European SAMBO Championship in Moscow: Condition No. 1

On May 16, in Moscow ITAR-TASS (Russia) they held a press-conference on the European SAMBO Championship starting on May 18 I Moscow. The press-conference was opened by Sergeн Eliseev, President of European SAMBO Federation. From the very beginning, the leader of European SAMBO overwhelmed the journalists with impressive figures. 34 countries of the Old World have their National SAMBO Federations that develop this sport. As of today, 32 national teams have confirmed their participation in Moscow Championship. We would like to stress that this is an unprecedented number of participants for a European SAMBO Championship. Due to this, the Organization Committee is now having pleasant and easy-to-solve problems with the accommodation of 50% more participants. Instead of the anticipated 300 sambists, 450 athletes will fight on the mats of Moscow Sports Hall “Druzhba” (“Friendship”). ”Russia is still the leader of European SAMBO, but each year our athletes have more and more difficulties. They have to fight hard for victory “, - noted Sergey Eliseev. Which teams are able to claim the medals of the European Championship? Sergey Eliseev mentioned the traditionally strong teams of Belarus, Bulgaria and post-soviet countries. In some weight categories, there are strong sambists from Italy, France and Spain; Serbia has a highly competitive women’s team. Russian combat SAMBO coach Alexandr Konakov mentioned that there were interesting trends in the development of combat SAMBO: “The development of modern combat SAMBO is strongly influenced by various relative martial arts. The most notable ones are the Brazilian jiu-jitsu, the Dutch fighting school, and the Baltic martial arts school. They determine the new development trends and enrich combat SAMBO as a whole”, - reasoned the chief coach of the world strongest team on the threshold of the next European examination. Vasily Shestakov, President of International SAMBO Federation noted that the day-by-day expansion of SAMBO geography made him feel happy. He also emphasized the role and contribution of Europe to the global international SAMBO movement: “European SAMBO Federation is the leading federation as of today, both in terms of the number of national federations developing SAMBO in their states and in terms of the athlete’s level.” According to FIAS President, the main activities of the International Sambo Federation are now aimed at the temporary recognition of this sport by the International Olympic Committee. For this purpose, the Federation works at the documents that will be considered by the representatives of the Olympic Movement at the next IOC session. IOC Inspection Committee will during two years follow all the activities of the Federation with special focus at spectacularity and mass media/TV coverage, the activities of the Anti-doping Department, and social projects. In case of positive decision, FIAS may become a permanent IOC member in two or three years and then be included in the program of the Olympic Games. "We also have been negotiating the presentation of SAMBO in the cultural program of Winter Olympic Games 2014 in Sochi”, said FIAS President. – ‘If we get IOC’s approval, we hope to show the beauty and dynamics of SAMBO. We already have the experience as we have presented our sport to International Sports Press Association (AIPS), and we are planning to deliver such presentations to the Association of European Olympic Committees and the Asian Olympic Committee”. "Now, SAMBO is going through a renaissance; we are having a new development period, - said Shestakov. – For instance, in Mongolia, the National Championship among young men gathered 400 participants; Japanese judokas are planning to study SAMBO and come to Universiade 2013 in Kazan. Not long ago, SAMBO Federation of the British Commonwealth was created which already has far-reaching plans: from the construction of a SAMBO Palace to the holding of the World Championchip in England. We do hope that Africa and America will soon catch up with Europe. At Vilnius World Cup 2011, the USA national team won their first world prize after ten years: Nino Kutro-Kelly became the bronze medalist in Lithuania." According to V. Shestakov, the near-term plans of FIAS are to secure the inclusion of SAMBO in the program of Asian Games as well as to effectively present it at the Second Sport Accord Combat Games in Saint Petersburg, Russia in 2013. Making plans for the future and working for the future is a good thing, but we should also respect our past, our history. 40 years ago, in 1972, we held the first Open Europe Championship in SAMBO that gathered sambists from eight countries. Those were representatives of Bulgaria, the UK, Spain, the USSR, Yugoslavia, Iran, Mongolia, and Japan. 40 years after that legendary Championship, its winners who had become famous people both in sports and in life were invited to the European Championship 2012 where they will be honored and awarded at the Opening Ceremony. This fact attracted much interest of the mass media. Among the invited persons are two Olympic Champions in judo (Sergei Novikov and Vladimir Nevzorov), Cheslavas Yezerskas, three-time World Champion in SAMBO, and Konstantin Gerasimov, the winner of the first SAMBO World Cup. People are the most important thing about SAMBO. Legendary sambists – the winners of Europe Championship 1972 – will inspire the young athletes to struggle for the awards of the Moscow Championship and will surely be the best adoration of this sporting event that will take place in Universal Sports Hall “Druzhba” in Olympic Complex “Luzhniki” on May 18, 19 and 20. Natalia Yukhareva press-service of FIAS