PRAGUE, Czech Republic (Reuters) — Fully equipped with armor and weapons, men and women from all over the world traveled back in time for the World Championships in Full Contact Medieval combat.
The participants use weapons from the Middle ages in the championship, held in the Czech capital this year.
The goal is to recreate the rawness of the medieval battle.
Replicas of historical weapons like swords, axes or halberds are needed. The only difference is that the replicas are blunt.
For safety reasons, the battles are held under supervision of experienced referees, but there are no rules except against stabbing or bending a joint against its natural flow.
“It is not so dangerous as it looks like. I think it is as dangerous as any other contact sport. The injuries can be compared to soccer or ice hockey,” the leader of the Czech team, Tomas Gajdosik, said.
The historical costumes weigh around 20 kilograms and can cost thousands of euros.
In the seventh edition this year, 700 knights from 35 countries fought at Petrin Hill in Prague.
“Battle of the Nations this year it is a very big worldwide championship. So very interesting fighting, lot of new surprise from the national team of the Great Britain, France, Czech Republic and of course very big and strong competitions between Russian and Ukraine. So it is every time interesting,” founder and organiser Anton Trubnikov said.
Founded during a summit in Ukraine in 2009, the tournament has been held twice in Ukraine, Poland Croatia and Czech Republic.
This year, the battle was dominated by Russia and Ukraine, with Russia winning the world championship.
“The fight with Ukraine was very tough and hard because we are balanced rivals, they are very good,” said Anaolii Demidov, a member of the Russian team, after the final battle.
Teams come from all across the world. Apart from Europe, participants came from the USA, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Mexico, Japan, Australia and New Zealand