– “Battle of the Nations” World Championship has got a new project, namely women’s category. And we can call it an experiment, as a lot of countries aren’t ready to form national teams consisting solely of women fighters, so we have to simplify the rules and ask for one woman from each country. We assign certain time to women to fight on the lists and, of course, shorten time frame for men.

“All vs all” category will be presented anyway. There will be a round where women will participate and every lady willing to try will have a chance to do that.

We will check the level of every woman’s readiness. We’ll check their equipment as we want everything to be authentic and good-looking, regardless of participants’ sex. We still hope to welcome a lot of women ready for participation at our tournament. If ladies show a good level, we’ll include women’s league in the next “Battle of the Nations.” Even more, we are ready to hold “Battle of the Nations” World Championship specially for women as it should be in any decent sport.

Rachael Forrest, a female fighter, representative of New Zealand:
 
– I do not think that’s a fair decision to take only one woman from each country. I like team battles a lot, and I’m disappointed. It seems that the organizers of “Battle of the Nations”-2014 have introduced the duel category just to silence us. Or, probably, it is a kind of a stress test… I think that women’s category cannot be infringed, and HMB (Historical medieval battle) is no exception, like any other sports.

I worry a little bit about my participation. I think I haven’t got enough time to train and I’ll fail to show my best. But I want to fight with dignity and leave with the feeling of certain achievement, even if I am not a winner. After all, participation in a good battle is much more valuable than a victory got in a boring fight.

Andy Di Francesco, a female fighter, captain of Team Argentina:

– Once, my grandmother said a phrase that has become my creed: “The countdown begins with the number one.” It means, there are no small beginnings… It takes a lot of patience and perseverance, but the prospect of starting with the “one vs one” category is a breakthrough! Especially taking into account the fact that in previous years, women could not participate at all… “Battle of the Nations”-2014 gives us the green light, and this is the novelty of the championship, we must agree with the rules. After all, we need to start with something!

My second slogan is “First – show, then – it depends on the circumstances.” Let’s just start small, and then we’ll see. I still hope, and it’s my goal right now, for participation of women in the categories of “5 vs 5″, then “21 vs 21″… I have high hopes for “Battle of the Nations”-2014!

Elisabeth Irha,
Christina Korneva
“HMBIA News”