DUSHANBE, December 22, Asia-Plus  -- Tajik athlete Dilshod Azizov won the bronze medal in the 13th World Combat Sambo Championships, finishing third in -68 kg weight class, Asia-Plus has learned from Mahmoud Abdullo, secretary general of Tajikistan’s Sambo Federation.

The championships were held in Moscow on December 20-21.  

According to Abdullo, Russian wrestler Rustam Khabilov won the gold medal in this weight class, and the silver medal was won by Armenian athlete Karen Grigoryan.  

The championships were organized by Russia’s Combat Sambo Federation in cooperation with the World Combat Sambo Federation under support of the Confederation of National and Non-Olympic-type Sports of Russia.  

Sambo is a modern martial art, combat sport and self-defense system developed in the former Soviet Union, and recognized as an official sport by the USSR All-Union Sports Committee in 1938, presented by Anatoly Kharlampiyev.  

The word Sambo is an acronym meaning “self-defense without a weapon” in Russian.  Sambo has roots in Japanese Judo and traditional folk styles of wrestling of the peoples of the former Soviet Union.  

In 1980, Sambo was a demonstration sport at the Olympic Games in Moscow, Russia.  However, due to boycotts, it failed to bring sufficient numbers for continued inclusion as a participatory game.

Combat Sambo, which is utilized and developed for the military, includes practice with weapons, including disarming techniques.  Competition in combat sambo resembles older forms of judo, and modern mixed martial arts, including extensive forms of striking and grappling.  The first FIAS (International Amateur Sambo Federation) World Combat Sambo Championships were held in 2001.