History
Nizhny Tagil pioneered sambo
In 1957, sambo went beyond the borders of the regional center for the first time. Thanks to the efforts of the USTU graduates, Alexander Parenkov and Alexey Zharikov, the sambo school was set up in Nizhny Tagil. In just a few years they managed to raise seven masters of sports, as well as three-time Champion of the USSR Valentin Savchenko. Later, Parenkov and Zharikov were succeeded by Dmitry Turzhevsky and Yaroslav Mingalev. 
The school raised such outstanding martial artists as Ramazan Kurbanov, a prize-winner of the USSR Championship, as well as two international judges, the twins Oleg and Igor Perminov. The latter, by the way, was also a winner of the USSR Championship and the RSFSR Champion.
Then sambo gradually begins to spread over other cities of the region. In 1957, thanks to the efforts of coach Valentin Ivanov the sambo school was set up in Irbit. The first local competitions were organized by the Chairman of Voluntary Sports Society “Trud” Pyotr Svetlolobov and Irbitsky motorcycle factory. Then, in 1984, the sambo class was created at the local Children’s and Youth Sports School, which is still gradually raising talented boys and girls, who continue their sports career at professional sambo clubs.
In the early 1960s, Valentin Ivakin and Yaroslav Mingalev created a sambo class in Novouralsk. In 1961, the village of Kalinovo of Nevyansk region expanded the geography of Sverdlovsk sambo thanks to Anatoly Ermakov.
In 1968, Valery A. Kashin set up the sambo school in the village of Arti. He could hardly imagine how many great sambo wrestlers this small town would raise. It was in Arti that, led by Yuri Meltsov and Sergei Zherebtsov, the future European Champions Alexei Utkin and Vasily Pashkov, the winner of the World Championship, European Champion Alexei Egorov, the medalist of the World Youth Championship Denis Meltsov, the Russian Student Champion Alexey Meshavkin and the winner of the USSR Championship Valery Cherepanov began their ascent to the heights of sambo.
Phenomenon of Verkhnyaya Pyshma
Sambo school in Verkhnyaya Pyshma, which became the birthplace of the strongest sambo club in the Urals – UMMC Sambo Club, appeared in the early 1960s. It was started by Vasily N. Kuzhnikov, who headed it from 1962 to 1964. Later, in the late 1960s Mikhail Mashkov, a worker of the Pyshma Copper Electrolytic Plant, took up coaching boys in a tiny hall located at the local stadium. The number of trainees barely exceeded 20 people those years. Sambo became genuinely popular in this small town in the mid-1970s so that the number of sambo wrestlers reached 150. More and more people were willing to learn the ropes of sambo. Soon, the school moved to a specialized wrestling hall belonged to the “Metallurg” Palace of Culture. 
For the then two boys the youth hobby later turned into a career. It was Mikhail Pyatkov and Alexander Tolmachev who returned to their former sportshall as coaches. Frankly speaking, they had a difficult mission: in the 1990s the sambo club was on the verge of collapse, and only sheer enthusiasm and fervor of devotion of those two men could stop its decay.
In 2000, sambo of Verkhnyaya Pyshma entered a new phase with the creation of UMMC Sambo Club. It took only two years to make UMMC Sambo Club the leading one in Sverdlovsk region owing to the improvement of facilities and resources, involvement of highly qualified coaching staff and well-adjusted system of searching the most talented kids all over the region and even beyond its borders. In 2001, UMMC representative Sergey Kolesnikov became the European Champion, and, in 2002, he won the Russian National Championship in Samara. For the first time after legendary Alexander Fedorov sambo athletes from Sverdlovsk region have managed to go so high.
It was just the beginning. Over a 20-year period, the Verkhnyaya Pyshma team became one of the strongest both domestically and abroad. Certain achievements are quite extraordinary. It is no coincidence that UMMC Sambo club is called the most decorated Ural team since even team sports do not have such a large number of world-class national stars.
Thus, the UMMC athletes participated in the World Championships more than 40 times, having won 38 medals of different merit, as well as 19 champion titles. There are a six-time World Champion Alsim Chernoskulov, a five-time World Champion Ilya Khlybov, a two-time World Champion Timur Galliamov. Vladimir Balykov, Stanislav Skryabin, Vladimir Gladkikh and Uali Kurzhev gained one victory each. Artur Khaptsev won the Champion's title twice in both individual and team beach sambo competitions.
Thirteen times the UMMC sambo wrestlers won the European Championship. Dmitry Lebedev and Vladimir Gladkikh booked the first place on the podium three times, Alsim Chernoskulov and Ilya Khlybov took gold two times. Sergey Kolesnikov, Yevgeny Aksamentov and Valery Soronokov achieved gold one time.
Ten representatives of UMMC Sambo Club are the winners of the World Cup. They are Alsim Chernoskulov (twice), Igor Gibadullin (twice), Valery Soronokov (twice), Ilya Lebedev (twice), as well as Evgeny Aksamentov, Dmitry Zelenyak, Vladislav Taipinov, Evgeny Sukhomlinov, Ivan Panyukhin and Denis Sukhanov.
