Melee: Russia triumphed at the World Sambo Championships

Russian SAMBO wrestlers successfully competed at the European Championships in Tbilisi. They have 13 gold, three silver and four bronze medals to their credit, which means a confident victory in the overall standings. All the victories of the Russians were accompanied by the performance of the national anthem of the Russian Federation at the award ceremony and the raising of the flag above the podium — this happened at the continental championship for the first time in five years.

Performance of sambo wrestlers with a flag and anthem

In 2022, the International Sambo Federation (FIAS) did not, unlike most other sports organizations, ban Russians from tournaments under its auspices. But I decided that they would perform in a neutral status. This continued for almost four years, including at the European Championships in Serbia's Nove Sad in 2022 and 2024, Israel's Haifa (2023) and Cyprus' Limassol (2025).

In December 2025, FIAS reversed its decision and already at the April World Cup in Yerevan, the national teams of Russia and Belarus performed under their flags and anthems. And on May 15-17, they performed in this status at the European Championship in Tbilisi.

According to Sergey Eliseev, President of the European Sambo Federation and the All-Russian Sambo Federation, the presence of flags and anthems of Russia and Belarus did not meet with a negative reaction in the stands and among the participants.

"I wouldn't say that anyone was very unhappy with the sound of the anthem,— Eliseev told Izvestia. — Our competitions are attended by people who understand our struggle, who support their own people. Sitting around complaining that someone has won and their country's national anthem is being played in honor of it is not serious, and it is not for our sport. Even if a lousy sheep appears somewhere, to be honest, it is immediately thrown away, it immediately disappears somewhere, and they simply do not pay attention to it.

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The triumph of the Russians in Tbilisi

Most of the gold medals at the European Championships — six — were won by women in Russia. Margarita Barneva (up to 50 kg), Elmira Kakhramanova (up to 54 kg), Yana Dzhumaeva (up to 59 kg), Ekaterina Doroshenko (up to 65 kg), Anastasia Filippovich (up to 70 kg) and Daria Rechkalova (up to 80 kg) have won.

The men in combat sambo won five gold medals. The winners were Valery Ergalov (up to 58 kg), Sheikh-Mansur Khabibulaev (up to 64 kg), Imamshamil Gusenov (up to 70 kg), Magomed Khasanov (up to 98 kg) and Savely Soldatenkov (over 98 kg).

Andrey Korneev (up to 71 kg) and Aslan Dzhioev (over 98 kg) rose to the highest step of the podium in men's sports sambo.

— We did not stop for a single day — during the preparation for the championship, we participated in all competitions and training camps, - Sergey Eliseev explained the reasons for success. — We have a very good system for selecting candidates for the national team in each weight category. We select the really best guys who are constantly progressing due to serious competition. Last year, the girls slowed down a bit at the European Championships, but now they have performed the best in all three disciplines. Better than men. Men have only two gold medals out of seven weight categories in sports sambo. And it was only on the last day of the championship that they won awards. That is, Russia's superiority in this discipline is not so great. The same Armenia won two gold medals in men, just like us.

The head of the federation also expressed satisfaction with the competition at the Euro — in addition to Russia and Armenia, representatives of Georgia, Belarus and Ukraine won gold medals, and athletes from 15 countries visited the podium.

— The competition in Europe is very high. And it's nice when Russia wins in this competition. Especially now, when for the first time in a long time, the country's flag was raised and the national anthem was played in honor of this. The guys were pleased, they were preparing for a serious fight," the head of the federation emphasized.

In addition, he noted the high level of organization of the competition.

"Georgia is currently pursuing a policy aimed at hosting as many competitions in various sports as possible,— Yeliseyev explained. — They have a comprehensive approach to organizing such events, local federations have the support of the Ministry of Sports. And the European Sambo Championship held in Tbilisi is no exception. Due to this, everything was organized at a very high level. This concerns the meeting and accommodation of all delegations and, of course, the holding of the competition itself. It was held in a good arena, very large and conveniently located.

The main SAMBO competition of the year, the World Championship, will be held in November in Samarkand.