The Russian Junior National championship among young men and women of 17-18 years old became a kind of rehearsal before the main event in Ekaterinburg this year - the European Sambo Championship, which will be held from May 22 to 24. The Russian Junior National championship was held from January 24 to 27 in the Palace of Sports, where later this year the bouts of the European Championship will be held.

During four days, more than 700 strongest young athletes competed for medals in 20 categories. With gold medals, the winners got the right to represent the Russian National team at the World Junior Championships in October in Serbian Novi Sad, and the owners of the silver medals will go to the European Junior Championships in April in Panagyurishte (Bulgaria).

The hosts of the competition, the Ural sambo wrestlers, performed very well and were able to win the Team National Championship both in girls and boys events.

The winners in the Sverdlovsk region youth team are: in weight category up to 52 kg - German Sorokin, member of the Sambo Club UMMC (Verkhnyaya Pyshma), student of regional school of the Olympic reserve; in weight category up to 75 kg -  Ivan Lukanin from Ekaterinburg, in the category over 87 kg - Roman Zheltov, also representative of the Ural capital.

Two athletes from Ekaterinburg, Ilya Kiryukhin (up to 60 kg) and Bulud Safarov (over 87 kg) won silver medals, as well as Varuzhan Sargsyan (up to 65 kg) from the SC UMMC (Verkhnaya Pyshma).

Two wrestlers from SC UMMC (Verkhnaya Pyshma) Eldar Gadzhiev (up to 65 kg) and Alexander Kanatchikov (up to 87 kg) became bronze medalists.

Our girls too performed at a high level. Victoria Voronova from Ekaterinburg was the best in weight up to 65 kg.

“I am very happy to win. I want to say big thanks to my coaches and relatives who have always supported me, the final bout was difficult, it was necessary to be emotionally and physically stable. Thanks to the support from the stands, it was possible to compete calm and confident.  Character took on the main role" - said Viktoria.

Winners in other weight categories were Kristina Dudina (up to 48 kg), Daria Rechkalova (up to 70 kg) and Olga Mikheeva (over 75 kg).

Ekaterina Safronova (44 kg) and Daria Rusakova (up to 52 kg) won bronze medals. All our girls represented Ekaterinburg sambo school.

Leonid Putintsev, the Executive Director of the Sambo Federation of the Sverdlovsk Region and Deputy General Director of the Sambo Club UMMC (Verkhnyaya Pyshma) and winners of the tournament German Sorokin and Kristina Dudina summed up the results of the Russian Junior National Championship on air of OTV channel  ОТВ