 Valentin Trukhanenko Amazonka Natalia Faleyeva scores a win at the sambo championships. |
The training room is dim and sweaty in the afternoon light. A giant orange mat stretches across the floor, work-out machinery is draped with shorts and T-shirts. Your average Russian martial arts club?
Almost — except sport bras are scattered among the gym clothes, the figures stenciled on the window have ponytails, and the person loping around the mat is female.
Welcome to Amazonka, Vladivostok’s martial arts club for women.
The club was a center of anxiety, sore muscles and, ultimately, celebration during the Seventh Asian Sambo Championships and the Sambo World Cup for women, held at the Olimpiyets Sports Complex June 26 - July 1.
Amazonka members nabbed six first-place spots in the individual competitions and led Russian teams to first place at both tournaments, which drew over 100 participants from eight countries.
Sambo, a martial art incorporating judo, karate, Greco-Roman wrestling and traditional Russian grappling forms, was created 60 years ago by Sakhalin-born military interpreter Vasily Oshchepkov. The word is an acronym of the Russian for “self-defense without weapons.”
Until 1987, sambo was considered dangerous and off-limits for women. Yury Leontyev, a captain in the Pacific Fleet, thought differently.
“I’d seen women being mistreated, and I didn’t like it,” said Leontyev, current president of the Primorsky Krai Sambo Federation. The strength, dexterity, and self-confidence developed by the sport would benefit them, he believed. At the Olympiyets Sports Complex, he began to train women secretly. Leontyev opened Amazonka in 1990, naming the center after the legendary women warriors.
“We’re a clan,” said Yelena Sokovich, a 31-year-old Amazonka member. “Sambo embellishes our lives. We meet with each other, we know each other. This was a man’s thing, but there’s women who love this too. We’re feminists.”
At a celebratory dinner after the tournament, Tanya Oryol, 23, lifted a pant leg to show a king-sized bruise. She had bruises on her face. And she also has the title of sambo world champion in her weight category as of July 1. “Without movement, I can’t live,” said Oryol. “I tried dance, track-and-field, volleyball, but I stopped at sambo.”
The aspirations of Amazonka women are limited by finances, as government funding for sports has been slashed in the past five years. The krai government funded half of the 500,000 ruble ($83,000) cost of the recent sambo tournaments. Not enough, according to Leontyev, who said they had to cut corners to get the event off the ground.
Financial issues aside, Leontyev said he is committed to keeping Amazonka open and Vladivostok’s clan of women wrestlers ready to rumble.
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