NICOSIA, October 30. /TASS/. One hundred and fifty Russian wrestlers are planning to take part in two international sambo competitions — the World Championship among veterans and the Junior European Cup, which will be held in November in Cyprus. This was reported to TASS by the president of the Cyprus Sambo Federation, Marios Andreou.

“Preparations for these competitions are in full swing. Both tournaments will take place in the early twenties of November, the venue of the competitions will be the covered arena ‘Apollon’ in Limassol. The number of participants can already be judged by the fact that at the world championship among veterans, where men will compete, 120 wrestlers from Russia are expected to arrive with a total number of participants of more than 300, and at the European Cup among juniors, where competitions will be held among boys and girls — 30 Russian athletes with more than six dozen participants in total. And now we are assisting in providing Cypriot visas for the Russian participants of the competitions,” Andreou informed.

He recalled that the Cyprus Sambo Federation already has experience in organizing major international competitions in this type of martial arts. Among them are the European Championship and the youth world championship, which took place in 2025 and 2024 respectively.

Andreou also reported that he recently returned from Krasnoyarsk, where he and his deputy Lakis Mikhailidis took part in the International Sports Forum “Russia — a Sports Power.”

“On the sidelines of this forum, together with the president of the All-Russian Sambo Federation Sergey Eliseev, we signed an agreement on cooperation on the exchange of athletes’ trips, as well as on the exchange of experience in work. Close and friendly relations have developed between the All-Russian and Cyprus federations, and we have given them the form of an official agreement,” Andreou informed. He also added that another cooperation agreement the Cyprus Sambo Federation signed during the forum with the authorities of the Omsk region, namely with the regional minister of sports Alexey Lenberg.

Commentary of the Russian ambassador to Cyprus

As the Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Cyprus Murat Zyazikov emphasized in a conversation with TASS, the sports community of Cyprus is glad to welcome Russian athletes taking part in sports competitions organized on the island.

“Sport, along with culture, remains a guarantee of peace and harmony, which is proven by the participation of Russians over the past two years in various competitions held in Cyprus,” Zyazikov said. “It was very pleasant for me to watch from the stands, where Russian tricolors fluttered colorfully in support of our wrestlers, how our team celebrated convincing victories in the European Championship and the youth world championship in sambo, which took place in Limassol and Larnaca last year and the year before last; and in March-April of this year, being next to the participants of the men’s and women’s candidates’ tournaments in chess in the seaside town of Peyia north of Paphos, we just as sincerely empathized with the three Russian grandmasters Andrey Esipenko, Alexandra Goryachkina and Ekaterina Lagno, who were fighting for the right to participate in matches for the world crown.”

“These competitions and the participation of Russian athletes in them, who were at the center of attention of the Cypriot and international public and the press, the staff of the diplomatic corps accredited on the island, as well as numerous Russian compatriots, demonstrated that any unseemly attempts by the authors of illegal anti-Russian sanctions to isolate athletes from our country in practice turn out to be counterproductive. After all, both the athletes themselves, and the federations uniting them, and sports fans will always oppose discrimination and politicization in sports, whose true purpose is to strengthen peace, harmony and the principles of justice, fair attitude to the struggle and observance of equal conditions for all participants,” the Russian ambassador in Nicosia emphasized.

@roscentrecy