Combat sports

The definition of combat sports or fighting sports is practicing uniform exercises and martial arts to be able to defend or attack the opponent. Fighting sports are very old. Many people play combat sports to gain strength and to be able to defend themselves. Combat sports can be classified into many branches. There are many types of fighting sports. Some combat sports use some weapons like swords, daggers or sticks, while others depend totally on the human body to fight against enemies. There are many countries which have their own fighting sports like the US, Egypt and India. Most countries in Asia like to play combat sports, especially in Japan and China; they have many kinds of fighting sports. And the most famous sports in these countries are Sumo and Aikido. I chose these two kinds of combat sports to describe in detail and to compare them.

Sumo is one of the oldest Japanese combat sports. It is a traditional sport, and it’s a very popular sport in Japan. This sport began hundreds years ago in Japan. Some rules and the ways of competitions changed over time. However the clothes of the players and the rice-straw wrestling ring haven’t changed till now.

The wrestling ring is a circular arena made of sand and clay surrounded by rice-straw bales. The diameter of the arena is around 4.5 meters. Sumo matches are always 1 vs. 1. The winner is the one who pushes the other player outside the arena, or lets the opponent’s body touch the circular ground with anything except the bottom of his feet. There are some illegal techniques and if a wrestler uses them he will lose the match directly, like pulling the opponent’s hair or biting him.

There is no certain time for a match, but every match ends after a few seconds, as usually one wrestler is pushed out the field or is thrown on the ground. That’s why most of the sumo competitions end in a few days. There are hundreds of sumo wrestlers in Asia, especially in Japan. The best Sumo wrestlers in the world play in the professional Sumo tournaments in Japan. It is organized by the Japan Sumo Association. There are 6 grand Sumo tournaments in Japan each year. It means one tournament per 2 months (approximately). Each tournament begins on Saturday and runs for 15 days. Every wrestler should play 15 matches in the tournament.  At the end of the tournament, the wrestler with the highest number of wins will get the title, and any wrestler who wins 7 or more matches will be “Katchi-Kotshi”.

This sport needs a huge mass of body to prevent the opponent from pushing, muscles and intelligence.  If these three factors are in one player, he will be one of the best Sumo wrestlers. The most effective techniques in this game are pushing or trying to let the opponent touch the ground.

Aikido is one of the most famous combat sports too. Aikido was created by Morihei Ueshiba in 1883. And this sport now is one of the martial arts.

 Aikido is a useful sport because it teaches how to defend ourselves from enemies like thieves etc. Aikido players should train physically and mentally to be able to defend themselves correctly. It is important to train mentally because controlling the body under stressful situations needs high focusing and relaxing, trying to not be confused. Aikido art teaches how to defeat the enemy without losing much power. That’s why most Aikido players wait for the enemy to attack, then defend, while it is rare for them to begin to attack. However the Aikido plan is to react very fast and flip the attack to knock down the enemy. An Aikido player can defeat the enemy from the first move because he knows well the weakness points of the human body, especially bones like joints. The Aikido player should have special skills to be pro, like using all senses in the fight and giving fast reactions.

 There is a series of grades, the player been promoted while training, but there is no specific belt color for each grade.

Even though Sumo and Aikido origins are in Japan, they aren’t similar combat sports because they have totally different techniques, rules and requirements to be a pro player. The only factor that is needed in both sports is intelligence because both sports need fast reaction to win the match. I have seen a few Sumo matches and I enjoyed them because not every giant body can win against clever opponents. But if I’m going to practice one of these sports I will choose Aikido for sure because I can use the techniques I learnt in the real life if I need to.