Sambo is a style of wrestling that originated in Russia in the 1930’s that contains techniques from judo/jujitsu and more than 20 styles of folk wrestling popular throughout the various republics of the Soviet Union at the time.

The term Sambo is an acronym for the Russian phrase “self-defense without weapons.” Initially created as a means of unarmed crowd control, Sambo was also used by domestic police and soldiers for training in hand-to-hand combat.

The creation of a sport from Sambo combined traditional wresting techniques from elements of several martial arts including Greco-Roman wrestling, Armenian jacket-throwing; Turkish kuresh wresting, “kokh,” the national wrestling of Armenia, Sambo and Japanese judo.

Sambo wrestlers compete in outfits that is blends traditional wrestling tights, and a judo uniform; thin-soled shoes, trunks or a wrestling singlet, and a tight fitting jacket, known as kurtka. This jacket has longer sleeves than a judo gi is tighter and shorter plus the kurtka has epaulets or shoulder cuffs sewn into it. The belt is worn through loops that keep it in place, since the belt can be grabbed in sambo.

Sambo differs from judo in the following ways: sambo wrestlers compete in shoes, with trunks or singlets instead of barefoot and in pants, no choking, submission holds or joint locks are permitted on the leg, wrestling takedowns and leg attacks are also permitted.

Bouts are two periods of 3 minutes Each, with a 60-second rest between bouts. A match ends immediately following a “total victory,” which happens when a perfect throw is executed, putting the opponent on his back and the thrower remains standing. A win may also be awarded from points acquired by pinning an opponent.