Sambo was one of the main topics at a recent session of the Council for the Development of Physical Culture and Sport in the historic Russian region of Vladimir.

Speeches were made by Sergey Eliseev, President of the European and All-Russian Sambo Federations, and Rashid Nurgaliyev, deputy secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, claiming FIAS has a dream that sambo might be included one day on the Olympic programme.

With sambo still not recognised by the IOC, however, Shestakov has moved to clarify that FIAS' immediate objective is to overcome that hurdle.

"The International Sambo Federation properly assesses current situation and clearly understands that with so many sports existing today, the most important [thing] is to get full Olympic recognition first," he told insidethegames. 

"We do not claim for more.

"The Olympic recognition can put sambo on a par with the leading sports and if it ever happens, sambo will get a huge impulse for further development and youth attraction.

"And most importantly it will give us opportunity to show the world how sambo is different from other combat sports and martial arts.

"After all, sambo is a special kind of sport, which is all about self-defence; the values of sambo are protection of the weak, of children and women, which go in line with the Olympic principles and spirit."

Russian President Vladimir Putin, an Honorary President of FIAS, called for "every effort" to be made to have sambo recognised by the IOC while addressing the session of the Council for the Development of Physical Culture and Sport.

It came on the same day that Sergey Yeliseyev, President of the All-Russian Sambo Federation, told TASS a request to include the Russian-originated wrestling format on the Olympic programme had been submitted.

FIAS had been hopeful of being put forward for full recognition at the IOC Session in Rio de Janeiro in August, only to be overlooked along with several other Federations.

"We [have] worked very hard in order to achieve Olympic recognition and we are very grateful to the IOC President Thomas Bach, IOC members and IOC staff," added Shestakov, a political ally of Putin.

"They listen to us, study our progress and achievements and give their valuable recommendations.

"Thanks to their support and kind attention, we have developed and changed very quickly.

"We hope for the Olympic recognition and are full of desire and strength to further develop our beloved sport."

Sambo is already included on the programme of a number of major multi-sport events, including the European Games, Asian Games, Universiade and World Combat Games.

It has also featured on the programme of the two most recent editions of the Asian Beach Games, held in Phuket in Thailand in 2014 and in Danang in Vietnam this year.

A total of 85 National Federations on five continents are affiliated to the FIAS membership, while more than 120 countries are practicing sambo around the world.

Russia is very much the dominant force in sambo, which originated in the Soviet Union in the 1920s when soldiers of the then-Soviet Army developed their own hand-to-hand combat technique.