#development

Regional Tournament of Development and Education held within XXXI Pat Shaw Memorial

By United World Wrestling Press

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala (May 30) -- The Regional Tournament of Development and Education was held within the framework of the XXXI INTERNATIONAL Wrestling Tournament "PAT SHAW," IN MEMORIAM, a tournament of a long tradition that is held in memory of the North American coach Mr. William "Pat" Shaw, who in 1947 introduced Olympic Wrestling in Guatemala preparing the national team that participated in the VI Central American and Caribbean Games that took place in the capital city of Guatemala in 1950.

The development event consisted of a course for coaches, a course for referees, a previous training camp and fundamentally the tournament for the U15, U17, U20 and Senior categories.

The Official Opening Ceremony of the courses and camps took place at the facilities of the CARDA, with the presence of the president of the National Wrestling Federation of Guatemala Ramón Francisco GONZÁLEZ PINEDA, the president of the United World Wrestling Americas Francisco Eduardo LEE LÓPEZ and Yuri MAIER United World Wrestling Sports and Development Officer for America. All these three events took place from May 24 to 26.

GUA
The stage at the Teodoro Palacios Flores for the XXXI Pat Shaw Wrestling Tournament. (Photo: United World Wrestling)

For the Coaches Course a total of 14 trainers took part. The UWW Educators were Millie Mayola AGUILAR CANIZALEZ (VEN), Héctor Luis CAMACHO RODRIGUEZ (VEN). And for the Referee Course 10 referees participated and it was in charge of the UWW Educator Omar Fabricio MUÑOZ CARRIEL (ECU).

The Training Camp took place in the Center of High Performance and Development of the Americas (CARDA), where more than 60 athletes, coaches and educators participated, in addition to the support of coach Reza AZIMI from Iran. In addition to the training sessions, a series of motivational conferences were given to the participant by the lecturer José LABBÉ

The tournament was held from May 27 to 29 at the National Gymnasium “Teodoro Palacios Flores” in Guatemala City. Almost 200 wrestlers participated from six countries: MEX, ESA, HON, NCA, CRC and GUA and a total of 287 bouts were carried out.

The management of the competition was done with the Arena system and all the official implementations of the UWW, with the support of the IT team of America.

#Grappling

Grappling in 2024: Asian Championships in Philippines, Great Britain's first gold

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (December 10) -- Tagaytay, Baku and Astana were the three cities that saw major Grappling action in 2024. The Asian Championships were in the Philippines, the European Championships in Azerbaijan and it all came down to Kazakhstan for the World Championships.

Grappling also lost an important figure in 2024, as United World Wrestling World Grappling Committee President Rizvan BOCHKEV passed away in May at the age of 59.

In a historic year, Grappling hosted its second Asian Championships in Tagaytay, with six countries participating. The tournament was held in May, and 222 competitors participated in various age groups. Grappling powerhouse Kazakhstan dominated the tournament, winning the senior and U20 team titles, but hosts the Philippines displayed great skills and won the U17 titles. India, Singapore, Uzbekistan, and Pakistan were the other participating nations.

The European Grappling Championships were held in Baku, and 405 participants in various age groups participated. Poland outplayed others and emerged as the best team in most of the categories. Only Ukraine was able to stop Poland in some age groups, and Ukraine claimed team titles at the U17 and U20 levels.

The big event was the World Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan in September. While there were moments of brilliance from Kazakhstan, Poland and the Individual Neutral Athletes, Elizabeth GENGE (GBR) stole the show with her double gold, the first-ever for Great Britain; the country had not participated in the World Grappling Championships for the last 16 years.

Participating in her first Grappling World Championships, the 20-year-old Genge won all her bouts in two competitions via submission. Only Veronika KARAKHONOVA (AIN) could hold Genge to a decision victory. Genge is the British champion in wrestling and has participated in the Faltz Open as well, finishing fifth this year.

Another star attraction at the World Grappling Championships was Kendall REUSING (USA) who won the Grappling gold in 90kg. The Jiu-Jitsu black belt world champion won all her bouts via submission.

Overall, the Individual Neutral Athletes dominated the competition. They were so good that they won six out of the nine gold medals in the men's grappling. But in teams, Poland emerged as the best as it won the women's team gold in Women's Grappling Gi and the title in Men's Grappling. However, the United States clinched its first-ever team title as it won the gold in Women's Grappling. Kazakhstan was the best team in Men's Grappling Gi.