Television and SAMBO: first steps towards each other

Television plays an ever increasing role in the modern sports world. Nowadays, in the world of sports a rule "if an event was not on TV, we can as well as assume that it did not happen at all" is ringing more and more true.

Fully comprehending and appreciating this high significance of television, the FIAS leadership paid a visit to an annual international forum, where television and sports come together for a few days: the "Sportel" exhibition.

This year the "Sportel" have been held in the Principality of Monaco, a diminutive state located in the southern Europe on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and which shares land border with France. The Principality is mostly known through the casino in Monte Carlo, Diaghilev's Ballet Russe and the stage of Formula-1 Championships, the Grand Prix of Monaco, which is held here.

The reigning Prince of Monaco, Albert II is known to be a major sports fan. He participated in five Winter Olympic Games and has been a member of the IOC since 1985. It is not surprising that Monte Carlo hosted the "Sportel" and the Prince himself honored it with his presence.

The "Sportel"-2011 has welcomed over 200 leaders from more than 1,000 companies from all around the world, including agencies, distributors, TV channels, owners of TV broadcasting right and sports federations.

The FIAS President Vasily Shestakov and the first FIAS Vice-President Andrey Klyamko flew in to Monte Carlo for just one working day. In one day a lot have been achieved. Working meetings were held, the main issues of promotion of SAMBO in the television world were discussed, and the main stages of this, currently novel, path for SAMBO were outlined.

"We are looking for partners to promote SAMBO worldwide and we are primarily interested in television, therefore we are here today," said the FIAS President Vasily Shestakov about the work during the exhibition.

A meeting with Mr. Goupil, top manager of the «Amaury Sport Organisation» dedicated to the promotion of companies in the media and on television has been organized. Preliminary talks were held concerning a possibility of signing an agreement with this influential organization in order to gain assistance for the FIAS on its way to television. By securing the «Amaury Sport Organisation» as a guide for the FIAS, SAMBO will be able to complete the journey faster, more easily and consciously.

This year, the FIAS signed a cooperation agreement with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). The result is an opportunity to broadcast a final program, a summary of the Championships' broadcasts, from the World Youth and Junior SAMBO Championships in Riga (Latvia) and to organize a live broadcast from the World SAMBO Championship in Vilnius (Lithuania) over three continents - Europe, Asia and America.

Accordingly, the EBU, also known as the Eurovision, which had its stands at the exhibition welcomed the FIAS as its old friend. Talks with the head of EBU Sports Services Mr. Jean-Claude Gisiger have been very fruitful, and both sides have agreed on further steps in the joint work and discussed a possibility of selling the rights to television broadcasts of official FIAS competitions. The Eurovision also provided its professional advice on how the FIAS can make SAMBO more attractive and interesting for the television world.

Asia is a continent where SAMBO had been recently developing very rapidly and therefore the delegation could not overlook the stands of the Total Sport Asia, a large Asian television network. The company expressed great interest in selling television rights to broadcast SAMBO events in the Asian countries of the CIS. To strengthen the success in these countries and to develop SAMBO in others is the task the FIAS is facing and here our Federation can count on the Total Sport Asia, which is ready to support us and which see the FIAS as an interesting and strong partner.

In addition, the FIAS has met with the leadership of such companies working in the field of media and television as Perform and Sportcal. The scope of issues discussed was the same: how to attract the attention of the press and television to SAMBO. All communications, plans and recommendations were taken into account. Ahead lies tedious and tenacious work to put these ideas into practice.

Over 100 companies took part in the exhibition, among them sports federations of such sports as judo, gymnastics, mixed martial arts.

So, naturally, the FIAS could not miss a chance to visit our colleagues, the IJF, International Judo Federation. The leaders of the FIAS were met by the IJF President Mr. Marius Viser. The meeting between judo and sambo has been very productive. It was decided to sign in the nearest future a cooperation agreement between the FIAS and the IJF. This step is very important for the FIAS, since it gives it an opportunity to adopt the most diverse professional experience of the one of the most successful martial arts federations, a member of the Olympic family.

The specifics of development of judo and sambo on different continents were also discussed at the meeting. Mr. Viser shared his Federation’s experience in establishing Continental Judo Development Centers which help to optimize the work in development of judo on each continent, making it more successful and adequate. An agreement has been reached for the FIAS representatives to pay visits to these centers for a possible exchange of experience in this difficult for SAMBO field.

In his turn, Mr. Shestakov invited Mr. Viser to the upcoming World SAMBO Championships in Vilnius (Lithuania) in November. We hope that the alliance between judo and sambo will be beneficial for us and will serve as an impetus for development and promotion of SAMBO in the world.

The "Sportel" 2011 for the FIAS is over. It was only a first step, to be followed by professional improvement in the emerging areas of development.

And in March of 2012 the "Sportel" will gather in Rio de Janeiro. The FIAS plans to become not only a guest but a full participant of the Brazilian Forum. A participation in the exhibition is planned alongside with demonstration performances by sambo wrestlers to ensure that the entire world of sports TV can not only hear, but also see what a SAMBO is.

See you in Rio!