SAMBO seminars in Cameroon

In February FIAS Sports Department held seminars for coaches and athletes in the city of Yaounde (Cameroon). Republic of Cameroon (Portugese: Rio dos Camarões - "Shrimps River") is a state in the Western part of Central Africa with a population of about 20 million people. Yaoundé is the capital of Cameroon located in the South West of the country on a mountainous plateau at 750 m above sea level. The IAAF African Senior Championship was held here in 1996. The favorite sport in Cameroon is football but martial art sports are also actively developed.

Judo, Nanbudo and SAMBO are among them. Note: NANBUDO is a martial art similar to karate created in 1978 by a master called Nanbu Yoshinao. The main goals of this style are to gain health and physical strength, psychic force and self-governance, as well as human dignity (due to the mastering of its etiquette). There is a Federation of SAMBO and Nanbudo in the country which is functioning successfully under the supervision of Mr. Matipa Tenga. It was his assistance that made FIAS February seminars so successful. It is very warm in Cameroon in the middle of February: the day temperature reaches 35°C. It was also hot on the SAMBO carpets of Yaoundé clubs where the seminars were held. The seminars given by Russian SAMBO sports masters Viktor Kuznetsov and Pavel Kasatov were attended by about 60 athletes. During 5 days, they were improving their skills and polished up the basic SAMBO elements in stance as well as the technique of painful holds and retentions. After the seminars were completed, there were spectacular performance shows, which demonstrated what a person can achieve by training one’s body and character with the help of SAMBO.

After the show the athletes were awarded with certificates, souvenirs and SAMBO outfits brought to Cameroon by FIAS representatives together with the valuable knowledge and skills. The seminars held in Yaoundé were part of FIAS Sports Department work related to the development of SAMBO in Africa. In future, similar events will be held in Morocco (April 9-15) and on Mauritius (July 9-15).