CHUKAI: Some of the best arm wrestlers from across Asia will pit their skills and strengths to see who is the mightiest of them all come Saturday (March 24).
The ‘2018 Pangolin Arms Super 16 Arm wrestling championship’ is scheduled to take place in Bukit Kuang, Kemaman.
Pangolin Arms arm wrestling club co-founder and chief executive, Muhammad Yunus Zakariah, said the event, in its second year, will see the likes of Singapore’s No 1 Valen Low, the Philippines No 1 Mark Luis Ben, Malaysia’s No 2 Nizar Yusof, and Kazakhstan great Nurzhan Dukiyev.
"At present, 46 pullers (arm wrestlers) have pre-registered. The tournament has a participation cap of 56 pullers," said Yunus, an organising committee member for the 2015 WAF World Arm Wrestling Championship in Kuala Lumpur.
Saturday’s championship will have three novice/amateur categories for below-65kg, 65kg-75kg and above-75kg, with the champion receiving RM400, and runner-up RM100 for each category.
Then there is the Invitation Masters below-85kg offering RM2,000 for the champion and RM500 for the runner-up.
Yunus said that each category is limited to 16 pullers.
"Each match-up consists of three fights. Match-ups are decided through a bracketed power matching system.
"There will be approximately 4 matches involving 160 fights per category. Pullers will be ranked based on the number of match wins and the number of fights won.
"The top four pullers will advance to the elimination rounds which are decided by a single fight," said Yunus.
He added that the Super 16 arm wrestling championship was the only tournament in the east coast of the peninsula.
"It was formed to generate interest towards the sport among people here, as well as provide existing pullers an avenue to compete and be selected for future tournaments," said Yunus.
He added that they chose the pangolin for the club's name for three main reasons.
"Curling is a basic stance in arm wrestling and is used in the two dominant techniques used by professionals worldwide.
"It is also most essential, as a win or loss can be quickly determined from whether or not a puller is able to hold or maintain his curl.
"Secondly, in Malayan folklore, a pangolin's curl is considered exceptionally tough and impossible to open by force.
"It is said that only the sound of a loud thunder will be able to surprise the pangolin to spring open it's curl.
"Finally, even though the species can be found elsewhere in the world, the Malayan or Sunda pangolin is rather unique to the community here," said Yunus.
Apart from the folklore, he said, the word pangolin originates from the Malay word 'pengguling' which directly translates as 'the curler'.
Yunus said they wanted to make competitive arm wrestling a major sport in the country just like mixed martial arts.
The Pangolin Arms Club has about 100 members mainly from Terengganu, Pahang, Kelantan and Sabah.
Yunus said the club was adopting the ‘Save Pangolins’ global campaign through more activities.
"Together with our commercial partner Suponsa Global, the club will initially work with five secondary schools in Kemaman and introduce a leadership communication workshop and ‘Puller Campus’ arm wrestling programme for youths.
"We plan to expand similar activities to other schools, colleges and universities in the country," said Yunus.
Talented youths, he added, would be invited to join the club’s Elite Development Squad to promote, health, confidence, leadership and as a pathway to professional arm wrestling.
"To further promote the sport, we are planning to have an arm wrestling league that will run for 22 weeks involving 12 pullers, with six fights a week and a total of 132 fights a year.
"The purpose of the league is to create an ongoing competitive environment in Kemaman. The league is expected to run for at least six months to scout for new talents," he said.