#Rome2018

Three Russian Women Win Euro Gold

Thursday, August 2, 2018 - 18:55 By Eric Olanowski

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ROME, Italy (August 2) - Russia’s Greco-Roman squad won four gold medals on their way to a team title, and Russian women picked up where their Greco-Roman countrymen left off, dominating the European Junior women’s wrestling competition to the tune of three gold medals. 

Russia's three gold medal performances today matched their overall gold medal output for the entire women’s wrestling competition at last year’s Dortmund European Championships. 

Veronika GURSKAYA (RUS), Aleksandra NITSENKO (RUS) and Khanum VELIEVA (RUS) each won their respective weight classes and took home a European gold medal.  This was Nitsenko’s first time winning an age-level continental championship, while Gurskaya and Velieva have won at least one age-level European gold medal. 

Gurskaya, who last won a European title in 2013 launched the Russian gold medal parade, defeating Aynur ERGE (TUR), 8-6 in the unpredictable back and forth 55kg gold medal bout. 

Though Gurskaya was the aggressor the entire match, she continued to allow Erge to stay in the match by turning defense into offense. 

The three-time age-level world bronze medalist used a fireman’s carry and gut wrench in the opening period to command the 6-2 lead heading into the break. 

But it was Erge, Turkey’s four-time European representative who remained patient and tied the match with two minutes remaining, scoring a four-point head-lock as Gurskaya pushed the pace on the out of bounds line. 

With 90 seconds left, Gurskaya shot a double-leg and grabbed the match-deciding takedown, ultimately winning the bout, 8-6.

Aleksandra Nitsenko used two double-leg takedowns and a step-out to storm through Darya SINKAVETS (BLR), 5-1, giving Russia back-to-back golds medals, and more importantly, her first continental championship. 

Khanum Velieva, the three-time age-level world champion gave Russia their third gold medal of the day, shutting out Yauheniya ANDREICHYKAVA (BLR), 7-0 in the 68kg gold medal bout. 

Velieva obtained her third age-level European title by scoring seven points off two takedowns and three step-outs. 

Russia (100 points) leads Turkey (74 points) by 26 points heading into the final day of women’s wrestling, but Russia still has two finalists, while Turkey only has one. 

The day five medal matches begin Friday at 6:00 PM (local time). 

RESULTS 
50kg 
GOLD -  Veronika GURSKAYA (RUS) df. Aynur ERGE (TUR), 8-6 

BRONZE -  Emanuela LIUZZI (ITA) df. Stefania Claudia PRICEPUTU (ROU), 6-6 
BRONZE - Ellen RIESTERER (GER) df. Magdalena Maria MAJOS (POL), via fall. 

55kg 
GOLD -  Aleksandra NITSENKO (RUS) df. Darya SINKAVETS (BLR), 5-1 

BRONZE - Eda TEKIN (TUR) df. Szimonetta Timea SZEKER (HUN), 5-2 
BRONZE -  Khrystyna Zoryana DEMKO (UKR) df. Aukse RUTKAUSKAITE (LTU), 12-1 

59kg 
GOLD -  Anastasia NICHITA (MDA) df. Tetiana RIZHKO (UKR), 12-2 

BRONZE - Morena DE VITA (ITA) df. Alina KAZYMOVA (RUS), 6-2 
BRONZE -  Debora LAWNITZAK (GER) df. Maryia HULIDA (BLR), 10-2  

68kg 
GOLD -  Khanum VELIEVA (RUS) df. Yauheniya ANDREICHYKAVA (BLR), 7-0 

BRONZE - Kadriye AKSOY (TUR) df. Tindra Linnea SJOEBERG (SWE), via fall 
BRONZE -  Alina RUDNYTSKA LEVYTSKA (UKR) df. Ewelina Weronika CIUNEK (POL), 12-2 

76kg (Single bronze) 
GOLD -  Denise Sabina MAKOTA STROEM (SWE) df. Aysegul OZBEGE (TUR), 10-0 

BRONZE - Elmira KHALAEVA (RUS) df. Iryna PASICHNYK (UKR), 1-1 

#development

Development in 2024: UWW's rapid strides off and on mat activities

Wednesday, December 11, 2024 - 12:16 By United World Wrestling Press

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (December 10) -- Launching education programs that laid the foundation for future generations of sports administrators, a historic step taken towards gender parity, adding the first online beach wrestling course, providing unfettered access to coaches, wrestlers and spectators to an interactive site that analyses data from all major United World Wrestling tournaments and conducting workshops on the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in coaching.

