The discipline “SAMBO for the Blind” is included in the program of the 2024 World Championships in Astana

The discipline “SAMBO for the Blind” (sport class SVI1) is included in the program of the 2024World SAMBO Championships, which will be held in Astana (Kazakhstan) on November 8-10. The corresponding decision was made by members of the Executive Committee of the International Sambo Federation at a vote on March 27.

“This decision was brewing in the SAMBO community and was finally made. Sambists with health limitations demonstrate a great desire to participate in competitions on an equal basis with other athletes, demonstrating their steely will and fortitude. I am sure that for sports fans all over the world, these people will become an example of masculinity and indomitability under any circumstances,” said the President of the International Sambo Federation Vasily Shestakov.

Blind SAMBO competitions (sport class SVI1 - totally blind) in the 2024 World Championships program will be held in three weight categories for men: 64 kg, 79 kg and 98 kg. The format of holding competitions among blind and visually impaired sambists together with other athletes was tested within the framework of the 2023 Asia and Oceania Championships, which was also held in Kazakhstan.

“We have come a long way from holding the first small tournaments to including our discipline in the program of the World Sambo Championships. It is important to say that participation in the main competition of the year along with famous sambists of the world is an additional incentive for all blind athletes. The guys will be able not only to compete for medals, but also to feel the atmosphere of the largest tournament, meet and communicate with titled sambists, feeling themselves a part of a big SAMBO family,” emphasized Roman Novikov, Chairman of the FIAS Commission for Athletes with Disabilities.