Sam ready for Armwrestling titles
Full article writeup of Sam Saffuri's matches and success at the 2010 World Championships in Mesquite, USA.
SAM SAFFURI is not the sort of man you’d want to shake hands with too often.
There’s always the chance he’d mistake you for an arm-wrestling opponent and instantly crash your paw into extreme horizontal.
And that’s exactly what the 41-year-old Israel-born developer intends to do in a few days’ time in Mesquite, Nevada, when he proudly competes in the 2010 World Arm Wrestling Championships.
“Last year was my first world championship experience in Italy and with very just four months’ training I came 10th and 11th in Masters Right and Master Left respectively."
“I was the only contestant from Australia there and was so proud to be able to walk in with Australia’s name on the placard just like they do at the Olympics,” said Mr Saffuri, who arrived in Australia to settle in 1987.
This year the 80kg, 180cm strong man will again compete in Masters Left and Right but his second tilt at winning the world title is making him feel a lot more assured than he did in Italy.
“I didn’t know what to expect last year and I was injured. This year I will walk in with absolute confidence and I have stopped my training recently so I don’t go in with an injury.”
The key components to being a champion arm wrestler include “being genetically strong”, he says and “having an explosive ability so you just clench your opponent’s hand with instant and enormous power and then smash it to the table”.
“You also need to psyche yourself and your opponent, you must believe in yourself and look it.”
Mr Saffuri trains four days a week and it’s all arm work, including strengthening his tendons.
He has a couple of goals too – apart from becoming world champion. He wants to see world peace in his lifetime and last year he was talking about bringing the world arm wrestling titles to Australia.
Australia vs Poland - Italy 2009
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