
Prohibited: gripping fingers, grabbing the opponent's leg with hands, throwing the opponent onto their head, performing counter-joint techniques, throwing without a waist grip, choking with an elbow bend, throwing with a grip only on the opponent's head with both hands (one hand is allowed).
The wrestler is allowed to: lift the opponent and throw them from the knee onto the mat, perform hip throws with one hand lowered from the waist, kick the opponent's heels with the toes, entangle legs, trip, perform a mill, sweep under the knees, and throw over the shoulder without lifting hands from the opponent's waist.
According to existing rules, competitions are held in 4 weight categories. In kuresh, young men aged 16-18 and adults aged 19 and older can participate. The duration of the match for young men is 4 minutes, and for adults — 6 minutes, after which, if no victory is achieved by either participant, the result of the match is determined as a "draw".
Falling onto the bridge is considered a defeat. The winner is the wrestler who has placed their "opponent" on the mat with both shoulder blades. A wrestler can be considered defeated if they touch the mat with their shoulder blades, refuse to fight, or violate the competition rules.
Competitions are held on a mat measuring 6X6 meters. Wrestlers are dressed in sports pants, t-shirts, light shoes, and a belt (kur) made of soft material, two meters long and 80 cm wide. Kuresh is one of the most popular sports, practiced by people of all ages, and is the most effective means of attracting the youth of the indigenous nationality to classical sports, primarily to classical and freestyle wrestling.
