At the championship of FSIN of Russia, our sambo wrestlers added 12 medals to the trophy count of GFSIN combined team of Sverdlovsk region

Sverdlovsk sambists were among winners at the championship of FSIN of Russia, held in Verkhnyaya Pyshma at the UMMC Palace of Sports from 27 to 29 September. At the end of the tournament, our athletes representing FSIN of Sverdlovsk Region, won twelve medals of various merits in total and took the team to the first place in the overall standings among the territorial offices of the Department.

Ivan Nikulin (U88kg weight category), Vyacheslav Matveev (U64kg weight category) and Gleb Poznahirko (U98kg weight category) won the champion titles. Silver medals were awarded to Yaroslav Sandin (U58 kg weight category) and Alexander Kulikov (over 98 kg weight category). Ivan Panyukhin (U58 kg weight category), Andrey Selivanov (U71 kg weight category) and Dmitry Torgashov (U98 kg weight category) received bronze medals.

In the woman’s event, Victoria Oster (uU59kg weight category) took a gold medal and Olga Titova (U50kg weight category) won a silver medal.

Our three winners are the leading sambists of the UMMC Sambo Club (Verkhnyaya Pyshma), likewise the three bronze medal winners. Alexander Kulikov and Olga Titova represent Yekaterinburg Sambo School, and Yaroslav Sandin, a graduate of UMMC Sambo Club, nowadays promotes sambo in Kirovgrad at the local school.

It was Sandin, who became the real winner of the tournament. Following a silver medal in sports sambo, he also became a winner in combat sambo. It is rare for athletes to perform successfully in two disciplines at once at such event. Dmitry Savin from Yekaterinburg also won a silver medal in the combat sambo at U88kg weight category.

Besides, most of the best Russian sambo wrestlers are members of various security agencies, including FSIN, so the competition at such departmental tournaments is as high as at conventional Russian championships, and to win them is considered very prestigious.

Several our athletes from the UMMC Sambo Club won medals of the Russian FSIN Championship (including three gold medals), fighting for other regional divisions. Thus, Vladimir Gladkikh (U58 kg weight category) and Evgeny Sukhomlinov (U71 kg weight category) became champions, competing for FSIN of Volgograd Region. While Uali Kurzhev (U79kg weight category) gained gold medal for FSIN Academy, Ryazan.

Kurzhev and Gladkikh came to the tournament straight from the training session in Kstovo, Nizhny Novgorod, where the main national team completed its training for the most important start of the season - the World Championship to be held in November in Tashkent (Uzbekistan). Uali Kurzhev will go there for his fourth champion title as the winner of this year's Russian Championship.

Two more sambists from UMMC Sambo Club, Verkhnyaya Pyshma, were awarded bronze medals at the FSIN championship. They were Egor Smertin (U64 kg weight category), representing FSIN of Perm Krai, and Ali Kurzhev (U79 kg weight category), who defended the Moscow FSIN.

- Anyone who thinks that it is much easier to win at such departmental competitions is deeply mistaken. The competition and the team is very strong," says world champion and three-time European champion Vladimir Gladkikh. - Of course, it is not the World Championship and European Championship but to win requires giving one’s best. Moreover, you are in charge of your team, of your department.