Athletes and Coaches
Sverdlovsk sambo wrestlers have written many glorious pages in the history of our national sport. There are 9 Honored Masters of Sports and 50 Masters of Sports of International Class among them. Seven of our sambists became World Champions: six-time World Champion Alsim Chernoskulov, five-time World Champion Ilya Khlybov, two-time World Champion Timur Gallyamov, also the World Champion title are held by Alexander Fyodorov, Vladimir Balykov, Stanislav Skryabin and Vladimir Gladkikh. Ten athletes conquered champion titles at the European Championship (three-time European Champions Dmitry Lebedev and Vladimir Gladkikh). Over 20 athletes won the USSR and Russian Championships as well.
Nowadays, under protection of Sambo Federation headed by Shukhrat Makhmudov, there are about 50 teams developing sambo in almost 30 municipal entities of the Middle Urals. Nearly 8,000 athletes train in them. The strongest schools are located in Verkhnyaya Pyshma, Yekaterinburg, Nizhniy Tagil, Irbit, Kachkanar, Sukhoi Log, Arti, etc. In Verkhnyaya Pyshma alone, nearly 500 children and adults are training at five sites of the UMMC Sambo Club.
The main objectives of the Federation are to strengthen and enhance the prestige of Russian Sambo both in the region and in Russia. Development of children and youth sports, promotion of healthy lifestyles, moral and patriotic values is essential as well.
At the highest level the region is represented today by seven Honored Masters of Sports, almost 20 International Masters of Sports, and about 100 Masters of Sports. The coaching staff numbers of more than 60 people. Six of them (Valery Stennikov, Alexander Melnikov, Alexander Tolmachev, representing UGMK SC from Verkhnyaya Pyshma, Nikolay Kozlov from “Uralmash”, as well as Talgat Gibadullin and Valery Pyshmintsev from Yekaterinburg “Lokomotiv”) are Honored Coaches of Russia, and one, Alexander Kozlov, is Honored Coach of the USSR. Unfortunately, other two Honored Coaches of Russia such as Vyacheslav Malykh from Sukhoi Log and Yury Meltsov from Arti, who trained a galaxy of brilliant athletes, have already passed away.
The Russian sambo squad includes about 20 people of different ages from the Sverdlovsk region. Since 2006, at the Russian Sambo championships the Sverdlovsk region team is an undisputed leader in team scoring among regions of the Russian Federation. Only a few times the Sverdlovsk region team lost the priority
Each year, several athletes perform the International Master of Sports, more than 10 athletes become Masters of Sports.