Competitors from Russia and Belarus have been permitted to continue competing under a "neutral" International Sambo Federation (FIAS) flag even prior to an easing of the International Olympic Committee's recommendations in response to the war in Ukraine.

Ruslan Bagdasaryan triumphed in the men's sport sambo 64 kilograms category with victory in the final against Azerbaijan's Mirfattah Seyidaliyev, with Armenia's Narek Dallakyan and Serbia's Miloš Samardžić taking bronze at the Romema Sports Arena in the Israeli city.

Multiple world champion Uali Kurzhev of Russia won the 79kg final against Bulgaria's Ivan Kharkov, and on the women's sport sambo side Alena Alekhina overcame Romania's Khrystyna Bondar in the 59kg final and Anzhela Gasparian also beat a Romanian opponent in Kaliuzhnaya Katsiaryna in the over-80kg decider.

The other winners in the sport sambo events on the first day of the European Championships were Armenia's Arsen Khandzhian in the men's 98kg final against Georgia's David Loriashvili, Anzhela Zhylinskaya of Belarus under the FIAS flag against Romania's Volha Maleika in the  women's 72kg decider and France's Sephora Corcher against Cristina Blanaru of Romania in the women's 50kg.

Corcher and her French team-mates are also competing under the FIAS flag because of a Governmental dispute.

Russian athletes also won all four men's combat sambo gold medals.

Aldar Namsaraev and Rolan Zinnatov won their finals against Bulgarian opponents, beating Boris Kandov and Emil Nezirov to take the 58kg and 71kg titles respectively.

Dzhambulat Medzhidov and Shamil Kuramagomedov overcame Belarusian opponents in their 88kg and over-98kg finals in the form of Yauheni Aleksiyevich and Valiantsin Natalevich respectively.

A further 10 finals are scheduled for tomorrow, with the European Championships running until Sunday (April 23).