Watched Sambo and Got Prizes

Sambo amateurs around the world have already become accustomed to follow the major competitions online on the FIAS website. But recently they have started winning prizes while watching tournaments online. The Watch Sambo and Get Prizes FIAS Contest was held during the World Championship 2013 in St. Petersburg. The winners received the honestly won gifts on the eve of Christmas and New Year. We present the photo, video and text reports of the event.

We remind you that under the terms of the Contest, the participants had to carefully follow all the ups and downs of the world championship and vote for a male or female sambo athletes, who, in their opinion, would be the winner. Daily, throughout the tournament, participants were asked to vote for their favourite athletes in one of the weight categories. If the champion was chosen by several people, the winner was determined by blind lot. First the lot fell to Moscow schoolboy Artem Ponomarenko.

On the first day of the Contest Artem voted for Yana Kostenko having predicted her victory in the weight category of up to 60 kg among women. By the way, Artem was not the only one to guess the winner. Some dozens of participants predicted Yana’s victory having given comments with her name under the competitive video. However, good luck was by the Moscow schoolboy’s side that day, because the computer program randomly chose him as the winner. After a while, Artem Ponomarenko visited the FIAS Moscow Office where he received his rightful prize - ipod nano. The prize was handed over to him by the two-time world champion Yana Kostenko. The details of the event are in our video report.

Odildzhon Ubaydullaev from Penza was unable to come to Moscow to receive his prize since December days are a hot time for students getting prepared for their session. This young man successfully coped with the task on the second day of the Contest and guessed the name of the winner in the weight category of up to 57 kg among men - Vakhtang Chidrashvili. The gift from FIAS - ipod touch - was sent to a local Sambo Federation whose members handed it over to the winner. By the way, local coaches know this guy well, because he is actively engaged in sambo and is making some progress. However, let’s allow the winner to speak:

- At the moment I am a three-year student of Penza State University majoring in Jurisprudence. I started practicing sambo in 2012 and I was fond of freestyle wrestling before. When the World Championship was held in St. Petersburg, I visited the FIAS website to watch the live broadcast of the competition. There I found out about the Contest for fans and decided to participate in it, Odildzhon said.

- I did not miss a day of the World Championship, but I paid special attention to the weight category of up to 57 kg among men. When a sambo athletes I supported won, I experienced mixed feelings. On the one hand, I was pleased that I guessed the winner and on the other hand, I was disappointed that the Russian athlete lost the fight, Odildzhon said. - Well, a few hours later I visited the FIAS video channel on YouTube, where I found out that I had won the Contest. Of course, I was very happy about that!

These are the emotions experienced by FIAS contestants. Unfortunately, the winner of the third day did not keep in touch with us within a month after the end of the draw, so according to the rules of the Contest, his prize was not drew. However, he and all the other sambo fans around the world have the opportunity to win great prizes since contests from FIAS are still held! Follow the news on our website, communities on social networking websites and video channel on YouTube. And you will probably become the new winner and owner of great prizes!