The legendary athlete, world SAMBO ambassador Fedor Emelianenko, in an interview with the FIAS website, spoke about his attitude to the new system of SAMBO of qualifying ranks for sportsmen and coaches. Recall, according to the new register, colored stripes on the belts are provided for sambists, and stripes on clothes are provided for their coaches.
— We have had and still have a system of grades since the times of the USSR, but for young people and for people who want to practice SAMBO for health, without participating in competitions, the new certification system is perfect. The system divided by the level of mastery of technique and by the level of physical fitness will be displayed in stripes on the belts. I think it will be great for children.
It seems to me that the belt system will attract people to SAMBO. We were taught from childhood to be champions. Whether you like it or not, you have to fight, practice, participate in competitions. But maybe someone doesn’t want to take part in tournaments. Or an adult wants to practice SAMBO, but he is not able to resist a young SAMBO fighter on the mat. A person loves SAMBO, he wants to study technique, and the classification system gives such an opportunity. At the same time, it is better to preserve our traditional SAMBO uniform and add stripes to the belts that will show the level of the athlete’s skill, — Fedor Emelianenko said.
Source: sambo.sport