Obituary

Lee Kun-hee, Former Chairman of Samsung and Friend of Wrestling, Dies at 78

By

SEOUL (October 27) -- Lee Kun-hee, who build Samsung into a global powerhouse in the 1980's and 1990's has died at his home in Seoul. An honorary member of the IOC and UWW, Mr. Lee had a longstanding commitment to international sport.

According to the IOC, Mr. Lee's sport of preference was wrestling and was President (and later Honorary President) of the Korean Amateur Wrestling Federation from 1982 to 1997. He was also a member of the Korean Olympic Committee and later became Vice-President (1993-1996) then Honorary President.

United World Wrestling and the global wrestling family send their thoughts to the family, friends, and colleagues of Mr. Lee.

#WrestleBaku

Sadulaev ruled ineligible to compete by UWW panel

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (April 4) -- Abdulrashid SADULAEV has been ruled out of the European OG Qualifiers in Baku after he failed to meet the eligibility criteria set by the International Olympic Committee for Individual Neutral Athletes.

The two-time Olympic champion was ruled ineligible by the United World Wrestling Eligibility panel. This third-party panel continuously monitors the eligibility of wrestlers based on the criteria defined by the IOC.

Sadulaev was declared ineligible after the panel found new information about his support of the Ukraine-Russia war and that he is still officially declared a member of the Dynamo club.

Each Individual Neutral Athlete goes through a rigorous vetting process by UWW in preparation for any tournament and is examined based on the criteria set by the IOC which rules thorough background and social media checks of individuals from Russia and Belarus.

The decisions regarding eligibility were made by a panel, relying on comprehensive vetting reports provided by an independent and private intelligence service provider.

The wrestlers who were deemed eligible will compete as Individual Neutral Athletes, without any flags or references to their respective countries. Additionally, the national anthems of Russia and Belarus will not be played in the event of medals being awarded to these athletes.