Russian national Sambo team won the World Championships in Japan

Russian national Sambo team has achieved a convincing victory at the World Championships in Narita (Japan), taking first place in all team competitions.

Five hundred and fifty athletes from a record number of countries (82) participated in the tournament, which was held on 21-23 November in Japan. Last year athletes from 75 countries took part in the Championship in St. Petersburg.

Russian athletes won 11 gold medals, seven silver medals and one bronze. They took the top spot in the overall team standings, followed by the teams of Mongolia (3, 5, 3), Kazakhstan (3, 1, 6), Georgia (2, 2, 4), Japan (2, 1, 3), Ukraine (2, 0, 8) , Bulgaria (1, 7, 2), Azerbaijan (1, 1, 1), Armenia (1, 0, 0), Israel (1, 0, 0), Belarus (0, 2, 4) and Uzbekistan (0, 0, 8).

Winners in the team standings:

1. Russia. 2. Japan. 3. Ukraine (women);
2. Russia. 2. Georgia. 3. Mongolia (men);
3. Russia. 2. Bulgaria. 3. Kazakhstan (combat sambo).

However, after two days of competition is was far from being so good for Russian athletes. The men were a few points behind the Georgians, and the women were behind Japan in the gold medal count (one to two), and in the Combat Sambo the  advantage over Bulgarians was very small. However, Russians played very confidently at the end of the tournament (they won four finals out of six) and the question about the winners in all three team competitions was resolved.

As a result, the total contribution of national teams to the overall victory is as follows: Combat Sambo – five gold and one silver medals, Sport Sambo (men) – four gold, two silver and one bronze medals, Sport Sambo (women) – two gold and four silver medals.

Andrey Budazhapov, Vadim Nemkov, Dmitriy Samoilov, Kirill Sidelnikov, Sultan Aliyev (all representing Combat Sambo), Alsim Chernoskulov, Dmitriy Eliseev, Vladimir Prikazchikov, Artem Osipenko, Irina Alexeeva and Anna Balashova became world champions.

Summing up the tournament, President of the Russian Sambo Federation Sergey Eliseev said: “The tournament was very difficult. The competition has become much tougher, and now it’s becoming more and more difficult to to win gold medals. However, I am satisfied with both the sports results of the World Championships, and the athletes’ skill level”.