Sombo Wrestling Academy

The History of Combat Sombo

History

Sombo 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. The word Sombo is an acronym meaning "self-defense without a weapon" in Russian. Sambo has its roots in traditional folk styles of wrestling. In 1980, Sombo 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. Sambo is entirely a Russian martial art developed from other techniques. The founders of Sambo sifted deliberately through all of the world’s martial arts available to them to augment their military’s hand-to-hand combat system. Sambo was in part born of native Russian and other regional styles of grappling and combative wrestling, bolstered with the most useful and adaptable concepts and techniques from the rest of the world.

Today

According to the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA), Sombo is one of the four main forms of amateur competitive wrestling practiced internationally today. FILA accepted Sombo as the 3rd style of international wrestling in 1968 until the Sombo community formed its own organization Federation International Amateur Sambo (FIAS) in 1985. In 1993, FIAS split into two organizations. Both organizations used the same name and logo. The two groups were often referred to as FIAS "East" (under Russian Control) and FIAS "West" (under US and Western European Control). This split mirrored the last days of cold war politics of the time as well as the recent break-up of the Soviet Union. In 2005, FILA reached an agreement with FIAS "West" and reassumed sanctioning over sport sambo. At present FILA sanctions international competition in the style as does FIAS (formerly FIAS "East"). Both organizations conduct separate world championships and other international events. However, only FIAS sanctions and conducts Combat Sombo competition.