Australia plans to develop SAMBO for the Blind and Visually Impaired

A meeting was held at the International Sambo Center between the President of the Sambo Federation of Australia Savely Timofeev and the Chairman of the FIAS Commission for Athletes with Disabilities Roman Novikov. The main topic of discussion was the development and popularization of SAMBO for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Australia.

Roman Novikov spoke about the achievements of the discipline in the international arena: last year, SAMBO for the Blind and Visually Impaired was presented for the first time in the program of the Asia and Oceania Championships in Kazakhstan, and then totally blind sambists performed at the World Combat Games in Saudi Arabia. The current year also promises to be historic – competitions in the discipline “SAMBO for the Blind” (sports class SVI1) are for the first time included in the program of the World Sambo Championships, which will be held in Astana.

“This is an unique situation, because SAMBO is perhaps the only sport where blind and visually impaired sambists can participate in competitions on the same mat along with ordinary athletes. We are already receiving many applications for participation in the championship from athletes with disabilities from different countries. At the same time, it is important to understand that each of them will have to undergo classification in order to confirm compliance with all standards for participation in such a tournament,” said Roman Novikov, Chairman of the FIAS Commission.

In turn, Savely Timofeev shared information about the development of SAMBO in Australia, as well as the features of promoting the sport in this country. The National Federation has achieved success in disseminating SAMBO in sports clubs, and is also constantly working to popularize this martial art through the media. The Federation has identified its priority as working with children and youth in order to attract athletes to SAMBO from a very early age.

“The discipline of SAMBO for the Blind and Visually Impaired may well gain recognition in Australia. A lot is being done in the country so that people with disabilities do not feel these restrictions. And involvement in sports, where they can compete and express themselves, is one of the powerful tools for such activity. We are very interested in the development of this discipline in Australia,” Timofeev emphasized.