Three Ukrainian athletes — Andriy Kucherenko, Vladyslav Rudnev, and Petro Davydenko — won gold medals at the 2025 World Games in combat sambo competitions in their weight categories. All three competed against “neutral” Russians.
Andriy Kucherenko brought Ukraine the first medal. He won gold in the weight category up to 71 kg. The sambo wrestler defeated the “neutral” Rolan Zinnatov in the final with a score of 6:1. Andriy celebrated his victory with a hopak.
The second gold medal was won by Vladyslav Rudnev. In the final of the weight category up to 79 kg, he met with the “neutral” Hovhannes Abgaryan. The Ukrainian carried out a series of attacks and won with a score of 3:0.
The third medal for Ukraine was brought by Petro Davydenko in the category up to 88 kg. He is a three-time bronze medalist at the world championships. His opponent was the “neutral” sambo wrestler Abusupyan Alikhanov. Petro Davydenko won with a score of 4:1.
Thanks to its successes in sambo, Ukraine already has 26 medals from the 2025 World Games, 11 of which are gold.
