#kaspeuro2018

Lalovic Welcomes Ukraine’s Decision to Compete at European Wrestling C’ships

By Tim Foley

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (April 20) – United World Wrestling president Nenad Lalovic has welcomed today’s decision by Ukraine Minister of Youth and Sport to allow its nation’s wrestlers to attend the 2018 Senior European Wrestling Championships in Kaspiysk, Russia.

Earlier this month, the Minister of Youth and Sport in Ukraine banned athletes from competing in Russia, as a response to the two nation’s ongoing political conflict. However, the Ukrainian Wrestling Federation, supported by Lalovic, voted last week to attend the championships and was reinforced by today’s announcement.

“We welcome today’s decision by the minister,” Lalovic said. “Politics should never interfere with sport and we look forward to seeing the Ukrainian team compete in Kaspiysk.”

Lalovic, who is also a member of the IOC Executive Board, has been a vocal advocate for open sport. As head of the wrestling federation since 2013 Lalovic has been active in promoting positive interactions between nations both on and off the field of play.

The 2018 Senior European Wrestling Championships begin April 30th at the Ali Aliev Palace of Youth and Sports in Kaspiysk. Russia is the defending team champions in men’s freestyle and women’s wrestling, while Hungary captured the first-place team trophy in Greco-Roman.

#AmateurMMA, #Pankration

Novi Sad to host first-ever Amateur MMA World Championships

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (May 8) -- The World Grappling and Amateur MMA Championships will be held in Novi Sad from October 15 to 19.

United World Wrestling will organize the World Grappling Championships on October 15 and 16 and the first-ever World Amateur MMA Championships from October 17 to 19 in Novi Sad, Serbia. Both these competition will be organized only in the senior category.

The Youth World Championships in Pankration, Amateur MMA and Grappling will also be organized by UWW in Greece. The dates for the Youth World Championships will be communicated later.

According to new structure, UWW will conduct Amateur MMA for U20 and Senior age-group while Pankration is limited to U17 and lower age-groups.

To test the revised ruleset, UWW will also conduct two international tournaments in all styles.

The first tournament will be held in Andijan, Uzbekistan from June 1 to 4. Grappling will be held in U17, U20 and Senior age-groups, Pankration in U17 and Amateur MMA in U20 and Senior age-groups.

The second international tournament will be held in Poland in June. The exact dates for the tournament will be communicated by UWW later.

For full list of events, refer to uww.org/events.