Participants at the Sambo-70 Centre for Sport and Education firstly honed their skills on the ground, and then in a fighting stance.

The general opinion was that the camp provided a great opportunity to pit themselves against various sparring partners and thus to start preparing themselves for the main tournaments of 2019.

France's Laure Fournier, who last year became a world champion in sambo for the first time, took part and said that there was a good standard of training at Sambo-70.

She claimed this was key to her success in winning the women's 56 kilograms global crown in Romania's capital Bucharest in November.

In all, the event in Moscow was attended by 21 world sambo champions from various years and different countries.

Apart from the recognised and titled athletes, there were also a lot of those who plan to pose a challenge to the established order in the near future.

Represented at the camp were Belarus, Congo, France, Germany, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Romania, Serbia and Tajikistan as well as 50 Russian cities located in more than 35 regions of the country.

"We are merely compelled to stage such events at the highest international level," Moscow Sambo Federation President Renat Layshev, who is also the head of Sambo-70, said.

"Moreover, young athletes get invaluable experience as they are training side by side with the strongest athletes of the globe, which helps them to remain leaders in major competitions.

"We bring together the strongest athletes from around the world.

"Few gyms can boast 21 world sambo champions participating in a single training session, not to mention European champions, World Cup winners and national champions."

This year, the sparring area measured more than 1,500 square metres.

The International Sambo Federation claims this makes it one of the largest training venues in Europe.