The sambo mats worked fast. Barely a day into the 2026 World Nomad Games on the shores of Lake Issyk-Kul, the men’s Sport SAMBO tournament was done, decided on 3 September at the Gazprom Sports and Recreation Complex in Cholpon-Ata. Forty-two athletes from 20 countries took part. Medals went in three weight categories, from 64 kilograms to over 98.
Kyrgyzstan found its gold at 79 kilograms. Felix Ulanbekov, fighting at home, took first place, with Uladzislau Marduseevich of Belarus second and Mongolia’s Munkhbayar Nergui third. The victory landed on a day the host nation had already tasted success: AKIpress reported that Kyrgyz athlete Baktygul Raikhan uulu had claimed the games’ first gold medal overall, hours earlier at the Issyk-Kul venues.
The lightest division belonged to Russia. Denis Yakovlev won the up-to-64-kilogram class, beating Urunlie of China into second, while Zhandos Beishenbayev of Kazakhstan collected bronze.
Heavier still, the over-98-kilogram bracket finished with Bolat Sapar of Kazakhstan on top. Zufarbek Uralov of Uzbekistan took silver, and Russia’s Gleb Pozakhirko settled for bronze.
Behind the podium sat paperwork as much as muscle. The tournament ran under the International SAMBO Federation, FIAS, which describes itself as a non-governmental, public, non-profit organization uniting national federations and the only internationally recognized body responsible for the sport’s development worldwide. Its rulebook governs three versions of the discipline: Sport SAMBO, Combat SAMBO and Beach SAMBO, and podium places here were settled on the results of every bout fought through the day rather than on a single final.
The sambo tournament is one strand of a much larger gathering. This is the VI World Nomad Games, the roaming festival of steppe sport that Kyrgyzstan is hosting on the Issyk-Kul shore, and the early days have already sent ripples well beyond the mats. Tokayev, Kazakhstan’s president, moved to congratulate his country’s athletes on their success at the games, a nod that landed with Sapar’s heavyweight gold already secured.
Away from the bouts, the culture travels too. Male embroiderers took top spots in one of the games’ competitions, AKIpress noted in its related coverage, and up at Kyrchyn Gorge tourists kept arriving to explore Kyrgyz traditions as the tournaments rolled on.
The sambo results, first announced by Kyrgyzstan’s 24.kg news agency on the evening of 3 September, spread the medals across seven countries. Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, Mongolia and Uzbekistan all went home with something from the mats at Cholpon-Ata.
Sources
- Kyrgyzstan wins first gold medal at 2026 World Nomad Games – AKIpress News Agency
- World Nomad Games 2026: Sambo competition results announced – 24.kg news agency (Aizada Kutueva)
- Results of the SAMBO Tournament at the 2026 World Nomad Games – International SAMBO Federation (FIAS)
