Do you like combat sports AND rolling around in hot sand in the sun? Saturday August 13, 2022, you should go for a walk on the beach of Lac Kir, in Dijon. The Beach Wrestling Tour wraps up its summer tour. beach wrestling, in French the “beach fight”, is a discipline with almost the same rules as classic wrestling. It is practiced in a circle drawn on the ground – materialized in the sand by foam sausages connected to each other. To score points, you have to knock the opponent down or get him out of the circle. The event attracts the curious, especially since everyone can try it, initiations are organized.
A sport that appeals to rugby players at Stade Dijonnais
The organizers promise that it is easy to have fun and progress quickly. The proof with two players from the Stade Dijonnais rugby club (Nationale 2): the 2nd line Jean Piredy Paul and the left pillar Julien Beaufils. Encouraged by their physiotherapist, Marc Patte, president of the Lutte Club Dijonnais, they got into it this summer. Result: they respectively finished third and sixth in the French championship, after finishing first and second in qualifying in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté.
Soon Olympic sport?
The French Wrestling Federation, which claims around 20,000 licensees in France, is seeking to attract a new audience with these demonstrations. “It’s really a summer activity, visible, which rejuvenates the image of wrestling a little. of wrestling, where we will have wrestlers with cabbage ears, advances Pierre Vazeilles, the Deputy National Technical Director of the French Wrestling Federation, present at Lac Kir. It’s very accessible, instantly we play. And then it responds to infrastructure issues: no need for walls or a gymnasium, we come, we practice, we leave, we go swimming, that’s the nice side”.
Especially since beach wrestling could soon enjoy popularity thanks to a huge international spotlight. “Beach wrestling will be on the program of the Youth Olympic Games in 2026”, says Pierre Vazeilles. According to him, this sport, which will also be at the World Sand Sports Games in Bali in 2023, has a good chance of being present at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.