Yagli güres is the Turkish national sport . It is popularly called Turkish Wrestling or Oil Wrestling because the wrestlers smear themselves with olive oil. The wrestlers are called pehlivan , which means 'hero' or 'champion'. They wear trousers (kisbet or kispet) which were originally made from the leather of a water buffalo, but nowadays calf leather is also used.
Unlike other forms of wrestling , matches in oil wrestling can be won by grabbing the kisbet in a certain way. The pehlivan's goal is to control his opponent by putting his arm through the back of the kisbet. Winning this way is called a paça kazik.
Originally, the matches had no time limit and could last for one or two days. In 1975, this was changed and the maximum time for matches in the baspehlivan category was 40 minutes and in the pehlivan category 30 minutes. If there is no winner at the end, there is an extra period of 15 minutes for the baspehlivan category and 10 minutes for the pehlivan category. During the extra period, scores are kept in order to be able to declare a winner at the end.
The annual Kirkpinar tournament has been held in Edirne since 1362, making it the oldest continuous sporting event in the world. In recent years, Turkish oil wrestling has been making waves around the world and is also becoming popular in other countries, especially the Netherlands and Japan.
