Iti Manchanda is shown in an arm wrestling match in this undated handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout — Iti Manchanda (Mandatory Credit)

It all started with playful arm wrestling at home against her dad, and one accidental coffee spill after his long day at work.

"My dad came home from work, very tiring, long day, and every day I used to arm wrestle with my dad," recalled 14-year-old Iti Manchanda. "So I went to arm-wrestle with him and he was a little grumpy and tired and I spilled coffee on him.

"And my mom and dad, they both were like, 'If you love arm wrestling this much, why don't we find you an actual tournament and training, like a club you can train at and compete?' And that's how we found my first-ever tournament. So they were very supportive throughout the whole journey."

Turning 15 in a month — a year and a half since she started in the sport and months removed from a world title in her age group — Manchanda, from Waterloo, Ont., is about to take part in a professional, team-based league. Team Arm Wrestling Federation is launching its showcase event at Henderson Brewing Co. in Toronto on Saturday.

Jason Constantini and Alex Keary, both from Toronto, co-founded the league. They started out with a YouTube channel called Table Monkeys in 2020.

On the men's side, it's 8-on-8 with four weight classes, room for lineup changes and substitutions, and a point system in place. The women's side is 3-on-3, with matches taking place one after the other, but without the substitutions and lineup changes.

There are three more pre-season matches scheduled for next year, with the full-season launch set for November 2026.

As it stands, Constantini says arm wrestling is similar to how boxing is run — promoters trying to bring household names that drive sales to events, with no set schedule in place to follow.

"What we've tried to do is we've tried to create a format that is much more broadcast-friendly," he said. "And by making it based around the teams, we're trying to create fandom in the sport where people are going to be interested in watching the sport because they support Toronto or Montreal or Tampa Bay or Long Island or whoever the team is.

"The way the sport is (now), is you have to know the people, like the people and want to watch the people to be able to be a viewer and to be spending money to go to the event and to participate and keep the sport active. And because of that, I don't believe it's conducive to reaching a new audience and bringing new people into the sport."

Twenty-year-old Alexander Koshadze, from Toronto, doesn't think the sport is hugely popular now, but believes this league could help it grow.

"This is a new kind of structure for arm wrestling," he said. "I'm used to more of it as an individual sport, but this brings it to a different kind of level where it's like the team sports. And now you have teammates, which you're going to work with and become as a team. Then you come up with strategies."

Koshadze is a two-time world silver medallist, having started when he was 15 years old.

"My background is Georgian, so I always knew about arm wrestling," he said. "(But) I didn't quite know how it worked and if there were practices and trainings and all that.

"But I started when I was 15 from a website called Armbet, which is Devon Larratt's website to meet other arm wrestlers. So you can meet arm wresters and you start practising and that's how I got into it."

Larratt, from Victoria, is the most popular arm wrestler in the sport and considered one of the best of all time.

Both Manchanda and Koshadze hope for arm wrestling to eventually become an Olympic sport.

"A dream for any arm wrestler would be for arm wrestling to get in the Olympics," Manchanda said. "So the day it gets into the Olympics, it's going to be a big deal.

"And I'm really looking forward to that day. That's like my dream. And this league, I feel like the way it's getting very famous, a lot of amazing pullers are taking interest in this. So I feel it has a bright future ahead."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 10, 2025.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2025