Cyprus Sambo Federation President Marios Andreou said he felt the country "coped well with all the tasks" as it held the European Cadet Championships ©FIAS

Cyprus Sambo Federation President Marios Andreou feels the country "performed well" when it hosted the European Cadet Championships in Limassol last month - one of several international sambo events staged in Cyprus last year.

Tatiana Nemchinova earned a bronze medal in the women's under-54 kilograms weight division at the Apollon Limassol Basketball Stadium, and Andreou is confident that the experience will have served all of Cyprus' athletes well.

"The athletes performed well, but there is always room for improvement," Andreou said in an interview with the European Sambo Federation..

"This is the youngest age when sambo wrestlers can compete at international tournaments, which is very important for them.

"Besides, 18 European countries and more than 150 cadet sambo wrestlers took part in the competition; all of them are future adult champions and they should study their rivals even now."

The event for athletes aged 14 to 16 was moved from The Netherlands because of COVID-19 restrictions, and participants were required to return negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests in the 72 hours before their arrival and at the airport in Cyprus.

Andreou believes the measures helped to make the event a success.

"I think that we coped with all the tasks," he insisted.

"Of course, the pandemic made some adjustments, but we managed to get permission to hold the competition, and everybody passed the PCR tests.

"We held the competition in a new gym, of course, it had its own difficulties, but we did our best to make it as comfortable and civilised as possible.

"We managed to organise a live broadcast and put a big screen near the mats."

Andreou expanded that the Moldovan contingent had an issue upon arrival due to the country's "grey zone" status, requiring anyone travelling to Cyprus to have special permission, but that this was rectified to enable their involvement.

"Yes, there was a small problem for the Moldovan team, because the country is in the grey zone and they needed a special permission to visit Cyprus," Andreou said.

"The team waited four hours at the airport, but we were able to get them into the country and they performed at the Championship."

Russia topped the overall medals table at the event in Limassol and won the women's overall title, while Ukraine earned the most golds in the men's competitions.

Limassol also staged the senior European Championships in 2021.

Cyrpus, through Larnaca, also hosted the first-ever World Beach Sambo Championships last year.