Origins and development of Yakut national wrestling hapsagay in domestic combat sports
As seen from the wide range of historical sources, ethnographic researches of scientists of the Sakha Republic, the Yakut national wrestling hapsagay has a deep ethnic background. Currently, it is one of the most popular sports, which involves thousands of boys from the regions and cities of the Republic of Sakha. Since 1932 this type of martial arts is included in the All-Union, and then in the All-Russian sports classification. Hundreds of masters of sports, tens of thousands of athletes of different ranking have been trained during the existence of this kind of martial arts. Sports coaches are being trained in North-Eastern Federal University. At the same time, studies of this unique kind of national wrestling were suspended in the country. Currently coaches who are developing this sport have at their disposal only fragmentary research results of honored coach of the USSR D.P. Korkin, written more than 40 years ago. The need for a new scientific information on hapsagay wrestling is stipulated by the needs of both coaches and a wide range of fans of the martial arts living in the Republic of Sakha, and far beyond its borders. This is evidenced by the fact that the current rules of the Yakut national wrestling hapsagay developed under the auspices of the United World Wresting organization FILA. Since 2012, annual world championships with the participation of athletes from many countries of Europe, Asia and Africa have been held by the Internetional Federation of Associated Wrestling. This, in turn, proves the need to start a new phase of researches which are not only aimed at studying the historical heritage of hapsagay wrestling, but also scientifically substantiate the content, focus, methodology and organization of this kind of combat sports.