Sunderland's Russian Wrestling club members win Team Great Britain places after successful year despite the pandemic
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Sunderland Red Star Sambo Club in Roker has seen four members gain their places on Team Great Britain following several British Open Championship competitions since October.
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Hide AdA total of six members of the club now have Team GB status and are celebrating their success after a tough 21 months of no training sessions or competitions due to the pandemic.
The sport, Sambo Wrestling, was designed and used by the Soviet Red Army in the early 1920s in a bid to improve their hand-to-hand combat skills.
It is similar to judo and jujitsu with other types of wrestling incorporated.
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Hide AdClub member Brent Mitchell Wright, 30 competed on October 23 at the British Open Combat Sambo Championship held in Doncaster where he won a silver medal and a place on the Great Britain Combat Sambo team.
While Mark Stuck, 37, from South Shields gained a bronze medal and Team GB status despite an injury at the British Open Sambo championships in Folkestone in November.
Head coach and founder of the nine-year-old club, Barry Gibson, 47, from Whitburn secured his place again on Team GB by winning the British Masters division.
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Hide AdThe former World Masters bronze medalist, and Commonwealth champion, secured his fourth British Open gold medal at the competition in November on his birthday.
To add to the club’s success, Barry’s eldest son Jake Gibson, 17 won gold at his first British Junior Sambo championships and will represent Team GB next year.
Founder Barry said: “I’m really proud of the lads and their performances over the last few events, it’s brilliant for me as a coach but also still as a competitor to see the improvements we have made.
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"We are a relatively small club in comparison to others in the British Sambo Federation, it’s awesome to see that after such a long lay off I’ve got more members of the club achieving GB status.
"That takes us to six in total now on the British Team from our little club. Jake doing so well has been the icing on the cake for me and I’m excited to see what the future holds for the lads moving forward into next year and more international opportunities.”