Fighters at the National Sambo Club Championship being held in Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu Province from April 8 to 10. — VNA/VNS Photo Huỳnh Sơn

BÀ RỊA-VŨNG TÀU — Nearly 200 fighters from 14 provinces and cities are taking part in the 2025 National Sambo Club Championship in Bà Rịa – Vũng Tàu Province.

The competition, being held for the second time, opened on Tuesday at the Revolutionary Tradition House in Vũng Tàu City.

Sambo is a martial art that was developed by taking bits and pieces from traditional wrestling styles from various ethnic groups in Russia.

It has continuously evolved, selectively inheriting the essence of other grappling disciplines. It is optimised for technique and training effectiveness, making it suitable for self-defense, police forces, the military, and special forces.

The fighters are going head-to-head in individual events of sport sambo (similar to judo) and combat sambo (full-contact fighting) in different weight categories from under 58kg to over 98kg for men and under 50kg to over 80kg for women.

Sport sambo is all about throws, locks and joint techniques and combat sambo allows punches, kicks, elbows, and knees, which sets it apart from other wrestling-based martial arts.

The competitors come from all sorts of martial arts backgrounds, like judo, wrestling, jujitsu, kickboxing, and muay Thai, which makes for a varied and exciting competition.

After the first day of men's and women's sport sambo HCM City topped the medals table with two gold, one silver and three bronze medals.

The military team were in second place with two golds and a silver, and Thái Nguyên Province were third with a gold, a silver and three bronzes.

Trần Văn Thạch, head of the sambo division at the Việt Nam Sports Administration, hoped the competition would help popularise the martial art in the country.

Phùng Nguyên Tường Minh, head of the sports management department at the Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu Province Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism and deputy head of the organising committee, said this year’s tournament is being held outdoors in a public area to get more people interested in sambo and hopefully make it a proper mainstream sport.

"The tournament is a big step forward for sambo in the country and looks promising for its future."

The event, organised by the province Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Việt Nam Sports Administration, wraps up today. — VNS