ISTANBUL (February 11) – From Mongolia to Brazil, Senegal to Kazakhstan the interest in the sport of wrestling is ever-present around the globe, and for many fans of the sport that means enjoying styles much different than the type most fans see during the Olympic Games.

Last week in Istanbul United World Wrestling took the first steps in uniting these various styles under one umbrella, hosting the first-ever Forum on Associate Wrestling Styles. The meetings lasted two days and allowed a number of wrestling leaders from around the world to meet and discuss the similarities of their traditional styles and possibly create opportunities for inter-discipline competitions.

“We were happy with the turnout in Istanbul,” said United World Wrestling president Nenad LALOVIC. “The wrestling community is known for their passion and the traditional and associated styles are home to some of the sport’s most passionate leaders.”

The event was hosted by the Turkish Wrestling Federation and attended by wrestling leaders from more than three-dozen nations across five continents, many of who gave brief introductory presentations on their local traditions. 

In addition to the traditional styles, presentations on committee-level styles Belt Wrestling, Pankration and Grappling were also offered. Members of the Belt Wrestling committee also spent an extra day on-site to work through a variety of rules recommendations.

United World Wrestling bureau member, and chair of the committee on Associate Wrestling Styles, Karl-Martin DITTMAN (GER) gave a short closing address in which he pointed to a variety of growth opportunities for the traditional styles. One idea mentioned was to host a bi-annual or quadrennial World Wrestling Festival in which styles from around the world could converge for competitions, celebrations and other activities.

“The opportunities for the Associated Styles are almost limitless,” said Dittmann. “We are looking forward to helping develop these styles and in following Mr. Lalovic’s lead open the organization up to more peoples around the world.”

Presentations were made by the following:

• Belt Wrestling, Ginutas VILLETA (LTU)
• Grappling, Rizvan BOCHKAEV (RUS)
• Pankration, Ziyaudin ISAEV (RUS)
• Kazakh Kuresh, Shamshinurov Marat ORAZBAEVICH (KAZ
• Koresh Russia, Farid AKMADIEV(RUS)
• Association of Bel Olish and Uch Kurash of Uzbekistan, Norkuli YUSUPOV (UZB)
• Iranian Pahlavani, Farnaz PARNHAI (IRI)
• Ukranian Belt Wrestling, Gennadii ARZIUTOV (UKR)
• Senegalese Wrestling, Dr. Alioune SARR (SEN)
• Gouren Wrestling, Aurélie EPRON (FRA)
• Mongolian Bokh, BATBAYAR Buyandelger (MGL)
• Kazakh Belt Wrestling, Rafik Valiyev VALIYEV (KAZ)
• Yakutia Wrestling, Petr IUMSHANOV (RUS)
• Zimbabwe Traditional Wrestling, Tapiwa Ray MASINIRE (ZWE)
• Turkish Traditional Wrestling, Mehmet Emin BAY (TUR)