Russian sambo athletes took seven gold medals on the second day of the World Championships in Tashkent

Seven gold medals in Tashkent

Russian athletes won seven gold medals on the second day of the anniversary, 50th World Sambo Championships currently taking place in Tashkent, reports Gazeta.Ru. The winners were Alexander Suchkov (88 kg, sport sambo), Sofia Tsibrova (54 kg, sport sambo), Karina Cherevan (65 kg, sport sambo), as well as Artem Tadin (98 kg), Valeria Tepysheva (50 kg), Vera Lotkova (59 kg) and Yana Polyakova (72 kg) — all in combat sambo. The World Championships will conclude on November 8; the tournament's official partners are the company Rosneft and VTB Bank.

Context: youth success and Olympic prospects

The success at the senior championship adds to October's result: at the Youth World Championships Russian sambo athletes won 51 medals — 33 gold, 11 silver and 7 bronze — competing under the national state symbols. This is a notable contrast with the senior tournament, where the medal count is still in single digits, although the results of the two tournaments cannot be compared directly: the youth championship has already ended, while the senior one continues until November 8. Separately, on November 5, the president of the International Sambo Federation, Vasily Shestakov, stated that sambo could become an Olympic sport. Earlier, the country was also named where, according to the publication, sambo is developing strongly.