In 2020, Ekaterinburg will host the European Sambo Championship. This decision was made by the Congress of the European Sambo Federation (ESF), which was held the day before in Spanish Gijon, where the next European Championship starts today.
According to the President of the European and All-Russian Sambo Federations Sergey Eliseev, it was the Urals capital that presented the most powerful and prepared application, which allowed Ekaterinburg to bypass the other competitors. In addition, he noted that the candidacy of Ekaterinburg has received the special support by the city and regional authorities, as well as the Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company, whose UMMC sambo club is one of the strongest in Russia and the world.
”RIA Novosti quotes Eliseev as saying:
- I hope that this will be one of the best championships. We decided to show Russia at the junction of Europe and Asia. In addition, the Ekaterinburg Federation is one of the strongest regional federations. We want to demonstrate our country's attitude to this sport.
- The Sambo Federation of the Sverdlovsk Region already has considerable experience in organizing the National Russian championships as well as major departmental competitions in Ekaterinburg and neighboring Verkhnyaya Pyshma. European Championship 2020 should set an even higher organizational standard and ensure genuine interest in the tournament. All this will work to further strengthen the image of sambo in Europe and all-over the world, - says Viktor Ashikhin, the president of the regional sambo federation.
As for the current European Championship in Spain, the Sverdlovsk Region will be represented by two athletes - finalists of the 2019 Russian Championship. These are teammates Evgeny Eremin (up to 52 kg) and Vladimir Gladkikh (up to 57 kg) from the Sambo Club UMMC from Verkhnaya Pyshma.
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