Vyacheslav Malykh

Vyacheslav Malykh started practicing sambo in Sukhoi Log with the founder of a local sambo group Vsevolod Kan. Vyacheslav was famous for his outstanding ground fighting, he performed at regional and all-Union competitions. He fulfilled the standard of the candidate master of sports. Vyacheslav served in the USSR Armed Forces. From 1982 to 2010, Malykh worked as a coach-teacher of the sambo group at Children's and Youth Sports School in Sukhoi Log.

Behind it all, there was incredible intuition and tremendous pedagogical talent of Vyacheslav, who together with his colleagues, exceptional coaches as well, discovered a whole lot of talents.

Today these sambists are the pride and glory of the Urals and all Russian sambo. They are Ilya Hlybov, five times World Champion, Konstantin Makhnev, FMS World Champion, Leonid Putintsev, winner of the Championship and Champion of Asia (and, by the way, current Executive Director of Sambo Federation of Sverdlovsk region) and Marat Agzamov, prize winner of the Russian and Asian Championships.

“I owe much and am very grateful to Vyacheslav Valentinovich not only as an athlete, but also at a purely human level”, Ilya Khlybov recalls about his first coach. “He helped many in character building, he always delved into our problems and tried to solve them. He raised us not just as athletes but also as decent people”.

Vyacheslav was a unique man, a real professional in his field, who fully devoted himself to his favorite work and did not see himself apart from sambo. He was an unquestionable authority for his students. It is no coincidence that the boys always turned to him and asked for advice. He believed in each of his boys and his words penetrated deep into their souls.

The memory of Vyacheslav Malykh is immortalized by the annual regional youth tournament held in Sukhoi Log.

Landmark achievements

• Merited Coach of Russia (2009)