Bahrain topped the Arab rankings at the Asia and Oceania SAMBO Championships 2025 in Tashkent after athlete Azamat Chotchaev won the silver medal in the over 98kg Sport Sambo category. The tournament featured 530 athletes from 26 Asian countries.
Chotchaev advanced to the final with impressive performances, defeating Kazakhstan’s Jaisa Kalmakhanov 6-1 in the quarter-finals and Iraq’s Ali Al Zubairi 10-2 in the semi-finals, before falling to Uzbekistan’s Asror Khamidov 12-7 in the final.
Mohammed Ali Janahi, Chairman of the Bahrain Sambo Federation, congratulated His Highness Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa, First Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports, Chairman of the General Sports Authority, and President of the Bahrain Olympic Committee, and His Highness Shaikh Salman bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, Vice President of the General Sports Authority and President of Bahrain Combat Sports Council, on this achievement.
Janahi highlighted the continued support for combat sports under the leadership of HH Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad and HH Shaikh Salman bin Mohammed, and commended Chotchaev’s performance as a valuable addition to Bahrain’s growing continental and international record in sambo.
He noted that the result reflects the success of the Federation’s development programmes, led by HH Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad and the Combat Sports Council, expressing confidence in the national team’s potential to achieve further success on the international stage.
