World Sombo Championships
Sofia Bulgaria 2006
Report from Martin Clarke BSF President
It has been many years since I have been to a unified World Championships, I say unified because back in 1993 the International Federation FIAS split into two factions one group was led by Josh Henson USA and the other by Tichomirov Russia. The BSF decided to keep their foot in both camps I would work with Josh Henson who I considered the legitimate President and Brenda Jones and Robin Hyslop would deal with the Russian. Sadly the just do not always win and the Eastern Block section had all the top players and their government backing, Josh’s FIAS eventually just slipped into oblivion. This left me on the side lines I could not go back to FIAS led by Tichomirov which was fast becoming a dictatorship, a couple of years ago a coup was led by David Rudman and he became FIAS President. David was an old friend of mine and Josh’s and he telephoned us both and invited us back to FIAS, I accepted pleased to see International Sombo re-united. Josh did not he decided to take the backward step of opening a Sombo Section in FILA (The international Wrestling Federation) something which could bring the whole of the World of Sport into confrontation but that is a story for another time.
Last year I attend the World Master’s and World Combat Sambo Championships in Prague and was made very welcome and it was nice to see World class Sombo again. This year I was invited as a VIP to the Worlds Seniors and was asked to attend the FIAS Congress as President of the British Sombo Federation, along with BSF Chairman Robin Hyslop and BSF Vice President Colin Carrott. The Congress was a four-hour meeting with many things discussed, one of the important issues was the election of a Secretary General and I was pleased to see the return of my old friend Fernando Compte. Mr Compte was the founder of FIAS in 1984 he is considered to be the Father of International Sombo/Sambo and he is a very influential gentleman in the World of Sport Politics. His return was prompted by the attempts of FILA to relegate Sombo to the peripheries of Wrestling, with FILA’s main interest being Olympic Wrestling the possibility of Sombo gaining Olympic status would be nil and the Olympics is the ultimate goal of FIAS needless to say Mr Compte was voted on as Secretary General. Other interesting points were the Calendar dates with next Years World Senior Sombo Championship and World Combat Sambo Championships being together in November 2007 in Prague, World Masters Sombo in October Greece and championships being organised in Italy, Holland, UK, France and Germany. New Zealand was accepted into FIAS and several other countries have applied for provisional membership all told 33 countries attended the Congress meeting. 2008 will see the Worlds in Paris, 2009 New York. FIAS has now clarified there International Belt ranking system which now includes Technical ability as well competition prowess, they are also considering competition in Sombo Demonstration something similar to Martial Arts Kata. So there is lots of development in FIAS at long last.
The Sombo itself was excellently organised by the Bulgarian Federation with three mats on a raised platform, to see the very best Somboist in the World competing is a rare treat and one I had missed for many years. The Eastern Block still dominate Sombo but I see their grip beginning to weaken, with some strong performances from Israel, Holland, USA and Panama. Sorry to say the UK had only one fighter and that was veteran player Colin Carrott a World Master’s medallist. The BSF had selected 5 Senior Male players as being good enough to enter at present we do not have any women of a suitable standard two had to withdraw because of injury and as each competitor has to pay fro their own trip the other three had to withdraw due to lack of funds, this becoming a common occurrence in the UK with British workman before pushed out of work or faced to take massive pay cuts because of Foreign Labour. Colin Carrott was our only entry and he competed in the U90k class, his first and only fight was against the eventual Bronze medallist Yaugen Siomachkin Bulgaria. The match did not last long as he was caught with an inner thigh throw but asked if he was disappointed he said that to be in the World Championships with the best players in the World was an honour and something he only ever dreamed off, at 47 years of age not a sad end to his Sombo Senior career. He has eventually conceded that he will concentrate on Master’s events only.
In the Men’s Senior World Championships when the Eastern Block Countries have been involved GB have managed two silver medals since FIAS was formed I am pleased to say I was one of them with our women winning considerably more we have had several Ladies World Champions although in the past the Ladies event was not of the highest calibre. I see a chink in the Eastern Block dominance of Sombo in the Men’s event and feel if GB had a team who could concentrate on Sombo as their main sport instead of it being a secondary thing to Judo and Wrestling we could win more medals, as for the Ladies they have improved beyond recognition and were a joy to watch.
FILA Thrust for World Dominance fails