I've put this in the wrestling sub-forum as my girlfriend's sister (who studies eastern-europe and Russia) informs me that many Russians don't see themselves as "Westerners" so I shouldn't post under the Western Martial Arts sub-forum. I just finished watching a number of matches at the British Opens. I only watched the grappling matches and not the combat Sambo matches (I ran off before that for reasons stated right at the bottom of this post) First off I have to say - I was incredibly impressed with the level of skill of athletes (even the novices) and the way everyone really stepped up and fought hard. I was also impressed by the large participation of women and children, both of which are severely lacking in BJJ comps I've been to. There must have been close to 80 athletes competing and an even split of men and women. Great things I saw in Sport Sambo: - Many BJJers and Judoka I've met complain about the time limits on certain positions in judo or the stalling of positions in BJJ. Sambo was fast paced and stalling was stood up again, there was a good amount of time allowed for groundwork. - It allowed for pins, clean throws, leglocks and armlocks which all awarded points and victories. This made it, IMO, a great stepping stone to MMA as pins and clean throws are often not emphasised in BJJ and extended groundwork is not emphasised as heavily in judo. - There were no chokes - but this wasnt a bad thing. By trying to prevent pins and joint locks, the competitors were keeping themselves out of positions in which chokes normally take place. I was informed that Combat Sambo does allow chokes. - The belt attached to the kurtka made it so that i saw almost no belts come off during the matches unlike BJJ matches meaning less stoppages. - There was no closed guard game (I think the rules discourage closed guard) which I feel is great for spectatorship but seemed disadvantageous for SD or striking purposes where one would control the opponent with closed guard, posture breaking, sweeps ETC. Saying that, combat sambo probably dealt with this in an effective manner but i didnt watch that part. On the matches themselves: - Everyone was superfit (insanely lean) and seemed huge (might have been the kurtka shoulder pads bits). But no one seemed to be a true hobbyist/not made of granite. It was pointed out to me that many folks were national level judo competitors or already sambo champs. - Matches were looong and really active. Like any sport it became incredibly obvious when folks hadn't got the conditioning. - Drop seoi-nages, leg lifts/uchi matas and single legs made up most of the takedowns. i liked that unlike BJJ, people worked for takedowns (they were all very proficient) and there weren't all the judo hand placement restrictions. Why I ran away: So after watching the grappling matches I got super excited. I had found out a Sambo club was soon opening in a gym very close by to me. It turns out that gym also has all the lifting stuff I currently travel an hour for and has a discounted price for doing Sambo and weightlifting. Looks like next month I'll be starting Sambo! #Alwaysgofullrussian
There's a club here I want to check out in the future run by a Russian guy. They do judo and sambo. I like the look of sambo, bit freer (possibly) than judo and a bigger emphasis on stand up than BJJ....and I love throws. As for Russians not thinking they're western...that's maybe the gopniks.
I saw him! He would have medalled much higher had he not tired himself out with one competitor. He got a clean throw on that competitor as soon as the match started and then the ref noticed that his kurtka was inside out so they restarted the match.
To the OP: My understanding was that they award you more points in Sambo for throwing your opponent but NOT landing on top of them... Was that the case?
I was told that you received 8 points (i think the max for any one manoeuvre) for throwing an opponent and staying standing. if you did an uchi mata/leg lift and placed your hand on the ground during it, you wouldnt get the 8 points.
Good thing you enjoyed Quite a few wrestlers in there too. I was offered an application form but I turned it down due to the fact that I am wholly unfit to compete. Wanna see you in a Sambo jacket soon! #GoFullFedor
