The Russian champion in sambo Violetta Sayapina gave special interview for the International sambo federation. One of the most striking sambists of the Nizhny Novgorod recently won the European Cup. Here is what she said:
– When watching your performances, it seems that everything comes so easy to you …
– On the outside, it might really look so. I often hear this from my friends. But in real fact, it’s like a hurricane bursts inside of me before every bout. And every time you need to concentrate as much as possible in order to do everything right and not run into the referee’s foul warning. And it’s pretty hard to do.
– Have you ever lost control?
– It was at the last Cup of Russia. I blew an opportunity, and my rival got ahead of me. Fortunately, I was able to concentrate in time and thus I won. All in all, in our sport, attentiveness should remain at the highest possible level, since quite often there are situations when you can catch the moment and earn points. And to do this, you need to see not only your opponent but everything that happens around as a whole.
– What was the most difficult thing for you until now?
– I was really worried about the European Cup. I was preparing hard, I thought it would be something like it was the year before: a host of remarkably strong athletes. However, this time it was much easier. It so happened that only one French athlete was matched against me, the one that I was able to defeat every time before, well, and the final fight was no exception, either. The only thing I found myself thinking about was that winning without some inner tension was no longer exciting to me.
– If you had an opportunity to change your life path, would you do it?
– No. Of course, I would be glad if my sports success were to be achieved a bit more easily. But the skills that I’ve got through practicing SAMBO can in fact come in handy to everyone. These are the ability to pull yourself together, solve a problem, it adds a certain firmness to one’s character.
