BSF President Martin Clarke with FIAS President David Rudman
British Open Sombo Wrestling Championships
Sittingbourne
March 5th 2006
This Annual event is attracting more Sombo Players from all over the World, this year we had competitors from England, Scotland, Switzerland, Cameroon, France, Germany and Holland also with immigration from the Ex Soviet Union Countries to the West we are having Russian, Ukrainian, etc fighting for their new Western European Countries which brings the standard of the British Open to a higher plain. For British Sombo to improve it needs a lot more contact with top-flight Sombo players from Russia. The BSF does not have the finances to employ a full time Russian Coach, they are the official governing body for the sport but do not receive any grants and have do rely on affiliation fees from the various affiliated groups.
At long last FIAS (International Amateur Sambo Federation) has recognised the work of the British Sombo Federation by including it on their Calendar of Events and with the FIAS President David Rudman flying in for just 3 days to attend the event this really set the seal on the British Open being recognised as a World Event.
David Rudman was in the past one of the most famous Sombo players in the World being many times World Champion, European Champion. USSR Champion he was also a European Judo Champion, he has written several books on Sombo and his latest book on the History of Sombo (which is written in Russian & English) is a must for any Sombo Player. David also founded the famous SAMBO 70 club in Moscow which has 5000 students being the most successful Sombo Club in the World, with the collapse of the Soviet Union SAMBO 70 also started entering Judo Competitions and has already produced several World judo Champions. Although David now lives in the USA he regularly travel back to Moscow to see his students and the Coaches which there are several hundred.
BSF President Martin Clarke has been a friend of David’s for nearly 20 years so he was extremely pleased when 18 months ago he was voted in as President of FIAS ousting the very unpopular Tichomirov. Those that follow Sombo politics will know that in 1993 FIAS split into two factions one led by Josh Henson (West) the other led by Tichomirov (East) the inevitable happens with the East being the most powerful won this conflict with the West just fading away as the BSF had supported the West they were very much on the fringe of Sombo Politics, they still entered all the major events but could not get any position on the various committee because of Tichomirov. David’s election has unified the Sombo World with nearly all different countries now working together for the benefit of World Wide Sombo and with his connections President Puttin being one of them I expect to see a big advance in Sombo.
A couple idea’s being put forward are competitions for Sombo Demonstration, Submission Sombo, a new international ranking system plus easy access to Sombo Equipment. Many people have asked for strangles to be included in Sombo but if Sombo is to keep its military connection we must evaluate why they were not included in the beginning. I am told by military sources that sometimes it is better to leave an injured enemy on the battlefield rather then a dead one, as injured soldier needs attention and support from another soldier, therefore taking him out as combatant hence leg and arm breaks.
David went on to give a seminar on techniques, I wonder how many other Bureaucrats would strip off borrow somebody’s’ kit and teach a lesson. The seminar was well attended and participants and spectators gave him a loud applause when he finished.
Combat the leading Martial Arts Magazine in Europe has asked the British Sombo Federation to produce a Senior Men’s League Table. This will be used in conjunction with other Martial Arts League; Editor Paul Clifton proposal is that Martial Artists enter all different styles to eventually find the “The Ultimate Martial Arts Competitor”. Sombo will start as the first grappling form but Sombo Grandmaster Martin Clarke has promised to look at maybe extending the grappling scene.
The League will have 4 points scoring events a year “British Open March Sittingbourne Kent, English Open July Bedford, Scottish Open Dumfries May, BCSA/Sambo UK Open Folkestone November. Points will be awarded in the following Senior Men Categories u62k (9st 10lbs) u68k (10st 10lbs) u74k (11st 9lbs) u82k (12st 13lbs) u90k (14st 2lbs) u100k (15st 10lbs) o100k (15st 10lbs).
10 pts for 1st place, 7pts for 2nd place, 5pts for 3rd place, 3pts for 4th place, 1pt for participating. No points for Walk Over.
The Warriors Grappling Academy Sittingbourne dominated the Junior Category but were closely followed by Norfolk Sombo who are doing extremely well considering they have only been participating for 3 years. For the first time since the British Open was started an Englishman did win a Title, British pride had to installed in the Scottish players Vadim Kolganov u74k, Vadim came from Russia 10 years ago and now runs a club in Glasgow and is very proud of his new country, Johannes Alder won the u82k class for the 5th time and is GB’s most successful Sombo Wrestler on the National scene. The senior section was most probably the best contested since the inception of the British Open it is a pity we only had one entry in the u62k class and one in the o100k class
Vadim Kolganov Johannes Alder
The day was very well supported and thanks must go to all those who officiated and special thanks to Keith Costa for organising the event.
RESULTS BRITISH OPEN SOMBO WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIP