The World Cup in Hand-to-Hand Fighting Friendship Cup will be held in Moscow for the second time

The Tournament will be held April 7 to 9, 2023 at the Irina Viner-Usmanova Gymnastics Palace with the support of the Moscow City Sports Department in the year of the 100th anniversary of Moscow sport.

The Friendship Cup is an annual international tournament that traditionally brings together the strongest fighters from 22 countries (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Afghanistan, Belarus, Ghana, Germany, Georgia, Egypt, India, Jordan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Russia, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, France, South Ossetia). The competition will be held in Moscow for the second time.

The titles of winners and prize-winners will be determined among men and women in the disciplines Duel (8 men, 6 women and 2 absolute weight categories) and Self-defense (10 men, 5 women age/weight categories), as well as in the absolute discipline Self-Defense 1+1.

The Duel involves full-contact fighting using punches and kicks, throws, painful and submission holds. In Self-defense fighters alternately defend themselves from attacking actions of an armed and unarmed competitor, using applied techniques of hand-to-hand fighting.   

For the first time, the Tournament will host the World Championship in Self-defense among boys and girls (14-15, 16-17 years old) as well as juniors (18-21 years old).

The Friendship Cup 2023 will be held at the Irina Viner-Usmanova Gymnastics Palace at 24 Luzhniki str., bld. 24. Detailed information about the Tournament can be found on the website https://h2h.moscow.sport/ .

Media accreditation for the Tournament is open. For accreditation, please contact Yulia Trofimchuk, e-mail: sporteventsrus@yandex.ru, phone: +79164618677.

In the request for accreditation, it is necessary to specify the full name, the name of the media, mobile phone number, email address and function (writing journalist / photographer / cameraman / correspondent, etc.).

The Event program:

April 7:
10:00-10:30 – sport opening of the Competition;
10:30-19:00 – preliminary, semifinal and final bouts in Self-defense and Self-Defense 1+1 in all age and weight categories;
19:00-20:00 – Awarding Ceremony in Self-defense (boys and girls (14-15, 16-17 years old) and juniors (18-21 years old).

April 8:
10:00-15:00 – preliminary bouts in Duel;
15:00-16:00 – Awarding Ceremony in Self-defense and Self-defense 1+1 (men, women);
16:00-18:00 – semifinal bouts in Duel;
18:00-19:00 – 6 final bouts in Duel;
19:00-20:00 – Awarding Ceremony of six weight categories in Duel.

April 9:
17:00-17:30 – Grand Opening of the Final part;
17:30-20:00 – 10 final bouts, Awarding Ceremony of the winners and prize-winners;
20:00 – Closing of the Competition.