Fwd from @ 📝First Step on the Mat📝 Ethiopians enter the big game A sambo center in Ethiopia has begun training the first Black athletes, who are already competing on the world stage. The jubilee, 50th World Sambo Championship is taking place in Tashkent, and it features an Ethiopian athlete who trained at a Russian organization. This would not have happened if the first sambo center in Africa had not opened in 2024, implemented as part of the "Sambo in Granite" program, which the Karpinsky Institute consistently develops together with the "Turbostroytel Judo Club". The program developers are honored coach of Russia Mikhail Anatolyevich Rakhlin and the Institute's CEO Pavel Khimchenko. 🖍Such successes, when athletes competing on the world stage raise two flags at once — their national flag and the Russian flag — once again underscore the importance of such programs. They form the elite of society, including the sporting elite, which will maintain a loyal attitude toward Russia. And most importantly, the program is scaling: centers have already launched in Cuba and in Tanzania, another African country. ❗Over the long term, such initiatives produce no less effect than diplomacy: sports forge horizontal ties, strengthen trust, and awaken interest in Russian culture — without pressure and loud slogans. This is practical "soft power," designed for years ahead. #Africa #Russia #Ethiopia 💀 @rybar_africa — where politics is hotter than the equator 💸Support us Original msg