The year 2024 will go down as a watershed year in wrestling not just because of the spectacular action on the biggest stage of all, the Olympics. The year will also be seen as critical because, through various developmental initiatives, the UWW did important groundwork to support the future generations of wrestlers.

One of the landmark moments of the year was the election of seven women to the UWW Bureau, the sport’s supreme body, during the Congress in Tirana, Albania, on October 27. This marked a big step in women’s wrestling leadership and made it the highest registered female candidate for the Bureau in UWW’s history.

“From Tokyo to Paris, we made great strides to promote gender equality within our wrestling community. We have to pave the way for our future generations for equal opportunities, no matter the gender, the religious beliefs, ethnicity, etc.,” UWW President Nenad LALOVIC said.

This was also the year when wrestling took another step in opening its platforms to wrestlers, coaches and fans from the world over. By making the site accessible to all, the data and metrics for each style at every major competition from 2020 to the present can be on the UWW Academy page under the ‘Analytics’ tab. This is a great way to see how points are being scored for each style, weight category, medal matches, teams, among other things.

One of the benefits of making all the data available is it could help improve training decisions (technical and tactical) and overall general knowledge of the sport.

Another great addition to the UWW Academy portal was the first-ever online beach wrestling course. This course is designed to provide an overview of beach wrestling, the fastest-growing style. Topics include the benefits of beach wrestling, basic rules and scoring, differences between beach wrestling and the Olympic styles, how competitions are organized, how bouts are organized and conducted, and the Beach Wrestling World Series.

Soon, there will be new referee and rules courses coming to the UWW Academy.

Apart from the wide array of online courses, the UWW also held on-ground sessions in different parts of the world.T

he More than Medals camps grew stronger this year, with sessions in Jordan, the Dominican Republic and for U17 wrestlers in Serbia.

A significant milestone was achieved by conducting the South-East Asia & Oceania Education Week in Perth from September 30 to October 4.

Representatives from seven Oceania nations — Australia, New Zealand, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Nauru, Tahiti, and the Marshall Islands — and a participant from Singapore gathered with the hope of enhancing wrestling expertise across the region. For many, the session was their first UWW certification in years, adding even more impact to the event and underlining the UWW’s efforts to grow the sport.

Argentina became the first country in the Americas to host a Level 3 Coaches Course. This was also the first-ever Level 3 course conducted in Spanish globally. Bulgaria successfully hosted a Level 2 Coaches Course while India was the destination for the Level 1 course.

A total of approximately 150 coaches benefitted from these sessions, marking a significant step in their education.

Tunisia, Senegal, Guatemala, Croatia, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia are some other countries where crucial UWW developmental programs were hosted.

Cambodia marked a significant milestone in terms of growth of wrestling in the country by conducting the Development of the National Sports System from July 18 to November 30, 2024.

Another important program was on using AI and other new technologies in coaching during the ASOIF Sports Development and Education Group (ASDEG) Workshop in Lausanne.

UWW Development Director and ASDEG Chair Deqa NIAMKEY, who was also elected as a Board Member of the International Council for Coaching Excellence (ICCE) in February 2024, underlined the transformative potential of AI.

The annual meeting, which attracted 60 experts representing over 30 International Federations (IFs), agreed to implement a range of initiatives over the next 12 months. It included supporting the IFs in increasing the representation of Women Technical Officials and Coaches to meet International Olympic Committee targets, establishing regular communication to facilitate cross-sport collaboration and knowledge-sharing and equipping IFs with incorporating technology in development programs and resources for education.