#WrestleRome

Ten Returning Pellicone Champs Competing at #WrestleRome

By Eric Olanowski

The road to #Tokyo202One Olympic Games kicks off on the coast of Italy, in the port city of Ostia, March 4-7. Ten of last year’s 30 Matteo Pellicone champions return to Italy with their sights set on gold for a second consecutive year.

Greco-Roman will play host to five wrestlers, spread across four weights, who are looking to defend their Ranking Series golds from ’20. They are: Mohamed ELSAYED (EGY), Zoltan LEVAI (HUN), Singh GURPREET (IND), Viktor LORINCZ (HUN) and Abdellatif MOHAMED (EGY). 

Levai (77kg), Lorincz (87kg) and Mohamed (130kg) will compete at their title-winning weights from last year, while El Sayed and Gurpreet are moving down to Olympic weight classes. The Egyptian is dropping from 72kg to 67kg, while the Indian wrestlers is joining Levai down at 77kg after winning 82kg gold a year ago.

In freestyle, the dynamic duo of Kumar RAVI (IND) and Bajrang PUNIA (IND) will be looking to reach the top of the Pala Pellicone podium in back-to-back years. They’ll wrestle at 61kg and 65kg, respectively. 

In women’s wrestling, Odunayo ADEKUOROYE (NGR), Aisuluu TYNYBEKOVA (KGZ) and Erica WIEBE (CAN) are the trio ’20 champs who are on a quest to bag gold for a second straight year. They’ll compete at 57kg, 62kg and 76kg, respectively. 

Here are the ’20 Matteo Pellicone gold-medal matches from the ten returning champions that'll be in action March 4-8:

Freestyle 
61kg: Kumar RAVI( IND)
65kg: Bajrang PUNIA (IND)  

Greco-Roman
67kg: Mohamed ELSAYED (EGY)
77kg: Zoltan LEVAI (HUN)
77kg:  Singh GURPREET (IND)
87kg: Viktor LORINCZ (HUN)
130kg: Abdellatif MOHAMED (EGY) 

Women's Wrestling
57kg: Odunayo ADEKUOROYE (NGR)
62kg: Aisuluu TYNYBEKOVA (KGZ)
76kg: Erica Elizabeth WIEBE (CAN)

#development

UWW set to host first World Conference September 17-19

By United World Wrestling Press

ZAGREB, Croatia (September 2) --- Mijain LOPEZ (CUB), alongside fellow Olympic legends Erica WIEBE (CAN), Arsen JULFALAKYAN (ARG), Sofia MATTSSON (SWE) and Marwa AMRI (TUN) headline the first edition of UWW’s World Conference, which will be held at the Westin Hotel in Zagreb, Croatia, September 17-19. 

The three-day conference will unite leaders from National Federations, members of UWW Commissions, International Olympic Committee, ITA, Rudis, Taishan and partners to exchange expertise, address key challenges, and set the course for the future development of wrestling worldwide.

Other presenters and panelists that you’ll hear from at the World Conference include: UWW President Nenad LALOVIC, Iranian Greco-Roman Head Coach Hassan RANGRAZ, USA Women’s Wrestling Head Coach Terry Steiner, UWW Coach Educators Nevan and Nenad ZUGAJ and many more.

Topics that they'll going to be discussing include: the future of wrestling and sport, athlete career transitions beyond competition, coaching and advancing women’s wrestling,  anti-doping, sports nutrition, and safe training methods, and much more.