Asian Sambo Championship 2016 in Ashgabat: FIAS’s Executive Director Sergey Tabakov in an interview to the "Turkmenistan" channel

Today the sports complex of the martial arts in the Olympic Village in Ashgabat is boiling with the preparatory work for the Asian Sambo Championship starting tomorrow in the capital of Turkmenistan. There are rehearsals of the official ceremonies, the entrance of athletes, the awarding, the last instruction for physicians and volunteers. An active part in all this plays the executive director of FIAS Sergey Tabakov. He is the epicenter of advice and guidance, a storehouse of experience and organizational wisdom, which he generously shares with the organizers.

It is not surprising that the TV channel “Turkmenistan” has rushed to him for an interview. Sergey Tabakov commented on the Asian continental tournament starting tomorrow: “Turkmen sambo wrestlers are fighters, who, so to speak, always are dangerous. If we are talking about sambo athletes from Turkmenistan, they always have a strong character, excellent motor skills and strong technique. I'm sure that here at the Asian Sambo Championship 2016 they will show their best, I'm sure we will witness unprecedented success of the Turkmen sambo wrestlers here in Ashgabat. I am sure the fans and the walls and all their preparation will help them on the eve of the championship.

This Asian Championship is a test for the Asian Games in enclosed spaces and in martial arts, which will be held in Ashgabat in September 2017. I am convinced that this continental tournament will give a huge boost to young people, who, I am sure, will be pulled to sambo, teenagers will come to the hall, we will tear them away from their computers. I hope that the Turkmen youth will soon enter the elite world of modern sambo".