World SAMBO Cup Stage – Open African Championship: we start in a week

This year, four World SAMBO Cup Stages are held on four continents. Asia was represented by Kazakhstan, Europe carried out its stage in Russia, and Pan-America, respectively, in Venezuela. Africa is next in turn. Exactly in a week in the capital of Morocco, city of Casablanca, the final World SAMBO Cup Stage of this year starts. It will announce names of the tournament’s medalists and winners, and at the same time set the record straight in the dispute for the 2013 World SAMBO. Here the fate of cash prises to be awarded to the top three SAMBO athletes of the year (men and women in Sports SAMBO) will be traditionally decided, at the World Cup Stage in memory of A. Kharlampiev in March next year. Each SAMBO Cup Stage has its differences and characteristics. Today we’ll tell about Moroccan features of the final stage: about participants and disputes over the medals, weather and high patronage, as well as the excitement and hope of the organisers.

Let’s start with the fact that today, a week before the tournament’s start 15 countries confirmed their participation in the World Cup, the majority of them are African countries. This is not surprising. Participation in the World Cup, home for the African SAMBO athletes, is a good opportunity to gain experience and get necessary practice. There are no African SAMBO athletes in the final list of contenders for the final “triplet” of the World Cup winners. That’s why representatives of Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Cameroon, Niger and the Seychelles consider this start as a stage for their future victories.

National teams of Korea, Japan and Tajikistan will represent the Asian continent in Morocco. Two SAMBO athletes of the Land of the Rising Sun are registered in the final minutes of the 2013 World SAMBO Cup, but other representatives of this country will fly to Casablanca. Sato Yusaku and Yukishi Miyshita, participants of the World Championship in St. Petersburg, will compete for the honor of Japan in Casablanca. The Korean SAMBO athletes who stuck in memory by their triumph at the Russian World Cup in Moscow, where Lim Joo Yeon won the sensational “gold” in weight category of 82 kg, brought a team of 3 people to Africa. The Tajik national team, in whose medal collection of the world championship the “bronze” is mentioned, will be presented by the same number of participants.

Europe “declared” its leaders in Morocco – SAMBO athletes from Russia and Belarus. They are in the “top” of the World Cup final minutes, and both the ranking leaders and heroes of the 2013 World Cup are mentioned among participants of the Moroccan stage. Belarus will “glitter” with Stepan Popov, the world champion of this year in weigh category of 74 kg, and Evgeny Semochkin, the World Cup leader in weight category of 100 kg who didn’t fight in St. Petersburg, but is ahead of the Russian Vyacheslav Mihajlina (he is only the third), this year’s world champion in the Cup ranking. It’s worth noting the world champions – Denis Davydov and Anna Kharitonova, as well as Sergey Ryabov, the winner of the world’s “silver”, who are also members of the Russian national team, besides Mihajlina.

We’ve already told you who will participate in the medal event. And now there is a little about what the participants of the tournament should expect from hospitable Morocco. These days in Casablanca weather won’t be Christmas, about 20 degrees above zero, but at the Sports Complex named after Mohammed V, where the best SAMBO athletes will be identified on two mats for two days, will be certainly hot. All the participants of the tournament will live at the Le Littoral Hotel, which is located directly on the Atlantic Ocean. It is worth noting that the World Cup Stage will be held under the high patronage of King Mohammed VI of Morocco and the Ministry of Youth and Sports of the country.

“I’m glad that SAMBO holiday is about to come to our country. It is noteworthy that in 1987 the World SAMBO Cup was already held in Morocco, and now 26 years later, it is held here again. It is noteworthy that the tournament will be held under the high patronage of our king. It is both honorary and responsible. Honoured guests: Mr. Mohammed Uzzin, Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports of Morocco, Ms. Nawal El Moutawakel, a member of the International Olympic Committee, and Mr. Kamal Lalu, 1st Vice-President of the Olympic Committee of Morocco, confirmed their participation in the tournament. I’m sure the fight will be interesting and on the eve of Christmas and New Year everybody will return in high spirits from Morocco: champions and winners will receive their awards and will feel the joy of victory, losers will gain invaluable experience and motivation for further work, and as far as we are concerned, we’ll gain necessary organisational experience of SAMBO major tournaments carrying out”.