By Vestnik Kavkaza
The VII President's Sambo Cup among men is held on June 7 in the "Druzhba" sports hall of the sports complex "Luzhniki". This is one of the most prestigious sambo tournaments in the world. This year it will feature eight teams from the countries of the CIS.
At the press conference devoted to the launch of the Cup Sergey Yeliseev, president of the Russian and European Sambo Federation, told journalists that this time, the format of the competition was different a little bit. “This year marks the 75th anniversary of our sport. All of our major events are dedicated to this anniversary. And the President's Cup is also dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the development of our sport. So we decided to restore the championship of the Soviet Union with this jubilee. As you know, the championship of the Soviet Union was very strong. People who became Soviet champions really saw themselves as champions of the world. So we have now tried this practice and invited the eight strongest teams of the CIS and Baltic countries,” Yeliseev said.
The teams from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia and Kazakhstan, and a team of the Baltic States - Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, will take part in the competitions.
Sergey Yeliseev notes that the President's Cup is considered as a test of strength and treat athletes before preparing for the main start, which will be held later. This is the World Cup, which will take place in November, and the World Games "Sport Accord", which will be held in October.
Competitions will be held in nine weight classes: 52, 57, 62, 68, 74, 82, 90, 100 and over 100 kg.
Dmitry Troshkin, head coach of the Russian Sambo team, told journalists about the squad of the Russian national team.
In the weight category of 52 kg there is Igor Begler representing the Perm region, the world champion in 2012. In the weight category of 57 kg there are two athletes - Aymergen Atkunov from Altai, the champion of Russia in 2012, and Albert Mongush, two-time European champion 2012-2013.
At 62 kg, there will be Ilya Khlybov, Honored Master of Sports, Aslan Mudranov from the Krasnodar region. He performed a month ago at the European Championships in Italy and won the silver medal. Since Ilya Khlybov has a very busy schedule, he will also perform at the Universiade, so we decided to keep him. In the weight category of 68 kg there is Yevgeni Sukhomlinov from Khabarovsk, the champion of Russia in 2013, and a Muscovite, Nikita Kletskov, European Champion, multiple winner of the World Championships.
At 74 kg, there is Ali Kurzhey, representing the city of Ryazan, master of sports of international class. 82 kg – there is Sergei Ryabov, a champion of Russia in 2013, from the city of Moscow. At 90 kg - Arsene Khanjyan, Sochi, Krasnodar Territory, the silver medalist of last year's European Championships. At 100 kg - Vyacheslav Mihailin, two-time European champion and the champion of Russia in 2013. And in the heavyweight category of over 100 kg - Yevgeniy Isayev, Honored Master of Sports, the city of Perm, he is a three-time world champion.
Dmitry Troshkin says that Russian rivals are strong fighters. “I would like to note Viktor Savionv from the national team of Ukraine, seven-time world champion in the 82 kg weight category. There are also fighters from Armenia - at 74 kg there is a repeat champion of the world, for example. This championship will be mostly difficult for some athletes in some weight categories, and in the team event, of course, the Russian team has the advantage, because the team is more stable. But a struggle is a struggle. Anything can occur. We are determined to win,” the head coach of the Russian team stated.
