ST. PETERSBURG, November 27. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has visited the judo club Turbostroitel for a chat with veterans and athletes.

The club is a successor of the sports society of the Leningrad Metal Plant, one of the oldest sports clubs in the city, where the first amateur groups were created back in the 1930s.

In September 1969, the club opened a sambo wrestling group under Anatoly Rakhlin (1938-2013), who with time would become one of Russia’s first judo wrestling coaches. Putin himself was one of Rakhlin’s disciples. He joined the group when he was 11 and later won several city championships, earning the judo and sambo master of sports titles.

Putin would later recall that Rakhlin was an outstanding trainer and teacher and a man of great wisdom and experience, whose opinion on various issues he found very helpful.

The club celebrated its 50th jubilee this autumn. The presentation of a book called Judo for Life and the opening of an exhibition entitled Rakhlin. Putin. Sambo. Judo were timed for the event.