Love to SAMBO has no bounds: Review of the National Championships in Asia. Part two

NEPAL Mid-May 2011 was meaningful for the SAMBO fans in Nepal. President of ASF F. Pulatov and Director of the Department of International Relations A.Fayziev visited the city of Kathmandu in May 12-15. That time report-election meeting of Nepal SAMBO Federation was conducted. Mr.Dhananjaya Shrestha was elected as a new President and former President Dan Bahadur Ghising became advisor of Mr.Shrestha. During their visit to Kathmandu ASF representatives met with the President of Nepal Olympic Committee, Mr. Bahadur Pradhan Durbha. They discussed further development of SAMBO in Nepal, in particular, the possibility of holding the first National Championship. Mr.Bahadur Pradhan Durbha handed to Professor Pulatov a letter of official recognition of SAMBO in Nepal which was the main result of the visit. ASF expresses sincerest gratitude to the President SAMBO Federation of Nepal Mr. Dhanajaya Shrestha for organizing the visit to the country and meeting with Mr. Pradhan. ASIAN AND WORLD SAMBO "STARS" CHAMPIONSHIPS At the beginning of last summer the capital of the Republic of Uzbekistan hosted significant event of the world SAMBO. From the 1-st till the 6-th of June, 2011 Asian SAMBO Championship and SAMBO "Stars" World Championship, organized by ASF and supported by the Government of Uzbekistan, were held in Tashkent. The competition started with great opening ceremony, attended by representatives of the Government, diplomatic corps and SAMBO veterans. Women and men, girls and boys, juniors, and juniors were competing for medals of the Asian Championship. On the final day, the 6-th of June, SAMBO "Stars" World Championship was conducted. This important event was attended by the President of organization TAFISA "Sport for All" Mr. Lee Kan Doo. The presence of such a distinguished guest, no doubt, proves the relevance and credibility of SAMBO in Asia. Note that on the eve of the two Championships the reporting-election Congress of ASF was held. 23 National Federations took part in this Congress. As a result, the honoured coach of Uzbekistan, the first participant and medalist of the World Championship in combat SAMBO in the history of Uzbekistan, two-time World Champion among the masters, International category Referee of extra-class, Professor Fazliddin Pulatov was re-elected for a second term unanimously. THAILAND Important event of Thai SAMBO happened in 5-6 of July 2011. President of the Asian SAMBO Federation Fazliddin Pulatov and Vice President Faiziev visited the city of Bangkok. President of Thai Judo and SAMBO Federation Hassabodin Rojanachiva gave a warm welcome to the delegates of ASF. They discussed the issues of conducting in Bangkok the South East Asian SAMBO Championship and the recognition of SAMBO by the National Olympic Committee of Thailand. The sides paid a lot of attention to the subject of expansion of SAMBO geography in Southeast Asia. It is pleasant to note that Mr. Hassabodin Rojanachiva expressed his full readiness to promote the development of SAMBO in the states of Indochina. AFGHANISTAN In 2011, the city of Kabul, hosted the first in the history of Afghanistan SAMBO Championship. The tournament was organized by Afghan SAMBO Federation with the active support of ASF and FIAS. At the event, which took place on November 3-5, 160 athletes of 11 provinces came to the capital of the Islamic Republic. All of them competed in the sport and combat SAMBO with a true dedication. It is pleasant to note that the Championship was attended by such prominent men as leaders of the Afghan National Olympic Committee and the National Federations of Martial Arts. ASF President Fazliddin Pulatov had marked the growing popularity of SAMBO in Afghanistan. The delegation of the Asian SAMBO Federation successfully negotiated with the Vice-President of the NOC of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Mr. Mahmoud Hanif and Secretary-General Jan Hassani Alam. Following the meeting a plot of land had been allocated for the SAMBO Federation for the construction of office building and the gym (in the territory of the Ministry of Sports and Olympic Committee, where all the objects of the Olympic family of Afghanistan are located), and handed wrestling mat. Asian SAMBO Federation expresses its sincerest gratitude to the President of Afghanistan SAMBO Federation General Fauzi Homayon for the organizing the Championship on its high technical and organizational level. PAKISTAN Opening ceremony of the First SAMBO Championship in the history of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan had become a true sport festival. It was held 25-27 of November 2011 in the city of Faisalabad. Brilliant performances of children's dance groups and folk groups of Punjab province, warm welcoming speeches - the first page of the chronology of National Championships was opened. Competitions were conducted by the Pakistan SAMBO Federation supported by ASF and FIAS and gathered athletes from all provinces of Pakistan. Athletes were competing for medals in sport SAMBO. Representatives of the NOC of Pakistan, Pakistani office of TAFISA, National Federations of Martial Arts, City administration of Faisalabad were the Honorable Guests of the Championship. Asian SAMBO Federation expressed its sincere gratitude to the President of Pakistan SAMBO Federation General of Pakistani Air Force Mr. Imtiaz Ahmed Fahim, the Secretary-General Zia ur Rehman and Vice-President Abdul Ghaffar for such excellent organization of the tournament. It should be noted that the delegation of Asian SAMBO Federation as part of their visits to these countries conducted workshops for coaches, athletes and referees and also donated sport equipment on behalf of ASF and FIAS. Asia - the territory of strong traditions. The history, wisdom and courage are especially respected and revered in Asia. In the vast majority of the countries listed above, National SAMBO Championships were held for the first time. The geography of the fans of this sport is growing with a nice consistency. We very much hope that our favorite sport for these states in the near future will become a new beloved tradition. Based on materials provided by the Asian SAMBO Federation