In 2010, Dmitry Kunchenko was already a very serious fighter. Entering the Russian national team as part of the Partizan team for the 5 vs 5 buhurts, he became a fighter of the Russia 1 team, which was represented by Partizan. He was not only a fighter, but also the captain of this team. This position in the team made 22-year-old Dmitry vice-captain of the National team.

That year, the path of HMB sport legends began. Shoulder-to-shoulder with Dmitry, young boys fought, and now legendary Artyom Goryunov, Vitalii Gryzlov, Alexander Nikitin, Yuri Samoilov, Alexey “Bru” Nayderov and many others fought alongside him. Even then, the fights of these athletes were incredibly exciting.

According to Dmitry, that Battle of the Nations was also a meeting of friends, because at that time the fighters from Russia already knew their opponents from Ukraine and Belarus well. So, it was possible not only to fight worthy rivals at the World Championships venue, but also to spend time with friends after the fights.

But in order to adequately represent their country, the fighters of the national team had to work hard:

“Personally, I’d been preparing for the Battle of the Nations since I started HMB in 2005! Since 2009, we had been actively preparing the whole team – we were engaged in general physical training, went to all events, improved the battle tactics and the overall interaction of the fighters in the team,”- Dmitry recalls.

Such work brought results. The national team of Russia took home almost all the Championship medals. But, these victories were not given easily to the team and Dmitry himself:

“The Russian teams took 1st and 3rd places in the 5 vs 5 battles, the first place in the 21 vs 21 battles and almost all the prizes in duel nominations. But the battle for the first place in buhurt was very intense, because the day before I got a serious face injury and a concussion.”

Despite injuries and fatigue, both in 2010 and to this day, HMB athletes from Russia and around the world enter the arena of the HMB World Championship Battle of the Nations and defend the title of the best in this tough, but beautiful sport.

HMBIA News