The All-Russian forum "The Choice of the Strong" has ended in Moscow

The All–Russian forum "The Choice of the Strong" has come to an end in Moscow, which brought together government officials, heads of sports federations, public figures, titled SAMBO athletes, judoists, and wrestlers.

The key event of the large-scale event was the plenary session, where Alexander Karelin, Chairman of the Public Council of the Strong Choice Project, and Sergey Eliseev, its federal coordinator, Denis Pushilin, Head of the Donetsk People's Republic, Igor Yurgin, Hero of Russia, Head of the Department of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation, acted as speakers.

At the meeting, the Minister of Sports of Russia, President of the Russian Olympic Committee Mikhail Degtyarev made a presentation on "The development and popularization of martial arts in Russia: government support and developed infrastructure are prospects and key areas." The Minister of Sports stressed that martial arts is one of the most successful domestic disciplines: in 2025 alone, Russian wrestlers won 81 medals at the World and European championships, including 49 gold. Mikhail Degtyarev called the development of children's and youth sports a priority of the industry as one of the goals of national development set by Vladimir Putin at a recent meeting of the Sports Council under the President of Russia in Samara.

"Today, 4,500 organizations in the Ministry of Sports system are preparing a sports reserve. There are 2 million young athletes involved in them. This activity is regulated by the concept of youth sports development. The first stage of its implementation has already been completed, and last year the second one started – it will last until 2030. The main task is to make sports accessible to every child in every corner of Russia," said the head of the sports department.

The forum accepted proposals to hold festivals under the "Choice of the Strong" brand in 2026 in 13 regions of the country, operated by the Roscongress Foundation's sports platform RK-Sport. The Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug is one of these regions. It is planned that the festival will be held in Nefteyugansk on the eve of the XX International Freestyle Wrestling Tournament for the Cup of Vladimir Semenov, Vice President of the Russian Wrestling Federation.