Russian Sambo wrestlers win 11 gold medals at 2025 European Sambo Championships
NICOSIA, April 24. /TASS/. Russian athletes won 11 gold medals at the 2025 European Sambo Championships being held in Cyprus this week.
The European Sambo Championships and the European Cadet, Youth and Junior Sambo Championships take place between April 23 and 27 in Limassol, Republic of Cyprus, at the 1,700-seat capacity Apollon Limassol Basketball Stadium.
In the Sport Sambo event on Thursday, gold medals were won by Russians Pavel Ivanov (under-58 kg weight category), Ali Tursunov (under-71 kg), Sergey Ryabov (under-88 kg) and Stepan Soldatenkov (over-98 kg).
In the Combat Sambo fighting event on Thursday a gold went to Pavel Panteleyev (under-64 kg), while Alexei Ivanov (under-79 kg) won a silver and Magomed Gasanov (under-98 kg) a bronze in men’s competitions. On the women’s side, Diana Gamidova won the silver in the under-65 kg weight category and Anastasia Polikarpova took the bronze in the under-54 kg category.
TASS reported earlier that during the opening day of competitions Russia’s Aldar Namsarayev (under-58 kg), Rustam Taldiyev (under-71 kg) and Mikhail Mokhnatkin (over-98 kg) all won gold medals in Combat Sambo.
Denis Kalinin (under-79 kg) and Anton Konovalov won golds in men’s Sport Sambo, while Daria Kuzmina won the gold (under-59 kg) and Sofia Yemelyukova took the silver (under-50 kg) in women’s Sport Sambo.
Today was the last day of the non-amateur competition. Russia won the most gold medals (11) and total medals (16). Between April 25 and 27, cadet, youth and junior participants will take to the mat at the European championship.
Sambo wrestling
Sambo wrestling originated in Russia in the 1920s, when soldiers of the then-Soviet Army developed their own hand-to-hand combat technique. The word Sambo is a Russian acronym, which stands for "self-defense without weapons."
In 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the Russia-originated wrestling discipline should be included in the Olympic program.
