Alpagut

The word is much older than the sport. In his Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk (1072–1074), Mahmud al-Kashgari explains the phrase alpağut er as a brave warrior who attacks the enemy alone and cannot be captured. The word appears even earlier, as alpagu, on the Kül Tegin monument of 732.

Alpagut is not an ancient system that has come down unchanged; it is a modern reconstruction. Since 2008 the fighting methods, military customs and codes of honour of the Turkic world have been studied from historical sources and brought together into a single system with its own techniques, terminology, grades and competition rules.

Alpagut reads its own name as a union of two words: alp, a brave warrior, and kut, the strength granted to a person. This reading is the art's own interpretation.

Men and women compete under unified international rules, by age group and weight category. There are five competition disciplines:

• AYÇA: limited contact, with crescent-style punches and kicks, foot sweeps and throws.
• BATUR: mixed combat, with full strikes, clinch, throws, chokes and joint locks.
• CAYMAZ: full contact standing, with powerful punches and kicks.
• QURŞAK: belt wrestling and ground fighting; strikes are forbidden.
• KAÇUT: a tactical self-defence system.

Bouts take place in a round arena whose size changes during the fight: BÖRÜ is the circle for close, decisive fighting, BERKUT the circle for wide manoeuvring.

The referee uses four cards. SARGUT is 1 point, a yellow card. ACAR is 3 points, a blue card; three SARGUTs count as one ACAR. UTKU is not a point but a victory card, red: it is given to the winner when the score reaches 6 points, by knockout, by submission, or on points at the end of time. KINAK is a penalty, a black card, with no point value.

Full text: Official Competition Rules.

Alpagut athletes wear the ÇAPAN: a black jacket and cream-coloured trousers. The corners are ÇORO (blue) and YORO (red). Historically the chapan was the traditional outer garment of the ancient Turkic peoples, including their warriors.

• SINAYÇI: the referee who runs the match; the word means "the one who tests". There are five grades: ELKİN, TOLU, BİLGE, ATAMAN, ULUCA.
• SAN: ten grades of mastery, built on the titles YARĞAN, TEGİN, ŞAD and YABGU, which with the qualifiers KÜR and TUN form ten steps.
• BÖLÜK: a team event with three fighters and one reserve.
• BÖRÜ, BERKUT: the two circles of the arena.
• SARGUT, ACAR, UTKU, KINAK: the four scoring cards.
• ÇAPAN: the competition attire. ÇORO, YORO: the blue and red corners.