My dear friends and colleagues in the International Kurash Association!

As you know, last year and the beginning of this year were especially difficult for the entire

International community. It was not easy for the world of sports either, as we can see by the example of the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many things that we are used to are no longer available. The world has changed. Even our greetings have changed. Now we greet each-other with little or no contact.

In this sense, our sport Kurash, which is a contact sport and requires close tactile contact in the course of training and competition, had a particularly difficult time. The pandemic has stopped our competitions and our contacts with you, but the pandemic is not able to break the friendship and brotherhood that, thanks to Kurash, we have been establishing with you for two decades since our sport entered the international arena.

The pandemic will end. Maybe not today, but tomorrow for sure. Air travel will resume, tournaments and championships will be restored, and we will again be able to communicate with you in person at many Kurash competitions, which will be held all around the world. And we again will hear on our “Gilams” our words like “Khalol”, “Yonbosh”, “Chala”, “Tanbekh”, “Dakki” and “Girrom”.

Kurash is more than three thousand years old. Kurash, like humanity itself, has survived numerous wars, epidemics, floods and earthquakes. Kurash cannot be defeated by the current pandemic as well.

See you soon, my dear friends in Kurash. Missing our competitions and you all!

Sherzodkhon Kudratkhoja

Vice President of International Kurash Association