27 athletes will represent Turkmenistan at the Asian Sambo Championship starting on June 2 in the Lebanese city of Jounieh.

According to the organizers of the competition, during the youth championship of the continent, boys and girls will compete in 8 weight categories in sports sambo, and juniors and juniors in 7 weight categories. During the Asian Championships, competitions in sports and combat sambo will be held - both among men and women in both disciplines.

Teams from more than 20 countries are expected to take part in the championship. Not only the strongest sambists of the Asian continent, but also representatives of Australia and Oceania will fight for the medals of the tournament: the teams of Australia and New Zealand. The decision to establish sports relations with the national federations of the Australian continent was made back in 2019 at the Congress of the Sambo Union of Asia (SUA) in Tashkent. However, the debut of Australian and Oceanian sambists in the Asian Championships was twice postponed due to restrictions on movement between countries related to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, the participation of Australians and New Zealanders finally became possible, which they did not fail to take advantage of.

On the eve of the start of the championship, the continental panel of judges of the Asian Sambo Union held a referee seminar in Jounieh, which was attended by referees from 10 countries: Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mongolia, Sudan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. The main goal of the seminar is to improve the skills of the judiciary and prepare for major international tournaments.

According to Islom Adylov, head of the SSA panel of judges, the seminar included a theoretical and practical part, during which disputable situations were analyzed, typical mistakes were analyzed both in sports and combat sambo. In the final part, all participants will be given the opportunity to pass the exam for the status of a judge of the continental category.