During the FIAS trip, the progress of preparations for the tournament in the Dominican Republic’s capital was checked.

A seminar for coaches was also held, while a number of meetings with the country's sports leadership took place.

The venue chosen for staging this year's Pan American Sambo Championships, scheduled to run from June 28 to 30, is the Handball Pavilion in the Park of the East.

It has a wealth of experience in hosting martial arts events, including those in judo. 

Following an inspection of the venue, which holds around 3,000 spectators, Tabakov said it had the components to host a continental sambo tournament.

In the course of the meeting with the President of the Dominican Federation of Sports Medicine, Dr Milton Pinedo, FIAS representatives also discussed the finer points of organisation of doping control at the Pan American Sambo Championships and are said to have reached a "thorough understanding".

"I want to specifically mention an expert team that works in the Dominican Sambo Federation," Tabakov said.

"There is a division of duties in the team and each person is aware of their functions and tries to fulfil them as accurately as possible. 

"This is a very important pre-condition for holding major international tournaments which signals the Pan American Championships would be held by high standards."

A seminar on sambo techniques, directed by Tabakov, generated considerable interest among local sambists.

The event was attended by 23 coaches and athletes who learned the subtleties of fighting in stance and on the ground and then tried them out during training sessions.

For the first time, an official beach sambo tournament will be held within the Pan American Championships with individual and team standings.

The seminar participants expressed their interest in the nuances of the techniques and tactics of fighting on sand, as well as the peculiarities of the beach sambo rules.

Tabakov and FIAS’s national sports federations relations specialist for Pan America, Oleg Artemyuk, also participated in meetings with Dominican Sambo Federation President Eliseo Romero. 

They were held at the Dominican Republic Olympic Committee (COD) headquarters and the country's Ministry of Sports.

In the course of dialogue with COD President Luis Mejía Oviedo, the issue of recognition of the Dominican Sambo Federation was raised.

"I am really impressed by the professionalism and astute business approach of the NOC (National Olympic Committee) head – he was prepared for the meeting in advance and knew very well what sambo was," Tabakov added.

"He asked specific questions and then immediately made decisions and gave instructions to his subordinates as soon as the answers were provided. 

"We discussed a wide range of important topics regarding the promotion of sambo in the country, we witnessed genuine interest in facilitating the expansion of our favorite sport and together determined the course of development for the near future."