FIAS became a member of the International World Games Association (IWGA) in 2021, and sambo was previously included in the 1985 edition of the World Games held in Britain and the 1993 version in the Netherlands.

Its inclusion in the 2025 edition was announced following the IWGA's General Assembly in Madrid earlier this month.

"Sambo has taken another big step forward, the members of the IWGA General Assembly have supported our sport by including it in the 2025 competition programme," said Shestakov.

"At present, sambo is already a part of many multi-sport Games, and of course we are glad and proud that we managed to conquer the next peak.

"The fact that the next Games will be held in China, one of the most densely populated countries in the world, allows us to hope that the number of fans of our sport will grow significantly and sambo will win even more hearts."

The World Games is an international multi-sport event for sports and disciplines not on the Olympic Games programme.

The 2025 edition is due to be held in Chengdu from August 7 to 17, and will be the second to be held in Asia following on from 2009, when it took place at Kaohsiung in Chinese Taipei.