ODESA, NOVEMBER 21st, 2011, CONTEXT-PRICHERNOMORIE — President of the European Pankration Federation Oleksandr Mandrik has announced the next Pankration Championship to be held in Odesa region, Context-Prichernomorie correspondent reports.

Mr Mandrik informed about it Saturday, 19 November, during the III Solemn Award-Giving Ceremony the Golden Mongoose.

According to the President of the European Federation, the South-European Championship in Pankration, which took place this year from 9 to 11 June was very successful. First of all, our children in the Ukrainian team were very successful, winning many awards. In addition, the World and European Association of Pankration were so pleased with the level of organization of the tournament on our part that we have offered to host another European Championships.”

“This is our major achievement — we brought our country not simply at the world level, we have taken the lead in this sport”, Mr Mandrik said.

INFORMATION: Pankration was a martial art introduced into the Greek Olympic Games in 648 BC and founded as a blend of boxing and wrestling but without any rules. The term comes from the Greek word, literally meaning “all powers”. Spartans were taught to use this ancient technique with the sole purpose of fighting and killing on the battlefield. For that reason, Spartans were not allowed to participate in any competition including other Greeks. Modern mixed martial arts competitions have come to feature many of the same methods that were used in pankration competitions in the ancient Greek world.