Development

Financial Assistance Programs Boost Wrestling Nations in Olympic Year

By United World Wrestling Press

Augusto MIDANA (GBS) qualified for the Tokyo Olympic Games after receiving financial assistance to attend the qualification event in Tunisia. (Photo: UWW)

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (June 1) -- As the COVID pandemic swept the globe and impacted lives and economies worldwide, United World Wrestling - led by president Nenad Lalovic and the UWW bureau - worked to create financial opportunities for small, heavily affected nations keen to continue in their Olympic journey even as financial opportunities dwindled.
 
In addition to existing programming, Lalovic and the bureau settled on direct assistance to support athletes and coaches in their quest to qualify for the Tokyo Olympic Games. Utilizing its established Technical Assistance program, UWW supported 121 athletes and coaches from 43 nations.

"We were determined to assist all our national associations and stay united through the most difficult challenges," said Lalovic. "These past 16 months have tested our resilience, but we've stayed united as a family and through the efforts delivered by the UWW Development Team, we saw great buy-in and five athletes who were able to qualify."

Georgios PILIDIS

Georgios PILIDIS (GRE) qualified during the World Olympic Qualifier in Sofia. (Photo: Kadir Caliskan)

Of the recipients, five athletes successfully qualified for the Tokyo Olympic Games via the program:

Augusto Midana (GBS) -- FS 74, African Olympic Qualifier
Zholaman SHARSHENBEKOV (KGZ) -- GR 60, Asian Olympic Qualifier
BAT-OCHIR Bolortuya (MGL) -- WW 53, World Olympic Qualifier
Georgios PILIDIS (GRE) -- FS 65, World Olympic Qualifier
Karen ASLANYAN (ARM) -- GR 67, World Olympic Qualifier

In addition to funds provided directly from UWW, the IOC also entered as a collaborator, under its ‘Youth Athlete Development, International Federation Training Opportunities’, which was built to support smaller NOCs in sending their teams to Continental Qualifications.

The total cost for the training assistance was EUR 180’000, with 40’000 to be reimbursed by Olympic Solidarity.

"The qualifications were burdensome on the athletes," said Deqa Niamkey, UWW Director of Development. "They faced uncertainty in their training routines, issues with travel, and of course their own experiences with the impact from COVID. But as we know, wrestlers are tough and always find a way to get the job done!"

Aker AL OBAIDI (AUT)

Aker AL OBAIDI (UWW) was a member of the refugee team funded by United World Wrestling that traveled to various qualification events. (Photo: Kadir Caliskan)

In addition to the OS program UWW's development department oversaw a myriad of success stories during Olympic qualification with UWW Africa, referee scholarships, female coach support and refugee athlete support all making an impact.

UWW African Center qualified four of its nine fully supported athletes at the Africa/Oceania Olympic Games qualifier in Tunisia. 

While they fell short of Olympic qualifications, logistical support was provided to Aker AL OBAIDI (who resides in Austria) and Amir ALAWAD (who resides in Egypt) to attend Olympic Game Qualification events under the flag of the UWW Refugee team.

The referee scholarship program was utilized to send Demetra KOUTSOPODIOTIS-GAUTHIER (CAN) to the World OG Qualifier in Sofia, while UWW also sent Van Zyl Esta (RSA) - one of the scholarship holders of the Women's Sport Leadership Academy for High Performance Coaches Program - to the African/Oceania OG qualifier as a coach.

Wrestling at the 2021 Olympic Games will be August 1-7 at the Makhuari Messe Arena in Tokyo.

#UnitedWorldWrestling

UWW Restructures Commissions, Adds Two New

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (March 4) -- United World Wrestling has announced two new commissions and renewed other as it enters a new Olympic cycle.

After it's latest Bureau meeting on February 5, UWW approved the addition of two new commissions:

- School and University Sports Commission
- Legacy & Sustainability Commission

The School and University Sports Commission will be chaired by Bureau member Peter BACSA while the Legacy and Sustainability will be co-chaired by UWW Vice-President Theodoros HAMAKOS and Bureau member Razvan PIRCALABU.

