"Youth to Sport!" campaign in Tanzania and Burundi

The visit of the International Amateur Sambo Federation representatives to Tanzania and Burundi (East Africa) ended on September 22nd . The visit was organized jointly by the FIAS and Rossotrudnichestvo mission with the support of the Russian Embassies in Tanzania and Burundi within the framework of the "Youth to Sport!" campaign.

On September 12th a group of six Russian masters of SAMBO led by the honored master of sports in SAMBO, two-time World Champion in SAMBO and now a specialist of the FIAS Sports Department, opened the campaign with an exhibition performance.

Elements of "samba for all" were demonstrated by the masters of sports in SAMBO Dilshod Makhmadbekov and Maxim Yakovlev. The baton was picked up by the masters of sports in SAMBO Nikolay Skakun and Viktor Kuznetsov, who showed the assembled audience sports SAMBO. And SAMBO as a universal martial arts was presented by the masters of sports of Russia in hand-to-hand combat Roman Sokolov and his colleagues D. Makhmadbekov and D. Maksimov.

"We expected that the visit of such "champion" group will be a bright event for Tanzania in and of itself, but what we saw exceeded all our expectations," - said the guest of honor the Director of the athletic programs of the Ministry of Information, Culture and Sports of Tanzania, Mr. Leonard Tadeo. The event was equally highly praised by the Russian side that was represented at the opening ceremony of the campaign by the Russian ambassador to Tanzania Mr. Alexander Rannikh.

In total over two days - September 12th and 19th - more than 130 people, mainly children and youth, participated in the workshop in Dar.

The next stage of the campaign were workshops in Zanzibar. On September 14th a hall of the sports club "Mlandege" united within its walls the best athletes from Zanzibar schools of karate, kempo, kickboxing, judo, taekwondo, and so on, but all the same it was not able to accommodate all those who wanted to take a look "at the Russian champions." The guest of honor - the Minister of Information, Culture, Tourism and Sports Mr. Jihad Hassan Abdullah - praised the work of the FIAS and Rossotrudnichestvo mission in "spreading the sports lifestyle among young people" and thanked the FIAS representatives for "their willingness to share experience with Zanzibar athletes."

On September 16th workshops were held in a hall of the Mzumbe University. The Deputy Vice Chancellor responsible for Administration and Finance matters Faustin Kamuzora said in his welcoming speech that the "university is glad to welcome masters of such high level." At the invitation of the RCSC and the Office of Military Attache the workshop was also attended by representatives of the Ministry of Defence of Tanzania.

The visit of the FIAS delegation to Burundi attracted a lot of attention in the sports community. On September 19th the Minister of Youth, Culture and Sports of Burundi, Mr. Jean-Jacques Nyenimigabo received the Russian delegation, headed by the Russian Ambassador to Burundi Mr. Vladimir Malyshev. In the Minister's welcoming address to the delegation he voiced gratitude for "real steps towards developping bilateral relations in the field of culture and sport."

On the same day a workshop was held for Burundian judoka. According to the chairman of Judo Federation of Burundi, "exhibition performance by the Russian athletes caused a storm of appreciation; I am sure that Burundi has never welcomed such a high-class masters." The campaign was equally warmly received by our fellow country mates living in Bujumbura.

After the workshop the Russian masters presented memorable diploma to the participants, over the course of campaign more than 300 of them were issued. The event was widely covered in the press, on radio and television, and a Zanzibar channel has prepared a special program about workshop by sambo wrestlers, representatives of the International Amateur Sambo Federation.

We hope that such campaigns will be beneficial and believe that they will play their role in the development of FIAS worldwide, namely by expanding this sports discipline’s geography and attracting as many children and young people as possible to practicing it.