In the 20s of November 2026, the World Sambo Championship among veterans and the Junior European Cup will take place at the indoor arena “Apollo” in Limassol. The president of the Cyprus Sambo Federation Marios Andreou told TASS about the preparations for the tournaments.
At the veteran World Championship, the arrival of 120 Russian wrestlers is expected, with a total number of participants of more than 300. In the junior European Cup among boys and girls, 30 Russians plan to compete — out of more than 60 participants. The Cyprus Federation is assisting with visa processing for Russian athletes.
The local federation already has experience in holding major international tournaments — the 2025 European Championship and the 2024 youth World Championship.
🤝 M. Andreou also reported on his participation together with his deputy Lakis Mikhailidis in the International Sports Forum “Russia — a Sports Power” in Krasnoyarsk.
On the sidelines of the forum, he and the president of the All-Russian Sambo Federation Sergei Eliseev signed a cooperation agreement providing for athletes’ trips and exchange of experience.
💬 Marios Andreou:
“Close and friendly relations have developed between the All-Russian and Cyprus federations, and we have given them the form of an official agreement.”
The Cyprus Sambo Federation concluded another agreement with the Ministry of Sports of the Omsk region, represented by Minister Alexei Lenberg.
🎙 The Russian Ambassador to Cyprus Murat Zyazikov, in a conversation with TASS, emphasized that the island’s sports community is glad to welcome Russian athletes.
💬 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.
I was very pleased to watch from the stands, where Russian tricolors fluttered colorfully in support of our wrestlers, as our team celebrated convincing victories in the European Championship and the youth World Sambo Championship, which took place in Limassol and Larnaca last year and the year before; 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 Andrei Esipenko, Alexandra Goryachkina and Ekaterina Lagno, who fought 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, diplomats 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 fight and observance of equal conditions for all participants.
@rusembcy