UWW also restructured other commissions with new members for a four-year term. All National Federations were invited to nominate candidates for different commissions.

Buyandelger PELJEE is the new chairperson of the Scientific Commissions, while Mikhail MAMIASHVIL will continue his role as chairperson of the Technical Commission which now has former Olympic champion Danial IGALI (NGR) as a member. Stan DZIEDZIC, who retired in 2024, is replaced by Don RYAN as the chairperson of the Coaches' Commission.

Akhroldjan RUZIEV will be continue to be incharge of the Media Commission. Likewise, Pedro GAMA FILHO will enter his second term as the chairperson of the Marketing Commission. Nataliya YARIGUINA will also continue to serve as head of Gender Equality Commission.

The Legal and Ethics Commission and Medical Commission will continue to be fronted by Belcho GORANOV and Dr. Babak SHADGAN respectively.

Zamel AL-SHAHRANI was announced as the new chairperson of the Sport for All Commission while Refereeing Commission got a new head in Levent SEN.

UWW set up a Refereeing Advisory Board which will have former Refereeing Commission chairperson Antonio SILVESTRI, veteran Kamel BOUAZIZ and Athletes Commission chairperson Arsen JULFALAKYAN as its members.

Ibrahim CICIOGLU (TUR) has been chosen as the Refereeing Education Coordinator while Carlos GARCIA (ESP) will be the Administrator for referees.

Newly elected Bureau member Bruce BAUMGARTNER will preside over the Hall of Fame & Historical Heritage Commission.

UWW rebranded two committees with the Belt Wrestling Committee now called Traditional Wrestling Committee. The Grappling Committee and Pankration Committee were merged to Grappling & Pankration Committee.

Cholpon SULTANBEKOVA was named chairperson of the Traditional Wrestling Committee while Grappling and Pankration Committee will be headed by Namig ALIYEV. The Associated Styles Committee is head by UWW Vice-President Rodica YAKSI.

Pedro SILVA will remain the head of the Beach Wrestling Committee.

For more details, refer to: UWW Commissions and Committees

Technical Commission

Chairperson: Mikhail MAMIASHVILI

Members

Daniel IGALI (NGR), Bureau Member
Ye ZHANG (CHN), Bureau Member
Peter BACSI (HUN)
Alin GRIGORE (ROU)
Milorad DOKMANAC (SRB)
Paul RAGUSA (CAN)
Rich BENDER (USA)
Alireza DABIR (IRI)
Salvatore FINIZIO (ITA)
Nikolaou EVANGELIA (GRE)
Taha AKGUL (TUR)

Scientific Commission

Chairperson: Buyandelger PELJEE

Members
Barbas IOANNIS (GRE)
José LOPEZ GULLON ESP
Funda ELMACIOGLU (TUR)
Georgiy KOROBEYNIKOV (UKR)
Edisher MACHAIDZE (GEO)
David CURBY (USA)
Bahman GHAZANI (IRI)
Mario BAIC (CRO)
Nabil ELSHORBAGY (EGY)
Pu ZENG (CHN)

Refereeing Advisory Board

Antonio SILVESTRI (GER)
Kamel BOUAZIZ (TUN)
Arsen JULFALAKYAN (ARM)

Refereeing Education Coordination

Ibrahim CICIOGLU (TUR)

Administrator/Coordinator

Carlos GARCIA (ESP)

Refereeing Commission

Head: Levent SEN

Members
Levent SEN (TUR)
Casey Goessl (USA)
Zvonko OCIC (CRO)
Vaclav SCHEINER (CZE)
Gyarmati FERENC (ROU)
Aleksei BAZULIN (RUS)
Marcia CHIASSON (CAN)
Sherif HALAWA (EGY)
Rafael GALVA LEBRON (PUR)
Koike KUNINORI (JPN)
Ji Woo LEE (KOR)

Legal Commission

Chairperson: Belcho GORANOV

Members
Ramon GONZALES PINEDA (GUA)
Belcho GORANOV (BUL)
David OHARA (USA)
Rouzbeh AHMADI (IRI)
Osamu SHIMIZU (JPN)

