The HMB Soft Tournament called The Courage of Ages has been held as part of the Spirit of Time festival for 5 years already. To win here is not only a pleasure and an honour, but also very profitable! Gold medalists receive support in a trip to the World Championship in the form of payment for a flight to the city hosting the Championship. This year the main HMB Soft tournament of the season will be held in Riga (Latvia) on December 7-8, 2019.

This year, the Courage of Ages tournament has been a special event for a number of reasons. First of all, for the first time the event was divided into 2 stages – the first one was held on September 1 in St. Petersburg, the second, with the same prize to the winners, was held in Moscow as part of the Sword of Russia tournament on September 7, where took part 100 participants. Secondly, the organizers saw an unprecedented number of participants in some of the age groups, where previously there was not much excitement. But let’s take a closer look at everything from the very beginning.

We spoke to Ali Askerov, representative of the HMB Soft team and the knight marshal of the tournament and learned that about 70 fighters from St. Petersburg, including a representative from Karelia, of different age categories, took part in the Courage of Ages event. Ali also told us that the level of the tournament,  is growing every year, athletes are improving, the teaching methods in St. Petersburg, Moscow and other cities where there are HMB Soft schools under development.

The results of the individual categories of boys and girls in age categories:

10-11 years old
(boys)
1. Malich Vlad (“Kirovets”)
2. Kuzmin Matvey (Higher School of HMB)

(girls)
1. Palekhova Nadezhda (Legio X)12-13 years old
(boys)
1. Gitsba Maxim (Order of the White Dragon)
2. Bogdanov Kuzma (Nurnberg)

(girls)
1.Litovchenko Alexandra (Peresvet)

14-15 years old
(boys)
1. Berezin Matvey (Peresvet)
2. Gitsba Timur (HBS)
3. Borisov George (Peresvet)

(girls)
1. Stetsenko Lada (“Tannenberg”)
2. Volkova Elizabeth (Peresvet)
3. Kasyanova Natasha (“Nurnberg”)

16-17 years old
(boys)
1. Samokhvalov Roman (“Nurnberg”)
2. Nikitenko Vladislav (Peresvet)
3. Goryachev Sergey (“Nurnberg”)

(girls)
1. Babaeva Victoria (“The Knight”)
2. Elk Vlad (X legion)

Congratulations to the winners!

Vladimir Latansky, the judge of the Courage of Ages tournament, remarked that the tournament was both easy and challenging at the same time.
“It was difficult because there were good fighters who showed a high pace of battle, but from another point of view, it was easier, because there were not so many fights. As for refereeing, it was interesting. It is very important that the tournament runs smoothly and without refereeing errors. It was just like that! There were only a few comments and 1 warning, but the fighters quickly corrected themselves. Otherwise, everything went well. ”Ali Askerov proudly highlighted that fights have become more and more interesting from year to year, athletes have visibly gained tremendous experience, judging has becoming more challenging and speed has increased. Such competitions need to have more age categories now.

In addition, as mentioned earlier, unexpected excitement was seen in the category for the age group of 16-17 year olds. A lot of participants entered this category. Unusual, according to Ali, because the most popular used to be the 14-15 year old category.

“All the fights were very interesting. All participants, regardless of gender and age, fought to win, everyone came here with their eyes set on a medal and for the right to go to Riga. The fighting was very serious and very interesting, ”Ali said.

This time there was also a huge competition in the female category “14-15 years”. The girls noticeably seek to grow professionally inspired by the examples of recent graduates of HMB Soft. A lot of them have reached the age of 18 and donned armor. Some of them already won HMB medals in tournaments and even the HMB World Championship Battle of the Nations. Alina Lappo’s victory at the Battle of the Nations 2019 in Serbia lit the hearts of female HMB Soft athletes, who now have even more eagerness to train, develop in this sport and strive for victories.

During the Courage of Ages tournament, young athletes demonstrated not only a high level of fighting, but also team cohesion, where the older athletes support the younger ones. In particular, Mikhail Fatov from the “Peresvet” club came to support the guys from the club and to help:
“It is customary for us to support our own. The elders help the younger ones. Usually we can help to get ready, give advice during the battle, make sure that our athletes do not miss their fights … we help as much as we can! Our teammate Matvey Berezin took gold in the category “14-15 years”. He’s ready, it’s clear that we are not training in vain! He showed a fairly high level. This makes us very happy! ”

Of course, the trainer is always near the athletes and their congratulations on the victory are as valuable as the parent`s ones. The coach Alexander Bagerman from the club “Legio X Fretensis” was the proud teacher of the winner in the “10-11 years” category among girls Nadezhda Palekhova that day. Nadezhda was, of course, just as happy after having received her first prize. Now she needs to prepare in all seriousness for the HMB Soft World Championship in Riga.

And we just remind you that, this year, as a result of the first stage of the Courage of Ages  tournament, 8 gold medalists are waiting for prizes from the Courage of Ages organization – support for a trip to the World Championship in HMB Soft, which will be held on December 7 and 8 in Riga !

The results of the second stage of the tournament we will publish soon.