Athletes sit in front of each other, propping their feet against a board and holding a wooden stick called a "mas" in their hands. The athlete who wrests the stick from the hands of his or her opponent becomes the winner.
In a final report, released after the 2015 World Wrestling Championship, Russian President Vladimir Putin backed the idea of including mas-wrestling on the list of Olympic sporting disciplines.
Putin also noted that mas-wrestling represents a diverse culture of the peoples of Russia.
Following the report, Russian politician of Korean origin Alexander Kim, a presidental candidate for Russia's Yakutia, told South Korean media that he plans to make every effort to include mas-wrestling in the program of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo if he wins the regional election in 2018.
Yakuia, also known as the Republic of Sakha, is a federal subject located in Russia's Far East. It is one of the largest administrative territories worldwide.
