The European Championship ended with a grandiose victory for Russian sports. Looking at the medal standings, it remains to state that they tore the rivals for a clear advantage. The Federation could not allow our athletes at all, succumbing to the persuasion of the IOC and the hysteria of the Ukrainians.

But the provocations did not work – the tournament turned out to be spectacular and competitive. The successful continental championship with the participation of our athletes gives a clear signal to all doubters.

It is time for Russia to return to the international arena.

A huge success

The European SAMBO Championships held in Serbian Novi Sad ended with the triumph of the Russian team. Our athletes won the medal standings by a decent margin from their competitors, taking 40 gold, 4 silver and 7 bronze medals. The closest pursuer, the Armenian team, has only 4 gold with the same amount of silver and 8 bronze medals.

In total, 51 sets of medals were played at the continental championship: 21 for adult athletes (7 for men and women, the same number in combat sambo), the rest – for juniors of different age categories. Considering that Russian sambists took 51 medals, simultaneously taking first place in the total number of awards, it remains to be stated that in each category, regardless of gender and age, our sambists have achieved success.

Photo: © All-Russian Sambo Federation

It could be assumed that such a grandiose success of Russia became possible due to the massive boycott of the European Championship by those who disagreed to see our country at international competitions. It really could not have done without refuseniks – but the only team that refused to come to Serbia because of the participation of Russians and Belarusians was the Ukrainian team. Representatives of other 24 European countries that were planning to compete at the European Championships got to the wrestling mats of Novi Sad.

“It was a truly spectacular and competitive tournament, in which several new stars lit up in the sambo sky in four days,” RT quoted the president of the European SAMBO Federation, Sergey Eliseev, as saying.

Refusal of Ukraine

Ukrainians, admittedly, could qualify for medals, including gold ones. At previous continental tournaments, women from this country performed well in a number of categories, as well as men in combat sambo. Of course, our neighbors would not have been able to prevent the Russians from taking the first place in the medal standings, but the triumph could have been a little less bright.

In any case, Ukraine’s refusal to send its athletes to the tournament is far from our problem. The sports figures of the neighboring state, who left their own sambo wrestlers without a significant tournament, now intend to present a similar “surprise” to judo wrestlers. The reason is similar – the International Judo Federation seriously thought about allowing Russians to participate in the World Championships, as was already done at one of the Grand Slam tournaments in Mongolia.

Photo: © A Sigang / XinHua / Global Look Press

To some extent, such a nervous policy of the Ukrainians can put pressure on the federations. However, in the case of judo, the losses for the organizers will not be so significant – the significance of Ukraine in this sport is noticeably less than in the same sambo. Perhaps, after a series of senseless boycotts, Ukrainians will finally realize that they are only punishing their own athletes and fans.

As for the return of Russia to international tournaments of the highest level, the SAMBO precedent demonstrated that no tragedy occurred due to the admission of our athletes. The competitions in Serbia sent a clear signal to the rest of the sports world: it’s time to abandon the idea of ​​total isolation of the Russians.