World SAMBO Championships: the final day

The main Lithuanian hope for a World Championships gold was dashed on Sunday morning at the "Siemens-Arena". Sergei Grechikho, two-time World Champion in combat SAMBO, lost in the opening round of the day to Armenia's Vachick Vardanyan with 10:4 score. More so, his opponent loses the next round to a Russian, denying the Lithuanian a chance to win even a bronze medal. What a pity! But this is sport. The Lithuanian female sambo wrestlers made up for a missed chance in men event and won two bronze medals today. In heavyweight category Santa Pakenite won the small final, while Aurelia Shukite did it in in 68kg category. Another sensation happened in heavyweight class: US Nino Cutro-Kelly won the bronze. Team USA has not won World Championships medals since 2004 and today success is a major achievement for the national sambo federation. There was a spectacular bout in 62kg weight category, where Russia's Vitaly Vin by a proficient pickup of both legs earned 4 points, which allow him to step on the top of podium. It seems that on Sunday, the sambo wrestlers were competing for the fastest victory. Russia's Marina Kormiltseva defeated the Mongolian in 11 seconds; a painful hold caught her opponent Enkhbat Azzaya unaware. Uzbekistan's Istam Kudratov needed only one second more to knock out Germany's Rasim Lemberanskij in 68kg combat sambo. So, the hypothetical prize went to women. A beautiful victory was achieved by Bulgaria's Kalina Stefanov (56kg) by performing several amplitude and proficient throws over the back from the knees. We would also like to point out silver medals by the French and the Germans in combat sambo and silver won the Belarusian. The final standings in the World Championships team rankings is: Russia, Belarus, Georgia for men. Women team standing: Russia, Belarus, Turkmenistan. Combat SAMBO: Russia, Bulgaria, Uzbekistan.