Coach Commission

Chairperson: Don RYAN

Members
Grégory FERREIRA (FRA)
Petr IUMSHANOV (RUS)
Terry STEINER (USA)
Hassan RANGRAZ (IRI)
Karntanov AMIRAN (GRE)
Ryszard WOLNY (POL)
Ashraf MOHAMED (EGY)
Kuniko TANIOKA (JPN)

Marketing Commission

Chairperson: Pedro GAMA FILHO

Members
Erica WIEBE (CAN)
Yury FEDOROV (RUS)
Michael FALLER (GER)
Jiayi WANG (CHN)
Danail GANCHEV (BUL)
Mutasem AL-SA'ID (JOR)
Manisha MALHOTRA (IND)

Media Commission

Chairperson: Akhroldjan RUZIEV

Members
Jörg RICHTER (AUT)
Anna GURIEVA (RUS)
Richard IMMEL (USA)
Ikuo HIGUCHI (JPN)
Amanpreet SINGH (IND)
Mohsen VAHDANI SEYDABAD (IRI)

Medical Commission

Chairperson: Dr. Babak SHADGAN

Members
Klaus JOHANN (GER)
Elena ABAEVA (UZB)
Saam FALAHATI (GBR)
Francisco LEE GUANDIQUE (GUA)
Szabolcs MOLNAR (HUN)
Stefan STRUGAROV (BUL)
Radivoj FILIPOV (SRB)
Mika LEHTO (FIN)
Konstantinou LOUKAS (GRE)
Dorsaf METAHNI (TUN)
Kohei NAKAJIMA (JPN)
BJ ANDERSON (USA)
Irina DULEPOVA (RUS)

Gender Equality & Diversity Commission

Chairperson: Natalia YARIGUINA

Members
Csilla ALI (HUN)
Dimitar CHIFUDOV (BUL)
Lise LEGRAND (FRA)
Claudia GONZALEZ (CHI)
Mustafa AMASHA (EGY)
Ruba MUSHA’SHA’ (JOR)
Tamara MEDWIDSKY (CAN)
Sheyda SHAHRIAN (IRI)
Papadaki ANTONIA (GRE)

Hall of Fame & Historical Heritage Commission

Chairperson: Bruce BAUMGARTNER

Members
Valentin JORDANOV (BUL)
Lee ROY SMITH (USA)
Hamid SORYAN (IRI)
Patrice MOURIER (FRA)
Mahmut DEMIR (TUR)
Elsayed GOMAA (EGY)

Sport For All Commission

Chairperson: Zamel AL-SHAHRANI

Members
Georgy BRYUSOV (RUS)
Pablo PINTOS FIGUEROA (ESP)
Andy BARTH (USA)
Milan PAVELIC (CRO)
Esraa JUMAA (JOR)
Riad HASSAN (PLE)
Nese GUNDOCAN (TUR)

Beach Wrestling Committee

Chairperson: Pedro SILVA

Members
Oyan NAZARIANI (AZE)
Marian BERBEC (ROU)
Rui MARTA (POR)
Jean BAHADERIAN (FRA)
Ed DUNCAN (USA)
Dimash SULTANOV (KAZ)
Papakonstantinou KONSTANTINOS (GRE)
Ibrahim MOUSTAFA (EGY)
Yasugay AKSAKAL (TUR)
Jian WANG (CHN)

Pankration and Grappling Committee

Chairman: Namig ALIYEV

Technical Director: Adrian Bakos

Members
Łukasz WINIARSKI (POL)
Justin BROWN (USA2)
Francisco PESSOA (BRA)
Vito PAOLILLO (ITA)
Koutras EVANGELOS (GRE)
Alvin AGUILAR (PHI)

Traditional Wrestling Committee

Chairperson: Choplan SULTANBEKOVA

Members
Robert CATE (USA)
Dong DAYONG (CHN)
Ali BAZYAR (IRI)
Damir BEKBOSSYNOV (KAZ)
Gaurav SACHDEVA (IND)
Edmar ABDOELAEV (NED)
Khalifa SOW (SEN)
Mehmet GULTEKIN (TUR)