Russian Ambassador pleased efforts to develop Sports

The Russian Embassy Athletic's  team in Kilimanjaro Marathon last week

RUSSIAN Ambassador to the country Alexander Runnikh said he is pleased by the government efforts to develop sports in the country.
In an email response, Runnikh said it’s very good to see the country leadership is doing its best to improve sports in the country, saying sports contribute a lot to social and economic development of any country.
 “I can see many people in Tanzania who are really interested in sport. The events like Kilimanjaro marathon or others prove it. Just have a look how many people participate in it. You should continue to follow this principles of healthy nation, because only with active, strong and positive people is possible to build and develop any country” he said .
The Russian ambassador who said he likes Sambo and received a prize in USSR team competitions in sambo wrestling in 1968 and 1970 competitions said it’s very encouraging that many young people in the country are involved in sporting activities.
According to him Sambo  is a Russian martial art and combat sport. In his native language it means  "self-defense without weapons".he said the sport is relatively modern and  its development began in the early 1920s by the Soviet Red Army to improve their hand-to-hand combat abilities.
He also said  Sambo has roots in Japanese judo, international styles of wrestling, plus traditional folk styles of wrestling such as: Armenian Kokh, Georgian Chidaoba, Romanian Trînta, Tatar Köräs, Uzbek Kurash, Mongolian Khapsagay and Azerbaijani Gulesh
He also said a sport improves discipline among people as they try to uphold the principles of the game.
 Runnikh further said his office encourages its staff to participate at local sporting activities as this helps to build a strong relationship between people.
“Sports improve relationships and understanding and due to this the Team of The Embassy of Russian Federation with close cooperation with The Russian Tanzanian Cultural Centre & Russian School this year also took part in just ended Kilimanjaro Marathon” he said.
According to him on top of  Sambo , he also like horse ridding and as a Sambo player he also  won the USSR Master of Sports in Sambo wrestling in 1969 and 1980 , he also won a  prize winner in sambo world championship veterans in Men category  in 2007and in 2009 he emerged second place in sambo world championship Mens veterans.