All-Russian sambo competitions among rural youth were held near Lipetsk

The Lipetsk region hosted the All-Russian SAMBO competitions among rural youth. Participants from 23 regions gathered in the village of Khmelinets to compete for the right to compete at the Russian championship.

"We are the birthplace of rural sambo, naturally, this is an important tournament for us. It is held once a year, so all bets are off on this tournament," said Nikolai Maslov, a SAMBO coach from the Orel region.

There are so many talents in the hinterland who need to be helped to prove themselves on a new level. They are still shy of the camera, but on the carpet they know how to make grapples, make throws and achieve their goals, said Ilya Anikeev, a correspondent for Izvestia.

"I want to win, qualify for the All—Russian competitions, I just want to win," admitted Artemiy Mamin, a participant in the All-Russian SAMBO competitions among rural youth.

The tournament is dedicated to the memory of Konstantin Yakovlev, a knight of the Order of Courage. As a child, he also practiced SAMBO, like 200 boys and girls who compete at the championships.

"One of the ideas of these competitions is for athletes from rural areas to be selected for the Russian championship at the official start," explained Alexander Sudarikov, chief judge of the All—Russian SAMBO competitions among rural youth.

This is the fourth SAMBO tournament for rural youth. Previously, it was held in the Orel region in Krivtsovo-Plot, which is considered the birthplace of rural sambo. Today, for the first time, they changed their residence permit to a neighboring region.

"It is very important that it be a village or a village, because our task through SAMBO is to preserve the rural way of life, rural areas, and even better, to revive. The village is generally the cradle, the golden cradle of the Russian people, it's demography, it's the gene pool, it's the defense capability of our country," added Anatoly Yakunin, Vice President of the Russian Sambo Federation.

The prizes of the competitions give the opportunity to compete at the All-Russian Championship. The championship will be held in Ufa in early June.

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Mikhail Degtyarev, Minister of Sports and Chairman of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), said on February 10 that the amount of funding for SAMBO events within the framework of the unified calendar plan for 2026 had doubled. He recalled that Russian President Vladimir Putin had repeatedly stressed the importance of developing this sport.