Bokh, the Mongolian traditional wrestling, is the most ancient sporting event in Mongolia. It is one of the three manly games of Naadam festival. Some of the features of Mongolian wrestling are:
- There are no different weight classifications
- There is no set ring size for the wrestling match to occur
- Large number of wrestlers wrestle at the same time on a same ring
- Names of their special clothing (umsgul ): The tight briefs are called “shuudag” and the open-fronted jacked is called “zodog”
- Each wrestler has a zasuul who acts as both coach and herald
There are many titles for the wrestlers, such as Champion (avarga), Lion (arslan), Elephant (zaan) and falcon (nachin). All the titles signify strength of various animals and are given out mostly during Naadam ceremony. There are usually 6 to 9 matches in Mongolian wrestling competition. A wrestler who wins five matches in a same competition is awarded with the title of falcon and for seven successive matches he is given the title of Elephant. The whole competition winner is entitled to the title of Lion and two-times whole competition winner is gets the most grand title of Champion (avarga).
If you wish to see Mongolian wrestling in action, join our Naadam festival tour. Please find more information of the tour here. https://mongoliansecrethistory.mn/mongol-naadam-fe...
