Sambo (Short for "Samozashchita Bez Oruzhiya")
Translation: "Self defence without weapons"
Country of Origin: Former Soviet Union (USSR)
Created: 1938

Pronounced Sombo and often written in the Russian style as Cambo (Russians pronounce the letter C as an S) this Russian martial art has unsurprisingly caused many internal arguments amongst its UK and US practitioners concerning just how it should be written. Unfortunately the term Sambo is an offensive piece of slang in these counties and so much effort has been put into adopting the Sombo spelling. However this subtlety is often lost on many Russian instructors who stick with either the Russian Cambo, or the more obvious English translation Sambo. As a result you are likely to come across all 3 variations - certainly in the UK and US. The three men associated with the creation of Sambo are Vasily Oschchepkov, Victor Spriridonov and Anatoly Kharlampiev. In the 1920's they studied the indigenous fighting systems of the 15 republics in the newly formed USSR, some of which dated back to the 10th century, along with a number of European and Oriental fighting systems. They then continued to practice, refine and codify their fledgling self-defence system until Sambo was officially recognised on November 16th 1938. What they ended up with was a predominantly grappling based style with an emphasis on real-life self-defence scenarios and practical ways to neutralise a threat. (a bit like Judo with attitude). Since then Sambo has divided into Sport Sambo - an international submission-wrestling sport, (one of the three officially recognised forms of international wrestling) and Combat Sambo - the martial art version used by "Spetsnaz" the Russian elite forces. Because of it's strong links with the Russian military, Combat Sambo practitioners (Samboists) often practice wearing military fatigues. Sport Sambo competitors wear a thick Judo-like top and shorts.