Stand 9 — Development — Rules and classification

A rectangular stand with photographs and white text on a red and blue background. At the top of the stand there is an inscription in English: «Sambo for the Blind. From the first training sessions to the World Championship.» Then, at the left edge of the stand, in a rectangular area of green, there is an inscription: «Development.» Then the inscription: «Rules and classification.» At the left edge of the stand there is a text: «Classification for sambo for the blind and visually impaired began to be developed in 2019, also as part of a social project. The results and prospects for the development of sambo for the blind at the international level were presented at the thirty-first congress of the International Sambo Federation (FIAS) in Cheongju. And the first classification rules were adopted by FIAS in 2020. Thus, sambo for the blind and visually impaired became an official discipline of the International Sambo Federation.» Then two photographs: a group photo of the participants of the thirty-first congress of the International Sambo Federation (FIAS) in Cheongju and a photo of Roman Novikov’s speech at the congress. Further along the left edge of the stand there is a text: “The classification determines which athletes have the right to participate in Sambo for the Blind and Visually Impaired competitions and how athletes are grouped to participate in the competition. To participate in Sambo for the Blind and Visually Impaired competitions, an athlete must have an acceptable impairment – a visual impairment that is permanent and has arisen due to damage to the structure of the eye, or damage to the optic nerves or optic pathways, or damage to the visual cortex of the brain. And such a visual impairment must meet the criteria specified in the classification rules. To determine whether athletes meet these requirements, the International Sambo Federation (FIAS) requests medical information about the athlete’s vision before the competition. In Sambo, athletes with visual impairments compete in two sports classes SVI-1 and SVI-2, SVI stands for SAMBO for wrestlers with visual impairments. Athletes of the first class wrestle in helmets, athletes of the second — without them. Athletes of the SVI-1 class — with the most severe vision problems. Not all of them are totally blind, but the visual impairment of wrestlers of this class is such that in wrestling the main source of information about the position of their body in space and the actions of their opponent for them is tactile and auditory sensations, the vestibular apparatus and muscle sense. At the right edge of the stand there are two photographs: the moment of a throw over the chest of visually impaired wrestlers without helmets and the moment of a throw by wrapping athletes in helmets. Under the photographs there is an inscription: «SVI-2 class athletes (without helmets) and SVI-1 class athletes (in helmets) at the first national competitions held according to the International Rules for Sambo for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Moscow, May, 2023.» Further along the right edge of the stand there are photographs of an ophthalmological examination. Further in the center of the stand there is a diagram clearly demonstrating the classification process. At the initial stage, it is determined whether the sambo wrestler has a permanent visual impairment caused by a structural disorder of the eye, or a disorder of the optic nerve/optic pathways, or a disorder of the visual cortex of the brain. If there is no such impairment, the athlete is assigned the sports class » Not Eligible», if there is such an impairment, it is determined whether the existing visual impairment meets the criteria specified in the classification rules. If the impairment does not meet the criteria, the athlete is also assigned the sports class » Not Eligible», if the impairment does meet the criteria, the athlete is invited for an assessment by a group of classifiers. The result of the assessment may be the determination of the sports class and the status of the sports class, and the athlete may also be assigned the status «classification not completed».