SLAPPING CHAMPION
Vasily Kamotsky was crowned the slapping champion at the Siberian Power Show. Kamotsky, a farmer, had not even heard of the slapping championship when he and friends visited the strongman competition in the city of Krasnoyarsk. Slapping championships are a relatively new curiosity in Russia. The show allows participants to exchange single, undefended, open-palmed strikes until one of them is unable to continue because they're slumped unconscious over a beer barrel. Vasily ended up with the nickname “Pelmen”, a Siberian dumpling, because he liked to eat them. Once the video from the slapping championship went viral, people began to recognise Kamotsky on the street, but Kamotsky is ambivalent about his sudden fame.