In 2013, sambo entered the World University Games program for the first time, so sambo athletes of Verkhnyaya Pyshma managed to distinguish themselves in this tournament as well. At the Kazan University Games, Aimergen Atkunov and Ilya Khlybov, who was also a captain of the Russian student sambo team, won gold. In 2015, at the first European Games in Baku, Verkhnyaya Pyshma achieved a double success again. Aimergen Atkunov and Alsim Chernoskulov captured gold.
Previously, most of these athletes gave a good account of themselves during the Youth and Junior Championships. The winners of the World Junior Championship were Alsim Chernoskulov (twice), Ilya Lebedev, Ilya Khlybov, Igor Gibadullin, Valery Soronokov, Dmitry Torgashov. The European Junior Championship was won by Dmitry Polenok, Alexander Drobotov, Vladislav Taipinov, Abdulkadyr Adukov, Rasul Gadzhiev, Dmitry Pozdeev, Gleb Poznakhirko and Evgeny Eremin (twice). Also, the winner of the World and European Youth Sambo Championships was Ilya Khlybov. The European Youth Sambo Championship was won by Gleb Poznakhirko.
In the Russian arena the results are even more impressive. More than 30 times athletes of Verkhnyaya Pyshma won the main national competition of the year. The record holder here is again Alsim Chernoskulov. He won the title of Champion of Russia eight times. Ilya Khlybov (six times), Valery Soronokov (five times) and Aymergen Atkunov (four times) are not far behind.
The leading position of the club in Russian sambo is clearly proved by the following fact. Since 2006, thanks to the efforts of only Verkhnyaya Pyshma sambo wrestlers, the Sverdlovsk region team steadily wins the overall standings among the constituents of the Russian Federation at the National Championship, conceding the primacy just a few times. Also, in 2007 the UMMC athletes Eduard Zhavkin (52 kg), Timur Galliamov (57 kg), Ilya Khlybov (62 kg), Peter Ryskin (68 kg), Ilya Lebedev (74 kg), Konstantin Korepin (82 kg), Alsim Chernoskulov (90 kg), Igor Gibadullin (up to 100 kg) together with Mikhail Starkov from Yekaterinburg (over 100 kg) gained a historic victory. They won the first team Championship of Russia among the federal districts.
At the 2014 World Championship in Japan, four out of nine athletes of the Russian men's team represented the Sverdlovsk region (in fact one club and town – UMMC Sambo Club Verkhnyaya Pyshma), which is an exceptional case in the history of sambo. Stennikov's trainees added gold (Alsim Chernoskulov) and two silvers (Ilya Lebedev and Aymergen Atkunov) to the national team's “medal bank”.
Today, at the highest professional level, UMMC Sambo Club is represented by almost 50 wrestlers. In total, the club raised ten Honored Masters of Sports and more than 40 Masters of Sports of International Class, as well as over a hundred Masters of Sports.
The head coach of the Sverdlovsk region national team, Ural Federal District and Rosgvardia, Honored Coach of Russia Valery Stennikov, as well as Honored Coach of Russia Alexander Tolmachev, who trained the champions and winners of the Paralympic Games in judo Aleksandra Vlasova, Ekaterina Buzmakova and Anatoly Vlasov, work in UMMC Sambo Club today. Valery Stennikov serves as the head of UMMC Sambo Club as well. In 2014, it is he who was recognized by the All-Russian Sambo Federation as the best head coach.
The awards ceremony was held at the Russian Government House during the meeting of the All-Russian Sambo Federation Board of Trustees headed by Dmitry Rogozin, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.
The well-developed sports infrastructure allows today to hold competitions of the highest international level in Verkhnyaya Pyshma as well as to organize a comprehensive training cycle for sambo wrestlers. For this purpose, UMMC Palace of Sport and a specialized sambo sports complex in Baltym village are always open. Moreover, Sambo and Martial Arts Palace is expected to open in 2022.
Thus, at the premises of the sports complex in Baltym alone, a record-breaking number of regional sambo tournaments are held annually - more than 20. In addition, head office of Sverdlovsk region Sambo Federation, which is headed by Shukhrat Khamraevich Makhmudov, is located in Verkhnyaya Pyshma.
Geographical spread
In the 1970s, sambo continued its victorious march through the cities and towns of Sverdlovsk region.
In the autumn of 1971, a sambo club was created at the House of Sport in Serov. The first coach here was a teacher of the local metallurgical technical school Vladimir Poskryakov. It was in Serov where Vladimir Konoplyanik, the future Master of Sports of International Class, the winner of the USSR Championship and the Cup of the USSR, the winner of the international tournament in Mongolia, began his career.
In 1974, a club was opened in Sukhoi Log where Vsevolod Kan assumed the role of the first coach. Later, a children’s and youth sports school was established in this town. It was here that future five-time World Champion Ilya Khlybov and FMS World Champion Konstantin Makhnev joined sambo. Their coach Vyacheslav Malykh was awarded a title of Honored Coach of Russia, Ilya Khlybov became Honored Master of Sports of the Russian Federation. In addition, three of the athletes - Konstantin Makhnev, Leonid Putintsev and Marat Agzamov - were given the title of Master of Sports, and more than 20 athletes fulfilled the standard of Master of Sports as well.
In 1975, a sambo wrestling club was opened in Pervouralsk, and in 1978 in Verkhnyaya Salda. A little later, in the 1980s, vil. Bogdanovich and vil. Achit joined them.
Currently sambo is developing in more than 30 municipalities of Sverdlovsk region.