Yelena Khachatryan: This European Champion Wants to Win World Title for Armenia
Sona Avagyan
00:10, March 8, 2013
27 year-old Yelena Khachatryan holds the European Championship in the
sport known as Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
She won the title competing under the flag of Germany. Yelena hopes
that one day she will win the world title competing under Armenia’s
tri-color.
Now in Armenia, Yelena is still getting offers to return to Germany
and train with the Frankfurt team in preparation for the world
championship.
Yelena has rejected such proposals and for the past three years has
looked high and low for a sponsor here in Armenia.
`I haven’t given up hope and am still looking,’ Yelena says, even
though her last bout was three years ago. `It’s tough because there is
no Brazilian jiu-jitsu federation in Armenia.’
Friends have told her to seek out Gagik Tsarukyan, who heads Armenia’s
Olympic Committee. And she’s tried her best, sending letters here and
there in order to get in touch with the businessman/MP.
`Since I’ve yet to receive a response, I have to believe that my
letters never reached Tsarukyan. Otherwise they at least could have
written or phones to say that they aren’t interested,’ Yelena says.
Yelena started training in the combat sport when she was fifteen in
Etchmiadzin. One year later, she became the jiu-jitsu open competition
champion in Armenia. In Germany, she has trained at the Sports
Institute.
She says that the world of sports was a natural place for her and
where she could fulfil childhood dream of becoming a professional
sports fighter.
`I always wanted to acquire the skills of fighting correctly. That’s
what attracted me and not your run of the mill street fighting. I’m
the kind of person who will intervene if I see that someone is being
harassed. If need be, I’ll even exhibit my skills,’ says Yelena,
adding that she’s never had to put her combat skills to practice
outside the ring. Her words alone seem to discourage any
troublemakers.
Her parents have always respected Yelena’s decision to enter combat
sports as a profession. In Etchmiadzin, her sports teachers advised
her to become a trainer instead. Yelena found their comments to be
offensive, as if someone with brains doesn’t need to get into the
ring.
Yelena has fought in over twenty professional fights without a defeat.
`After each fight, I never think that I’ve won and can sit back and
relax, that there’s nothing new for me to learn. Each victory propels
me to the next one. That’s why I endure the pain of training,’ she
says.
At the Southern German Championship, the federation president
suggested that Yelena get in the ring with a male opponent, since
there weren’t any females. It was the first time that a woman would
square-off with a man for the Brazilian jiu-jitsu title.
`Of course the guy was physically stronger. It doesn’t matter how much
a woman trains, a man will always have the edge. So I decided to
counteract his strength by technical prowess. I parried his attack and
threw him to the mat and then applied an arm lock. He threw in the
towel,’ Yelena says.
Now she works as a security staffer at the State Educational
Institute. Her job is to maintain order among the students and to
prevent any untoward disturbances.
Her male colleagues carry guns. Yelena carries an electric taser and a
truncheon. She hasn’t had any weapons training and says she prefers it
that way.
`I can handle myself without the use of a weapon. Since I deal with
women for the most part, I can’t imagine myself ever pulling out a
pistol and shooting one of them.’
Despite her physical prowess and combat skills, Yelena says that
what’s more important is spiritual strength.
Yelena confesses that while she doesn’t utilize her physical strength
all the time, there are decisions in life that truly require a reserve
of spiritual fortitude.
From: Baghdasarian