Report from the European Sambo Championship

The European Sambo Championship is held in Moscow, in the capital of Russia. Some athletes have already arrived at the hotel. Moscow greets sportsmen with good weather. It’s warm, the sun is shining. And now we have the opportunity to find out how the athletes have reached, what is their mood and what they expect from the upcoming tournament.

SERGEY OSHLOBANU, MOLDOVA 
We arrived well, waiting for placement in a hotel. We look forward to good results in these competitions. The first place.

DEYAN LUKICH, MONTENEGRO SAMBO FEDERATION 
We flew well. I am glad that the European Championship is held in Moscow. I really liked here everything. I came here with the athlete, and I met a lot of friends.

ABDELKADER BOUKENAOI, FRANCE 
I was very impressed about the weather. Because in France when you speak about Russia you think its cold, snow and … nice.

SOSE BALASANYAN, ARMENIA  
I'm very glad that the competition is held in Moscow. I've been here once. I am happy that I came a second time. I like everything here, the weather and people. We communicate,waiting for the competition. In order to compete and show the best results.

ZIYA NAMAZOV, AZERBAIJAN  
Its my first time in Moscow. There are very large traffic jams. But impressions are excellent. The weather is good, its not too hot. It is much warmer now in Baku. The main opponents are the Russians, because Sambo is national sport in Russia. But we are well prepared. Let's see what happens.

IMPRE DAPP, HUNGARY, COACH  
The city is very beautiful. But we haven’t enough time for sights.

ANDRIANA KRASTIC, MONTENEGRO   
I’m the first time in Russia, the first time in Moscow. This is a very beautiful city, it is very interesting, funny people. And I wonder Sambo as a sport.

This year European Sambo Championship is held in the multi-purpose sport hall "Druzhba" in "Luzhniki". Within three days, from 18 to 20 May, the medals are played in three disciplines - men, women and combat sambo.

SVETLANA SOKOLIK, AUSTRIAN SAMBO FEDERATION PRESIDENT  
We do not make a serious bid. The main thing that I want our fighters to perform well, and not to be injured. I hope that in 3-4 years we'll get back to our conversation about the medals.

KOSTEIN LAZAREANU, ROMANIA  
I want to climb on the podium.

ADRIANA CHERAR, ROUMANIA  
I hope to be ok, and to take some medals.

DAVID HERAN, FRANCE  
I hope I will win one or two fights, but I think its difficult to have a medal. I’m not sure, its so difficult of the Russian.

RUSLAN PANCHENKO, COACH OF TEAM UKRAIN IN COMBAT SAMBO  
We have a close relationship between our teams, Russia and Ukrain. We meet often at the training camp. We come here in Russia, guys come to us in the Crimea in Feodosia.

LACHEZAR TEMELKOV, BULGARIAN SAMBO FEDERATION  
Our team is prepared very well. We were in a sports camp for 20 days. Our aim is getting gold medals. The team is liked here. Training took place in stages. We have good results.

VIKTOR BUNKIN, CROATIAN NATIONAL TEAM COACH  
While we are only at the beginning of our career, our establishment. We hope for further cooperation with the European Federation in order promoting not only in Croatia but also in neighboring countries. We hope that someday we will raise a flag here.

DMITRIY TROSHKIN, RUSSIAN NATIONAL TEAM COACH  
The fight is very intense. All of our major competitors arrived .

USHANGI KUZANASHVILI, GEORGIA  
I win the fifth time. It was very difficult to win. But I could. I beat everyone.

MANUEL SIMENEZ, SPANISH NATIONAL TEAM COACH (7894)  
The competition is very nice.

The leaders of the world ranking are still considered national teams of Russia, Belarussia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Ukraine and Armenia. This year fighters from Italy, Spain and Serbia are also expected to make a good competition.

2012-th year marked the anniversary of the European Sambo. 20 years celebrated since the establishment and the official registration of the European Sambo Federation. Besides, the first European Sambo Championship was held exactly 40 years ago. It was held in Riga, Latvia.

Team Russia has become an absolute leader, it won first place in all three disciplines. The second place was the team of women in Ukraine, and Belarus was the third. In men, the silver medal was still the same Belarus, Georgia was bronze. In Combat Sambo in the second step of the podium rose Ukrainian team, the third was Bulgaria.