Diplomacy

Lalovic Visits Baku, Meets President Aliyev

Sunday, April 29, 2018 - 13:02 By United World Wrestling Press

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BAKU (April 29) -- United World Wrestling Nenad Lalovic has traveled to Baku to meet with Ilham Aliyev President of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Lalovic presented Aliyev with the UWW Golden Order, in recognition of the president's role in development of international wrestling. The Golden Order is the highest honor in international wrestling. 

Lalovic also congratulated Aliyev on his recent re-election as president and hailed the excellent organization of the Formula 1 race in Baku. He also described Azerbaijan as one of the world's leading countries in wrestling.

Saying that Azerbaijan is hosting prestigious international sporting events, Lalovic also mentioned the success fo the first European Games, which were held in Baku in 2015. Lalovic also emphasized Azerbaija'ss recent silver medal performance at the Freestyle World Cup in Iowa City, United States.

President Aliyev thanked Lalovic for his leadership and said the development of sport in Azerbaijan is crucial to raising the healthy young generation and sporting prospects.

 

#CanadaWrestling

Former world champion Di Stasio of Canada retires

Thursday, March 13, 2025 - 17:45 By United World Wrestling Press

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OTTAWA, Canada (March 13) -- After nearly 15 years of representing Canada, Justina DI STASIO (CAN) has decided to retire.

During her career, Di Stasio built an impressive resume that will go down as one of the all-time greats in Canadian wrestling history. The 32-year-old represented Canada at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Di Stasio won gold medal at the World Championship in 2018, a Pan-American Games gold medal in 2019 and Commonwealth Games gold in 2022. In addition, she is a multiple-time Pan-Am Championships gold medalist.

While there have been many memorable moments, a few stood out to Di Stasio, including her start with the national team, her win at the 2018 worlds, being coached on the national team by two-time Olympic medalist Tonya VERBEEK (CAN), and making her first Olympics in 2024.

“Winning worlds was a special moment, especially because I could hear my parents cheering from the stands," Di Stasio said. "It reminded me of my tournaments as a kid. It also helped me frame everything in my life better. I realized it is about the journey and not the destination. It was amazing to feel the way I did on that one day, but it was only one day. I had worked so hard in the lead up, but I realized I had to enjoy those days too. I still wanted to be the best in the world and I never didn’t train like it, but from that point, I made sure to enjoy my wrestling every day.”

That love for the sport kept Di Stasio going despite setbacks that stalled her dream of competing at the Olympics. After failing to qualify for the Rio and Tokyo Games, Di Stasio qualified for Paris 2024, eventually finishing 12th.

“Making it to the Olympics came with lots of pressure, but good pressure. I had won everything else and trained every day thinking I could be an Olympic champion. Even though it was a heart-breaking result, I know I couldn’t have worked harder and that helped me accept the result. I would have loved to make it there when I was younger, but I think I needed to be more mature to handle the result.”

Read full news on Wrestling Canada Lutte website.