Irkutsk hand to hand fighters performed brilliantly at the Russian Universal Fighting Championship, winning two gold and one silver medals. The final was especially dramatic, where friends Anastasia Tretyak and Natalia Shenaeva met for the win, and another gold was won by Angarsk athlete Anastasia Filippova. Now the athletes face a new important start, the April European Championship.

Irkutsk hand-to-hand fighters performed very successfully at the Russian Universal Fighting Championship, winning two gold and one silver medal.
The hand-to-hand fighters Anastasia and Natalya are friends. At the moment, they are training striking techniques together. And a week ago, in the final of the Russian Universal Fighting Championship in the Kaluga region, these girls found themselves as rivals.
- Such situations happen very often. We had them among men at all-Russian universal fighting tournaments, and now among women. But for a coach, this is the hardest thing. When your own athletes meet. For a coach, this is the most painful, - says the senior coach of the Irkutsk Region team, Evgeny Alexandrov.
It was planned that Anastasia Tretyak would compete in the 57-kilogram category. However, when the athlete stepped on the scales, it turned out that she had moved out of her group. So the girl had to fight serious opponents in the up to 62-kilogram weight class. Although that did not prevent Nastya from still reaching the final, where her opponent turned out to be Irkutsk native Natalya Shenaeva. Tretyak gave the victory in the ring to her friend without a fight, because according to the Irkutsk team’s rules, in such cases it is awarded to the older participant.
- If we had gone into the ring, I doubt that I would have been able to fight at full strength against Natasha. She is a very good friend of mine. And I don’t know what would have happened in the ring, - says Anastasia.
- When you go into a fight, you are set on victory. Otherwise there is no point in going out there. I can’t speculate who would have won, - says Natalya.
At these same competitions, Angarsk native Anastasia Filippova won another gold. Now the three girls have an equally important event ahead of them – the April European Universal Fighting Championship.