From October 19 to 22 Moscow will host the XIV International Tournament of the highest category "A" in sambo, for the prizes of Honored Master of Sports of Russia, General Aslambek Aslakhanov. Around 300 athletes from twenty countries will participate in it. Among the organizers are the all-Russian public organization 'Association of employees of law enforcement bodies and special services of the Russian Federation', which is headed by Aslakhanov.
According to him, there will be significantly fewer tournament participants than in previous years: "There are two reasons for this. The first is a lack of funds of the Olympic sport federations, many simply cannot finance them. And the second is that the sanctions imposed against us also have influence, unfortunately politics intervenes in sport, and many states do not recommend their athletes to take part in these activities."
Aslakhanov's dream is for everyone in Russia to learn sambo. "Sambo will be taught in all schools, in the schools of the armed forces, law enforcement, the power system and so on, and this achievement is being implemented already. We are wanted. Sambo is claimed today. Everyone is interested in sambo, all mass sambo events attract attention, people are talking about them. Moscow and St. Petersburg alone are spoiled with competitions at various high levels. It is impossible to get into gyms in some regions of Russia, because there are so many willing people. We look confidently to the future of our native favorite sport, and we can assure you that the time is coming when sambo, the most beautiful kind of martial art, will take its rightful place in the Olympics."
The President of the European and Russian Sambo Federation, Sergey Yeliseyev, sees the secret of the popularity of sambo in the fact, that "we invented it by ourselves, invented it for our mentality, for those people who live in Russia. Today it is very popular. Despite some difficulties which have been in our country we have overcome them for today, the International Federation for the inclusion of sambo into the international Olympic movement has been very active promoting it to the Olympic family. Today we have many press conferences, as we have already said, we filed an application to the IOC. Bach is planning to come here on the eve of October 20-22. We will discuss this issue as well. We have support at all levels, I hope that soon we will receive such recognition, and that the dreams of many people who live not only in Russia but all over the world will come true, and our sport, which really deserves to become an Olympic sport in a short time, will become one. This tournament we are holding is such a small part, a tiny brick of the thorny road to include sambo in the Olympic family."
