The 11th International Sambo Tournament for the Award of the Honoured Athlete of Russia, General Aslambek Aslakhanov, was held in Moscow. “Anyone who begins going in for this splendid kind of sport, if he has no spirit, he leaves it soon,” Aslakhanov told VK. “A Sambo wrestler shouldn’t strive to learn how to beat people, but for self-improvement. He should remember always he is a defender of his country, his family, his relatives and friends. Sambo prepares morally sound, well-trained, patriotic real men. And by the way, real women who can bring to order two or three hooligans better than some men.
There are no divisions on nationalities in sport. Nobody is interested who is training: Dagestani, Chechen, Ingush, or Kabardin. Sambo has no space for sorting ethnic things out. Even on the carpet – a fight was powerful, they come, shake hands, hold each other like brothers, and leave the carpet.
Those who fight against extremism should learn from Sambo wrestlers, as they are so tolerant, internationalists. They have no hatred for representatives of other religions or ethnic groups. Our school, Sambo-70, is the best in the world. It has its charter and anthem. Inter-ethnic disputes are impossible there.
We, Sambo wrestlers and fans, dream about making Sambo an Olympic sport. But we lost our chance in 1980 because of Brezhnev. As a country which organized the Olympics, we had the right to add our own kind of sport to the Olympic program. The world boycotted us because of the launching of troops into Afghanistan. We wished as much as possible that athletes had come to Moscow and had competed from every country. Brezhnev ordered Sambo to be excluded and included grass hockey, in which India had real chances of appearing in the top three. India took second place, we were third (even though we had only two months for training), and New Zealand was the champion. Only 7 or 9 teams came that year, as far as I remember. But we lost Sambo in the Olympics.
Today a lot depends on political will. President Putin has stated many times that Sambo will be an Olympic sport, and if Putin said so, it will be done. I am sure that Sambo will be a part of the Olympic family.”
As for the tournament, Sergey Yeliseyev, president of All-Russian and European Sambo Federation, told VK: “It is not a simple tournament. It is a round of the World Cup, the fourth final round. The winner of the 2012 World Cup is determined here. This is the eleventh year that we have held this tournament, it has long traditions. The strongest teams of the whole world bring their wrestlers to compete with each other. The tournament is also interesting because it takes place a month before the World Championship and the athletes are glad to come here, to test their abilities, to see their teams’ readiness, to make final corrections. The tournament is held at a high level. Any sporting event, including Sambo, makes our sport develop. Such competitions, a round of the World Cup, are an outburst of development in our sport, another step on the path of recognition of our sport by the Olympic family.
This competition is especially important, as Aslambek is holding it. He knows Sambo, he came from Sambo, he is an Honoured Athlete, and he really cares about it. All the national teams of the Federation participate here. The Russian team is represented by four squads, and the Chechen team takes part separately. I think it brings athletes, coaches, fans and spectators closer. Sambo is not a purely Russian kind of sport today, it is international. Any ethnic groups can succeed in Sambo, athletes of any ages. Sambo wrestler is our main nationality.”
