Throughout pre-revolutionary Russia a great variety of national types of wrestling existed with the people of Central Asia, of the Caucasus, and of the Far (Siberian) East. However, apparently these types were neither widespread nor systematized during that period. The study of these national matches bore a fortuitous character. It is only after the October Revolution, the Soviets boast, that a "genuine interest for this type of sport arose."
What more, sambo's originator, Anatoly Arkadevich Kharlampiev, decided to study and collect the diversified arsenal of the aforementioned national games and to utilize the experience of the many nationalities of the U.S.S.R. such as the Tartars, Georgians, Azherbeydzhani, Central Asians, and others. In total he studied some 23 types of wrestling and its allied categories of the nations of the Soviet Union; and some 15 foreign types. And finally, this Soviet "scholar-sportsman" was able to piece together his own "system" which on June 9, 1938, was recognized as a sport on an all-union level. Somewhat later it was called sambo.
Sambo is divided into two categories: a) sport and b) combat (a series of vital grips of self-defense against an armed attack). The latter category is highly recommended by a little instruction booklet published by the Ministry of Defense of the U.S.S.R., and in this pamphlet it is stated that "the sport category enforced by these elements /combat techniques/ becomes a powerful means in the hands of the sportsman for the defense of his homeland as well as for his own personal protection."
In general, a sambo match consists of such basic traits as throws, throws with falls, tumbles, turning over, holding position, and the vital grips. The rules for sambo are:
1 ) A throw from a standing position with the opponent landing on his back—scores a complete victory.
2) A vital (painful) grip from which the opponent surrenders—a complete victory.
3) A hold with over 20 second duration—scores one point.
4) A throw leading to a suppine, even if momentary, condition of the opponent—one point.
5) Less worthy throws—score half a point.
6) If the encounter should end in a draw one's points are counted and the winner is one with the largest accumulation of points.
The sambo contestants, or samboists as they are often called, are presently categorized into eight weight classes, and they have appeared in team matches since 1949. Individual matches, however, were started some ten years prior to that. In 1957 Soviet samboists are said to have met a Hungarian judo team and won all 24 matches. (The Hungarian Revolution had its demoralizing effect even here!) Two years later, in 1959, the sambo team "Dynamo" engaged the East German judo team "Vorwaerts" and— won all the three matches.
How was it possible to match sambo with judo, a fly with a bee? Certain "amendments" had to be made to be able to stage this sambo-judo meet. The already bastardized game of judo, namely sambo, had to be revised, just as judo had to be revised to "accommodate" sambo. The samboists, for example, did not use their vital grips on the opponents' leg-joints; the judo players did not engage their strangle holds.
Pawel Ziolkowski
MATA JEST MYM KOSCIOLEM, PARTER MOIM NIEBEM, BRAZYLIJSKIE JIU-JITSU MA RELIGIA