On February 20, the 20thJubilee of International tournament of category “A” for the prizes of Alexander Lukashenko took place in Minsk. Minister of Sports of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Shamko and President of the European Sambo Federation Sergey Eliseev participated in the opening ceremony.
Eliseev highlighted that the tournament brought together a large number of spectators. This year the representatives of 16 countries competed on Sambo mats in the struggle for medals of the championship.
The tournament is the first one, which opens the international competitions of this year, and many teams brought their best athletes for trial before the European championship.
The national team of Georgia held selection during this tournament that is the reason why there were two-three Georgian athletes per weight categories. А great composition brought the national team of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus. They traditionally participated as always.
Besides the competition, there was a meeting between Sergey Eliseev and the Minister of Sports of the Republic of Belarus to discuss the issues of participation in major international competitions of Belarus such as the world and European championships in the next 2-3 years.
“I have been in Belarus in tournament for 4 years, but therefore I was greatly surprised at the construction and opening of new sports facilities, sports grounds, sports palaces and modern hotels. After all, it will be very interesting to hold further sambo competitions in the Republic of Belarus”, said Sergey Eliseev. “Certainly, It will contribute to the development of our sport in Belarus.
After this meeting, I invited the Minister of Sport to the European Sambo Championship, which will be held in May in Kazan, and we planned to discuss the international calendar and the future International Sambo Championships in Belarus.”