Limassol sambo championship at risk over Russian flags

The World Masters Sambo Championships, scheduled to take place in Limassol next week, could be cancelled or relocated amid a dispute over the use of Russian and Belarusian flags and national anthems. The competition, scheduled for November 20 and 21, is expected to attract around 500 athletes, including approximately 100 Russians and two Belarusians. “We still don’t know if the event is going to happen,” Marios Andreou, the International Sambo Federation’s (Fias) representative in Cyprus, told the Cyprus Mail. Andreou said that, under foreign ministry regulations, Russian national symbols would not be permitted at the event. He warned that if athletes were not allowed to compete under their national flags and anthems, the championship might have to be moved to another country. “Maybe we’ll have to move the competition elsewhere,” he said. Earlier this week, Fias contacted the Cyprus Sports Organisation (KOA), seeking confirmation that Russian and Belarusian athletes would be allowed to compete under their national symbols. The federation referred to the World Sambo Championships held in Thessaloniki in October 2026, where athletes from both countries were permitted to compete under those conditions. Speaking to the Cyprus Mail, KOA said it could not yet confirm whether the championship would go ahead, as discussions on the matter were continuing. Cyprus has previously hosted international sambo competitions, including the World Championships in Larnaca in 2024. Sambo is a martial art originating in the Soviet Union. Its name is derived from the Russian phrase ‘samozashchita bez oruzhiya’, meaning “self-defence without weapons”. According to Andreou, sambo is among Russia’s most popular sports, with an estimated two million practitioners.