“Kurinnoy Cup - 2003”

On March 2003 the 2nd All-Russian Sambo Tournament "Cup of Three Times World Champion Igor Kurinnoy" for the boys of 1988 - 89 years of birth was held in "Boretz" sports school. The Tournament dates back to the team meet between the world known "Sambo-70" club and the picked team of the just founded sports school "Boretz" in February of 2001. Next, 2002 year, several Moscow and Moscow Region teams decided to participate in this competition as well as the boys from "Samboist" school of Olympic reserve from the city of Torzhok. Spectators enjoyed excited and spectacular contest of young athletes. In tough competition the victory went to the boys from Torzhok, "Boretz" won the second place and "Sambo-70" was the third. This year "Kurinnoy Cup" was given the status of All-Russian tournament and was included in the State Calendar of competitions thanks to the high level of organization and the number of participants from different geographic regions. Highly trained teams from St. Petersburg, Torzhok, Tula, Aleksin, Voskresensk, Smolensk, Moscow and Moscow Region came to strive for the Cup this time. The leaders were defined right after the first bouts: "Baltica" from St.Petersburg, "Sambo-70", "Boretz" from Moscow and "Dynamo" team from Tula. "Sambo-70" reached the finals from the first subgroup after defeating the team "Athlete"from Aleksin, Moscow club named after Kharlampiev and then - "Baltica" in an unbelievably emotional meet. In the second subgroup "Boretz" team outplayed "Vimpel" (Voronovo), "Olymp" (Vnukovo), "Baltica-2" and reached the finals. Hard to describe the atmosphere of agiotage and thrill among spectators and fans during the last bout! Up to the last heavy weights it was not clear who might win. And in the very last bouts "Sambo-70" team that was running up all the time managed to force the victory and numerous fans of "Boretz" school were unspeakably upset! The triumph of "Sambo-70" supporters and the tears of upset young competitors became the culmination of the occasion. The third place went to "Baltica" from St. Petersburg and the boys had to fight literary " from the wheels" as they were riding in the bus the whole night and this could prevent them to reach the finals : they lost only 1 point to "Sambo-70"in semi-finals. Last year champion "Samboist"from Torzhok didn't break to prize winners. In the whole the Tournament was a success. There were some claims to the referees but it could partly explained by their youth that will be taken care of next year, and partly by the unbelievably tense atmosphere of the competitions in the gym as every participant was eager to win. Participants were addressed by the representatives of the Moscow -City Government and Sambo Federation. General sponsor: "Russian Product", sponsor "Spetzmontazhremont". Special prizes were presented by the firms "Leader" and "English First" in Novo-Peredelkino.