Disciplines

SAMBO, as a form of combat sport, is a system integrating elements of various martial arts, created for physical training and self-defence purposes. SAMBO is characterized by a distinctive style in which athletes work from a close distance in a grip, from a low stance, and the opponent is most often unbalanced through the use of force.

Power throws are techniques performed through the direct application of muscular strength. They make up a large part of the SAMBO technical repertoire due to the specific stance and the nature of the equipment. The versatility of SAMBO is reflected in a wide range of techniques, allowing blind athletes to adapt their technique without loss of quality: selecting tactually oriented options while avoiding visually dependent movements.

The basic stance in SAMBO is characterized by a low centre of gravity: the legs are bent at the knees, the feet are shoulder-width apart and slightly diagonal, and the body is inclined forward, which increases the horizontal component of the reaction force and minimizes displacement during sudden pulls.

This position widens the base of support, where corrective errors of 3-5 cm are not critical, and proprioception in the ankles more precisely detects when the body’s weight moves beyond the support area. In this position, it is also easier to sense body tilts, as proprioceptors in the ankles, knees, and lower back receive stronger signals even from minor shifts.

The low stance minimizes vertical disorienting accelerations, thereby reducing the load on the vestibular system and shifting it toward the horizontal plane, where proprioception functions more effectively, correcting lateral deviations. This contributes to technically efficient actions by athletes with visual impairment.

The SAMBO jacket (sambovka) fits tightly to the body and ensures close contact, allowing the athlete to effectively control the opponent’s body movement through tactile feedback during grips. The combination of a low stance and the close-fitting jacket, which minimizes leverage, enables the athlete to generate high-intensity, powerful pushing actions while maintaining maximum tactile control.

For blind sambists, techniques that rely on visual input – such as certain high-amplitude and rotational throws or long-distance sweeps – are more difficult to perform effectively. However, this is compensated by the wide technical repertoire of SAMBO, allowing adaptation without loss of competitive integrity while maintaining a high quality of technical execution.

Visually impaired sambists can effectively apply techniques that require visual input due to the close distance. However, they cannot compete on equal terms with athletes without significant visual impairment, as they require more time to recover balance under vestibular load, which affects reaction speed and the effectiveness of technical actions. Like blind athletes, they also require a constant grip, but in this case it serves to maintain the maximum distance at which visual control of the opponent’s movements is still possible.