The Sambo Grand Prix with the participation of athletes from 9 countries was held in Verkhnyaya Pyshma

The final stage of the international Grand Prix competitions in sambo among men and women, as well as in combat sambo among men, took place in Verkhnyaya Pyshma. The competition took place at the Sambo and Martial Arts Palace.

The Grand Prix stages took place in Krasnodar, Kazan and Ufa. The best athletes – prize-winners and winners of these stages – gathered in Verkhnyaya Pyshma. In addition to the Russians, representatives from Uzbekistan, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan took to the mats at the Sambo and Martial Arts Palace. In total, about 140 athletes took part in the competition.

“The choice of the Sverdlovsk region as the venue for the final stage of the international Sambo Grand Prix competition is not accidental,” said Leonid Rapoport, Minister of Physical Culture and Sports of the Sverdlovsk Region at the opening. “We remember the glory of the first world champion Alexander Fedorov, we see how our sports training system works, which made it possible to raise a whole galaxy of world champions in sambo.”

Deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Sverdlovsk region, coordinator of the “Za Sambo” project in the region, Alexey Svalov, noted that real sambo stars are fighting for the title of the best athletes in Verkhnyaya Pyshma.

“This year, together with the Sambo Federation of the Sverdlovsk Region, with the support of the regional government and the Russian Federation, we held a large number of events within the framework of the Za Sambo project,” said Alexey Svalov. “We can confidently say that together we are making our sambo team stronger, and our national sport one of the most popular in Russia and a number of friendly countries.”

The hosts of the competition, the Verkhnepyshminsky Sambo Club, were represented by 18 athletes. All of them are winners or prize-winners of three stages.

At the competition, the legend of domestic and world sambo, world champion, Honored Master of Sports Alsim Chernoskulov announced his retirement from his career. He made a beautiful point by winning gold in the category up to 98 kilograms.

Alsim Chernoskulov won his first trophy in 2002, receiving the title of winner of the youth world championship. During his career, he won the World Championship six times, the European Championship twice, and the World Cup twice. He won the Russian Championship nine times, went down in history as the winner of the first European Games, and won the Russian President’s Cup six times.

“He was endlessly respected by his rivals, adored and continues to be adored by all sambo fans without exception; several generations of sambo wrestlers grew up on his fight. We say a huge thank you to him and look forward to his manifestation in a new form!” – said the Verkhnyaya Pyshma Sambo Club.