Georgia gains 19 medals at European Sambo Championship

Georgian sambo wrestlers have returned home with more than a dozen medals and European Championship titles.

Nineteen Georgian Sambo wrestlers won medals at the European Sambo Championship, held in the Spanish city of Caseres.

Georgia was represented by two teams of cadet and young sambo wrestlers. The young athletes performed extremely well, where all 12 athletes gained medals at the prestigious competition.

Among the 22 Georgian participants were two female athletes, who both won top honours and gained European Championship titles. Salome Abashidze (56kg) and Elene Kebadze (+80kg) gained gold medals in their respective competitions.

The European Championship title in various categories was also won by eight Georgian male Sambo wrestlers. Six others gained silver and three gained bronze medals at the event.

The triumphant Georgian teams returned home earlier today. They were met at the airport by friends, fans and local officials.

Sambo is a Russian martial art and combat sport. The word "SAMBO" is an acronym, which literally translates in English to "self-defense without weapons".

Intended to be a merger of the most effective techniques of other martial arts, Sambo has roots in Japanese Judo, international styles of wrestling, plus traditional folk styles of wrestling such as: Armenian Kokh, Georgian Chidaoba, Romanian Trinta, Tatar Koras, Uzbek Kurash, Mongolian Khapsagay and Azerbaijani Gulesh.