Development

Joint Referees and Coaches Educator Courses for Wrestling Hosted in Guatemala, Georgia 

Friday, November 30, 2018 - 12:40 By United World Wrestling Press

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY (November 30) – Oil and water. Cats and dogs. Referees and coaches. Some things in this world simply don’t mix.

In wrestling that conflict between referees and coaches may soon be improving. In an effort to harmonize the rule keepers and the men and women tasked with leading teams to victory, United World Wrestling has delivered a pair of educator courses in Guatemala and Georgia attended by both referees and coaches.

“The aim of the course is wonderful because the referees and the coaches learn new teaching techniques and debate on various areas to improve the sport of wrestling,” said United World Wrestling development director Deqa Niamkey. “It’s all about perspective and now they have shared experience and dialogue which will serve the sport.”

The courses were the result of the Referee Development Programme launched after the UWW Bureau Meeting in Paris 2017, with numerous educational courses organized to enhance and synchronize the courses provided by UWW. The first course was delivered in Manchester, Great Britain for English speakers in November 2017 and was available to referees and coaches from all five continents.

“We reached an important milestone in such short time,” said Niamkey. “Through the realization of these three courses, we transmitted andragogy teaching and pedagogies transmission to highly experienced referees and coaches that will deliver high quality courses worldwide to further develop wrestling.”

The 2018 Americas course was delivered at the Centro Alto Rendimentio (CARDA) in Guatemala City November 15-20 under the supervision of referee instructor Abraham GALVA (PUR) and development officer Vincent Aka .

“The course is fantastic. I feel part of United World Wrestling,” said Raul Diaz TRUJILLO (CUB). “I have been a coach for the last 40 years and never felt this much a part of this wrestling family. It is a dream come true.”

The Georgian Wrestling Federation hosted the Russian speakers course under the supervision of referee instructor Ibrahim CICOGLU (TUR) and Vaclav SCHEINER (CZE) and Vincent AKA (CIV) with the assistance of Petru TOARCA (ROM).

“The course was amazing. It is an eye-opener of new views, approach, philosophy of learning and transferring knowledge to younger generations,” said Davor PETANJEK (CRO) 1s Referee and instructor. “We need more collaboration and communication between the two groups. It is time that we assist our national federations in their development process and provide educational courses in the future with trained UWW Educators”

“My hopes are UWW continues in this path with joint courses for referees and coaches,” said Petanjek.

United World Wrestling will provide funding for the organization of the refereeing courses when the national federation hosts an Olympic Solidarity Technical Course for coaches. Additional assistance will also be provided for the developing nations that organize a competition right after the educational courses

Guatemala City, GUA:  November 15-20

COACHES:

Raúl Trujillo Díaz (GR) CUB
Aguilar Cañizalez Millie Mayola (WW) VEN
Néstor Almanza (GR) CHI
Filiberto Delgado (FS-WW) CUB
Pedro Rojas (FS + WW) PUR
David Gutiérrez (GR + FS) COL
Camacho Pedriquez Hector Luis (GR) VEN

REFEREES:

Carlos Garcia (ESP)
Juan Arturo Camacho (MEX)
Juan José Maldonado (CHI)
Eduardo Goncalves (BRA)
Ignácio D’Alessandro (ARG)

Georgia November 24-29

Referee

Norovard ARUSTAMYAN (RUS)
Alexey BAZULIN (RUS)
Levent SEN (TUR)
Karol LEBKOWSKI (POL)
Roman PAVLOV (UKR)
Edisher MACHAIDZE (GEO)
Davor PETANJEK (CRO)
Stanislav SERNEK (SLO)

Coaches

Anatoli GUIDIA (ROM)
David OTIASHVILI (GEO)
Yusup ABDUSALAMOV (POL)
Adem BEREKET (TUR)
Georgii SREDKOV (BUL)
Anzor TEMBOTOV (RUS)
Abdurozik OLIMOV (TJK)
Buyandelger BATBAYAR (MGL)

Development

Financial Assistance Programs Boost Wrestling Nations in Olympic Year

Tuesday, June 1, 2021 - 11:07 By United World Wrestling Press

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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.