so far I know of 2 people who say they have a sambo federation in Canada. There`s Eugene Shewchuk of Club Kozak in Montreal whom I visited and showed me a registered non-profit Sambo association. Then I know of Igor yakimov in Ottawa who has UFRS/ Sambo Canada, and claims to be the legitimate sambo federation of canada. Whos who???
The "who's in charge?" question plagues Sambo worldwide - not just in Canada. It seems everyone and their mother has an association that claims to be the "true" authority on Sambo. This type of bickering only serves to further fracture the art and confuse people. I don't know the situation is in Canada, but my feeling is that the number of associations should not matter and should be encouraged IF they are willing to co-exist, get over their egos, and work together for the betterment of the sport. There is more than one shade of any color and they are all wonderful. I have heard good things about both Club Kozak AND Yakimov's group...we list them both on our website.
At the American Sambo Association, we don't claim to have any authority...just a desire to increase communication within the sambo community and promotion of art - regardless of political affiliations. We will work with any organization and link anyone our site who has the same interests. We don't take sides. If you love Sambo, that is good enough for us. We have a free monthly e-newsletter which has slowly started to begin this process - with some positive feedback. Drop me a line if you want to get on the mailing list.
Sorry I don't have a better answer to your question.
Stephen Koepfer
President, American Sambo Association
www.americansamboassociation.com
Indeed!
yes...Im just trying to find out who has the real representave to FIAS(wsf) to partake in international competitions.Politics do suck, but like judo, its good to have ONE official fefederation to go in the future for sambo.
If WSF competitions are what you plan on doing, I would contact Mr. Lenny Polyakov at the following website or e-mail. He is the Vice President of WSF (formerly FIAS) and President of the American Ameteur Sambo Federation. He can tell you what you need to do in order to be able to compete in WSF competitions and who is WSF affiliated in Canada.
You can probably join as an individual and not worry about which organization you affiliate with. Or both organizations may be WSF members, in which case you can train with or join either one.
www.samboaaf.com
Polyakov@essex.edu
Good luck to you!
Steve