For an instantly recognizable contest that has settled untold scores it is, ironically, hard to get a firm grip on the origins of arm wrestling.
As host of the World Armwrestling Federation’s (WAF) inaugural World Championship in 1979, the Canadian city of Wetaskiwin could claim to be the birthplace of the formal, global sport, yet descriptions of rivals locked in battles of the biceps stretch back much further.
Versions of arm wrestling had already taken root across Japan, Spain and Cuba before the turn of the 20th century, according to anthropologists of the time. Some have even claimed it is depicted in the hieroglyphs of ancient Egypt, though these assertions have been contested.
Whatever its place in arm wrestling’s origin story, Africa is not looking back.
Last March saw the sport make its first appearance at the 13th African Games in Accra, Ghana, a debut orchestrated by Armwrestling Federation of Africa (AFA) President Charles Osei Asibey.
It was the latest step towards Asibey delivering on the promises of his 2022 election manifesto: to make arm wrestling a “household” sport on the continent.
“Formerly in Africa, it was only a way to determine the strongest in the community, or even in schools,” Asibey told CNN. “So, people didn’t even consider arm wrestling as a sport. It was just a normal game … We have turned it into a sport.”
The technical term for an arm wrestler is a “puller” and it is technique, not raw power, that makes a champion, stresses Asibey, with training programs focused on developing all aspects of the body.
“A lightweight who is smarter, has speed, [and] can swing very well will beat a heavier weight,” explained Asibey, who competed until last year.
Such a matchup would not happen at the competitive level, with pullers classed into sex and weight categories, akin to boxing and mixed martial arts. And just as boxing has varying orthodox and southpaw stances, arm wrestling has its own battling styles that play to a puller’s personal strengths.
