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 a 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.