“No, arm wrestling is not just a pub sport”: Dries Feremans is Belgian champion and is going to the European Championship

Do you regularly win a game of arm wrestling against your friends at the café? Well, the chances are slim that you can beat Dries Feremans. The 28-year-old Feremans is Belgian arm wrestling champion and will soon leave for the European Championships. Yesterday he was a guest in ‘Amai Zeg Wauw’, where he explained more about the sport and demonstrated some techniques to central guest Erik Van Looy.

According to Feremans, it is a misconception that arm wrestling is merely a pub sport. It has now grown into an official sport with its own championships. There are separate weight classes, as well as a separate tournament for left- and right-handers. By the way, arm wrestlers stand up.

There are different techniques to beat your opponent in a direct duel. In arm wrestling, the way you use your strength is more important than the strength itself. Feremans shows 3 techniques to guinea pigs Erik Van Looy and presenter Otto-Jan Ham: the “top-roll”, the “press” and the “hook”.

Feremans trains 6 days a week to stay at the top of arm wrestling. On May 9, he will leave with ambition for Bratislava, where the European Championships will take place. Two years ago, Feremans finished 14th at the World Championships.

In certain Eastern Bloc countries, such as Kazakhstan and Georgia, there are arm wrestlers who make a living from the sport. Arm wrestling is not yet well known in Belgium.

Behind the scenes, people are currently examining whether it is possible to make arm wrestling an Olympic sport.

This contains inserted content from a social media network that wants to write or read cookies (Instagram). You have not given permission for this.

Click here to still allow this