Manchester bound! - Colquhoun off to President's Cup

Jamaican Sambo fighter Matthew Colquhoun will be travelling to Manchester, England, today for the FIAS President's Cup Sambo tournament.

Sambo is a martial arts discipline that originated in the Soviet Union, but has been growing in popularity in Jamaica over the last five years.

Jamaica Sambo and Combat Sambo Federation president Daniel Chacko-Wilmot said that Colquhoun was invited to the tournament because of what he describes as his impressive display in the Pan American Sambo Games, which saw him finish with a silver medal.

"Top officials came and spoke to me and said it was a good fight and also that it was a really entertaining fight," Chacko-Wilmot told The Star.

Good spirits

Colquhoun said that he is in good spirits ahead of the trip and praised his friend Aljamain Sterling, a mixed martial artist currently signed with the Ultimate Fighting Championship in the United States, for his help in his preparation. Sterling, who is Jamaican by parentage, had recently visited the island to learn more about his roots and visit local gyms to offer his expertise to local fighters.

"Wrestling and jujitsu are big parts of sambo," Colquhoun said. "Learning these things is just another gift.

"I don't have to go anywhere else to get training because Aljamain is here. I can go on and let him throw me around and beat me up and I'll learn from that," he laughed. "It prepares me well for the Sambo Games."

Although Colquhoun has competed in the Pan American Sambo Games for the last three years, this is his first entry in the President's Cup.