All news

Team of Russian wrestlers win 15 gold medals at 2023 World Sambo Cup in Kyrgyzstan

The athletes from Russia are followed by the team from Kazakhstan in 2nd place with five gold and 11 bronze medals

MOSCOW, August 23. /TASS/. /TASS/. Russia’s Sambo wrestlers finished in the top of the overall medals standing of the 2023 World Sambo Cup in Kyrgyzstan having coined a total of 32 medals.

On the 2nd day of the tournament, gold medals were earned in women’s competitions by Russia’s Tatyana Fyodorova (under-50 kg weight category), Angelina Korobkina (under-54 weight category), Alyona Alyokhina (under-59 kg weight category), Yekaterina Doroshenko (under-65 kg weight category), Taisiya Kireyeva (under-72 kg weight category), Yelena Allenova (under-80 kg weight category) and on the men’s side by Fyodor Durymanov (under-64 kg weight category), Renas Zainutdinov (under-71 kg weight category) and Abdulkhalim Dzhavatkhanov (under-98 kg weight category).

In all, athletes from Russia won at the 2023 World Sambo Cup 15 gold, 10 silver and seven bronze medals and they are followed by the team from Kazakhstan in 2nd place with five gold and 11 bronze medals. Uzbekistan’s team finished in 3rd place with three gold, eight silver and seven bronze medals.

The Kyrgyz city of Cholpon-Ata plays host to the 2023 FIAS World Sambo Cup on August 22-23 with athletes from Russia and Belarus competing in the tournament under a neutral status.

In mid-July 2022, the IBSF announced its decision to suspend Russian athletes from all international tournaments until further notice.

At its session on January 25, 2023, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board put forward a proposal to permit individual athletes from Russia and Belarus to take part in international sports tournaments but only under certain conditions.

Specifically, athletes from the two countries should not be "actively supporting" Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine and must compete under a neutral status. Russia and Belarus were also banned from participating in international team events.

Sambo wrestling

Sambo wrestling originated in Russia in the 1920s, when soldiers of the then-Soviet Army developed their own hand-to-hand combat technique. The word Sambo is a Russian acronym, which stands for "self-defense without weapons."

Russian President Vladimir Putin stated in 2016, speaking about Sambo wrestling and its global perspectives, that the Russia-originated wrestling sport should be included in the Olympic program, but it would require a lengthy and labor-intensive period.