The first day of the Russian Championship in Verkhnyaya Pyshma brought five medals for the Sverdlovsk Region team

On the first day of the Russian Championship that started in Verkhnyaya Pyshma, Sverdlovsk Region athletes won five medals. Ekaterina Khasanova from Ekaterinburg got a gold medal in the category of up to 50 kg. Now she will go to the World Championship. Silver medals and tickets to the European Championship were won by Vladimir Gladkikh (up to 58 kg) and Ramed Gukev (up to 71 kg), representatives of UMMC Sambo Club (Verkhnyaya Pyshma). "Bronze" went to Gulfiya Mukhtarova (up to 59 kg) from Ekaterinburg and Aimergen Atkunov (up to 58 kg), also representative of UMMC Sambo Club. A particular mention should be made of Aimergen because he returned to active performance on the mat after a break of several years during which he devoted himself to coaching.

The Championship, by the way, the first one after sambo had been officially recognized by the IOC as an Olympic sport last year, was opened with a solemn ceremony. More than 700 participants, including almost 80 sambo wrestlers from the Sverdlovsk Region, were congratulated by Sergey Eliseyev, President of the All-Russian Sambo Federation, Leonid Rapoport, Minister of Physical Culture and Sports of the Sverdlovsk Region and Murat Khasanov, 11-time world champion, State Duma deputy. The distinguished guests wished all sambists good luck and to show their best fight in order to qualify for the national team. And Murat Khasanov recalled how he won his last national champion title in his career in this very hall in Verkhnyaya Pyshma.

Besides, during the ceremony, Letters of Gratitude from the All-Russian Sambo Federation for the great contribution to development and popularization of sambo in Russia were awarded to Shukhrat Makhmudov, President of Sambo Federation of the Sverdlovsk Region, and Valeriy Stennikov, head coach of the Sverdlovsk Region and General Director of UMMC Sambo Club.

Undoubtedly, Ekaterina Khasanova was the main character of the first day. In the final, she was opposed to titled Maria Molchanova, multiple European and world champion from the Perm Krai. However, our girl did not back down in the face of her opponent's regalia and boldly attacked during the whole game. At first, she performed an over-the-back throw from the knees for two points, and at the end of the game she did the same again and got a deserved 4-0 victory. Ramed Gukev had bad luck. In the fight for gold, he had a long lead against Shamil Zilfikarov from Nizhnevartovsk, but fell for a painful hold. And Vladimir Gladkikh lost to his constant opponent Sayan Khertek from Moscow.

However, objectively speaking, our boys and girls set a good start for the home championship.