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Remember the 1987 sports drama film ‘Over the Top’ featuring American actor Sylvester Stallone? The movie revolved around the world of competitive arm-wrestling. Stallone plays the lead role of Lincoln Hawk, a truck driver and professional arm-wrestler, and brought attention to the techniques involved with the sport to the fore.

While the movie did not become as popular as Rocky or Rambo in the USA, in Central Asia, it left a long-lasting impression on the people of Kazakhstan, a part of USSR at the time.

Interestingly, Sergey Sokolov, Master Referee, World Armwrestling Federation, was among many who got inspired from the movie as a young kid growing up in the Kazakhstan region. So much so, that he decided to take up the sport professionally and become an arm-wrestling referee years later.

For Sergey, who is currently donning the hat of Master Referee at the inaugural edition of Pro Panja League, arm-wrestling is not just a sport but a passion that binds countries together. Talking about how he got introduced to the sport, he says, “It was in 1992. Arm-wrestling was very famous in Kazakhstan. For me, it was the most interesting style of sport. People were crazy about arm-wrestling in Kazakhstan. In 
1998, I became a referee for a national level tournament in Moscow for the World Youth Competition and ever since then, it has been a beautiful journey for me and I hope that it continues to be like this going forward.”

Beyond arm-wrestling, Sergey’s passion for sports inspired him to take up volleyball at school and university level. “I was always into sports, mainly Volleyball. When I got to higher classes, I started participating in competitions and that’s how it all started for me. No matter where I was, be it studying or anything else, I always had time for sports.”

But his passion for arm-wrestling only grew with age. He went on to spend time with referees and attended seminars to earn the title of Master Referee.

“As such, there are no exams that the referees have to attend. Instead it’s the experience-holding referees who are required for the decision-making process. There are seminars that are also conducted all around the world where referees and trainers attend to get an understanding of the rules, how to make decisions, etc. The second stage is going to Asian competitions. We go to Asian competitions when we are required and if we do well, we get more opportunities to go further. The third stage is becoming referees in Asian Federation tournaments and attending seminars for the World Championship.” 

“In these seminars, we give written exams and there are practical exams where we have to make decisions on the table in the game and if we perform well, we get the chance to go to the World Championships."

Speaking on his role, Sergey said that the responsibility does not burden him, but instead, he finds jubilation in observing and guiding his fellow referees by sharing his experience.

“At the moment, I am just observing it and it doesn’t put me in any kind of pressure. I am just enjoying my time here,” he added.
Meanwhile, currently spending time with the Indian arm-wrestlers in New Delhi for the Pro Panja League, Sergey says he has earned a lot of respect for the talented pool of players present in the country.

The Master Referee from Kazakhstan said, “If I consider the level of World Champions or Asian Champions, the Indian arm-wrestlers have become better in the past few years. They are more or less at the same level as the Asian champions. Over the past few years, many people have started taking arm-wrestling as a serious sport and that is one of the key reasons that there is a feeling of excitement and euphoria among the players competing. Mr Parvin Dabas and Ms Preeti Jhangiani have been doing a really good job promoting this sport pan India and I am sure that going forward, Indian arm-wrestlers can become world champions,” Sergey signed off.