/ 2026 / Press / Sports

• Prize
  Honorable Mention
• Photographer
  Kupas Roland Alfio, Romania
• Date of Photograph
  06.02.2026

Face pressed into the mud, body crushed beneath a mountain of opponents, a rugby player refuses to release the ball. Above him, the vivid pinwheel colors of his national jersey — a flag reduced to a weight. Below him, earth and pain. Between them, the only thing that matters: the grip that will not break. Shot from ground level in the heart of the ruck, this is sport stripped to its oldest question — how much can one person endure before they let go?