Iraq News Now

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A young man from the Kurdistan Region has embarked on a feat to break the Guinness World Record for the longest punch-bag marathon.

Mustafa Rashid, a 22-year-old from the Kurdistan Region’s Duhok province, has participated in Kung Fu events for the past six years, winning several local and continental awards. He has now turned his attention to another achievement: he wants to etch his name in the Guinness Book of World Records.

The current record for the longest punch-bag marathon is 55 hours, 10 minutes, and four seconds long achieved by another Kurd, Azad Haidarian in Sanandaj, Iran, from Aug. 8 to 11, 2018.

Rashid plans to break that record and aims to go for up to 60 hours. He began at approximately 2 p.m. local time and will continue until about Thursday evening (Sept. 24 to 26).

“I am feeling great up to this point. I am not too tired, and my task is coming along smoothly so far,” he told Kurdistan 24. “We want to exceed 55 hours and are aiming for 60 hours.”

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Farshid Baqari, a member of Iraq’s International Federation of Sport, is supervising the young Kurd. Baqari told Kurdistan 24 that Rashid cannot move away from the bag and must continue to punch it to break the record successfully.

“He cannot eat or drink himself. He cannot sleep or talk and has to focus on his task. We call on the people of Kurdistan to help this young athlete achieve his goal,” he stated.

Indeed, Rashid’s teammates were on hand to feed him fruit, so he remains hydrated. A urine tube was also attached to the 22-year-old so that he can relieve himself with no interruptions. 

“There are cameras here recording, and we will send the footage and official documents to Guinness,” Baqari said.

“Once [Guinness] receives the footage, the second phase will be to perform the record again in front of their representatives, so it becomes official.”

(Additional reporting by Alan Hussein)