World SAMBO Championship among boys and girls, juniors in Thessaloniki: SAMBO teams are already in Greece

A few hours left before the start of the World SAMBO Championship among boys and girls, juniors in Thessaloniki (Greece). Read where the participants of the Planetary SAMBO Forum will live, train and compete, in our today’s report on the scene.

The competitions, where female and male SAMBO athletes of two age groups (under 18 and under 20) will take part in, will start in Thessaloniki on Friday. The day before the official day of the arrival of all teams, on October 9, 5 national teams – teams of Russia, Azerbaijan, Latvia, Mongolia and Kazakhstan came to light at the Credentials Committee of the Tournament. All in all, approximately 500 athletes, coaches and representatives of teams from 35 countries are on the books of the organizers. Recall that last year athletes from 27 countries contended for the prestigious youth Championship’s medals in Sofia.

These days all the participants of the Planetary SAMBO Forum are getting residence in the posh five-star hotels – the Grand Hotel Palace and Porto Palace. The weather in Thessaloniki pleases: 23 degrees above zero. And if this climate doesn’t surprise representatives of the African and Pan-American teams, the Europeans and Asians rejoice at the possibility to come back to summer, at least, for a few days. The sea is nearby – it is only some 500-700 meters from the hotel – and if you’ll be lucky enough and have some time, swimming trunks and swimsuits which are foreseeingly lay in suitcases, will be of service.

The competitions of the future SAMBO stars will be held in Pale de Sport – the Sports Palace, which can accommodate about 7,000 spectators. The Pale de Sport is the central arena of the city of Thessaloniki, home to the Aris Basketball Club. In addition to the city leaders and sports “bosses” Ilias Iliadis, the Greek Judo star – the Olympic champion, world and European champion is in the list of honorary guests of the Tournament.

Thursday in SAMBO Thessaloniki will be marked by weighing-in of those athletes who will contend for the medals of the first day of the Tournament. They will learn their exact weight at the Official Ceremony at 18:00 which will be held at the Grand Hotel Palace. Everyone who wants to train will be able to do it in the gym, where in 2009 the World SAMBO Championship was held – the Mikra Sports Complex. And judges will be able to learn about innovations, subtleties and nuances of their work at the judicial seminar at 4:00 p.m. that will smoothly flow into the judges’ meeting.

It should be noted that the teams of Belarus, Russia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Armenia and Kazakhstan were the strongest in the team event of the two age groups last year. At that time the Greeks – the hosts of today’s Championship – along with the Romanian and Italian teams caused a sensation by winning several medals at the prestigious Championship.

Who from the leaders will lose their footing, and who will be able to maintain their position? Which teams will be the findings of this Tournament? As early as on Friday we’ll start getting answers to all these questions. You can come to the Greek Pale de Sport to get answers. If it seems far away for you, welcome to the official website of the International SAMBO Federation where the tournament will be broadcasted live these days.

The preliminaries will be offered to your attention all three competitive days of the Championship from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. It will be possible to enjoy the evening block, starting with the final fights, from 6:00 p.m. Moreover the finals will be anticipated by the official Opening Ceremony of the competitions on the first competitions day (October 11). On the final day of the tournament, October 13, the evening block will begin at 3:00 p.m. (local time).

Natalia Yukhareva

www.sambo.sport