Secretary general Frederik-Jan Ningbers told Euro Sambo that the organisation was trying to get going again after the period of coronavirus shutdown.

"At the moment we are allowed to train outside with social distancing in mind," he said.

"Athletes under 18 are allowed to have contact, but only outside.

"In the Netherlands sambo is not a part of the selected top sports, so sambo athletes were following the same rules as amateur athletes, which means social distancing and only outside training.

"Our federation is small, so we cannot do a lot. 

"We were reorganising our Board and were talking with other martial arts federations to start up a Combat Centre in Rotterdam."

Ningbers added that he hopes the governing body will soon expand.

"After quarantine we will try to develop the federation further," he said.

"We think this year there will be no competitions or tournaments any more. 

"Hopefully next year when COVID-19 is gone there will be a permission from the Governments to hold the tournaments again."