Development

United World Wrestling Joins World Taekwondo in Worldwide Peace Initiative

Thursday, November 1, 2018 - 22:03 By United World Wrestling Press

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY (November 1) – United World Wrestling has joined with World Taekwondo and the Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation (THF) to sign a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to promote humanitarian, peace and development-supporting activities around the world.

United World Wrestling president Nenad LALOVIC met with World Taekwondo President Chungwon CHOUE the World Wrestling Championships in Budapest on October 22 to sign the agreement.

The agreement will allow full cooperation and information exchange between the three organisations. They aim to commit to developing close cooperation in the following areas:

  • Promoting sport as a powerful vehicle towards peace, social development and integration of vulnerable populations;
  • Uniting forces in offering sport for development and peace activities, in particular in THF’s existing Azraq Taekwondo Academy in Azraq Refugee Camp, Jordan, and potentially other locations worldwide;
  • Exchanging and sharing of expertise, know-how, information and publications.

To help support the launch of the initiative United World Wrestling is also planning to deliver a coaches course in Jordan to train local coaches who will conduct wrestling sessions in the Azraq Refugee Camp.

“We have followed the development of this humanitarian fund and have seen what it can achieve and look forward to joining World Taekwondo’s effort to diversity athletic opportunities in the camps.” said Lalovic. “We trust that wrestling and taekwondo will add light to the lives of the children in these refugee camps.”

World Taekwondo President and THF Chairman, Chungwon Choue shared similar sentiments during the meeting. “At World Taekwondo, our motto is, ‘Peace is more precious than Triumph.’ This landmark agreement reflects our commitment to that ideal and is another key step forward in contributing to a more peaceful future through sport.”

“We have always been clear that we are open to working with other International Federations to ensure we can help as many people in need as possible,” said Choue. “We are looking forward to working with UWW to learn from them and to share our experience and expertise. Through our collaboration, we will be able to make a real difference to the lives of those that need it most.”

The terms of mutual assistance, financial responsibilities, and related activities of any project or activities implemented from the Memorandum will be mutually discussed and agreed upon in writing by all parties prior to their initiation.

#WrestleNoviSad

Mesenbrink takes steady steps to win U23 Worlds gold

Saturday, October 25, 2025 - 17:22 By Vinay Siwach

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NOVI SAD, Serbia (October 25) -- Mitchell MESENBRINK (USA) remembers his last year's U23 World Championships campaign. He won a bronze medal, left Tirana a little frustrated and missing his training room in Penn State.

With lessons from that tournament and surrounded by his Penn State teammates and coaches, Mesenbrink made sure he did not return home without a medal. The former U20 world champion became U23 world champion after beating Halit OZMUS (TUR), 12-2, in the 74kg final.

Mesenbrink was a leg-attack machine in the final and Ozmus did little to defend those, giving up the final in 2:59, just on the stroke of the break.

"It's just about constantly getting better, technically, and emotionally, too," Mesenbrink said. "If I'm just running in there, trying to grab onto his head, he can get in. So just being able to constantly improve. I think that's a strong testament to the people around me and to the coaches that I have and the teammates that I have at Penn State."

Seven wrestler out of the 10 on the United States Freestyle team are part of the same training center -- the Nittany Lions Wrestling Club, Penn State, which Mesenbrink said made a lot of difference this year.

"It's fun, because last year I came by myself. It was just me at the U23s. So it was fun this year that we had seven out of 10 guys," he said. "Last year, I knew the guys, but it wasn't my teammates, right? Now it's my teammates, the guys that I'm literally in the room with every day. We go over and it's almost like, are we even in Serbia right now? It feels like we're in America, because we got so many guys here."

In Tirana, the American wrestler lost to Kota TAKAHASHI (JPN) in the quarterfinals but bounced back to win the bronze medal. But in Novi Sad on Friday, Mesenbrink faced Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN) in the semifinals and came out on top 6-4, with a buzzer beating takedown.

The win boasted Mesenbrink's confidence who was close to make the U.S. senior team for World Championships in Zagreb where Takahashi won gold, but lost to David CARR (USA) domestically.

However, that loss made Mesenbrink think about his aims and how he wants to improve his wrestling on the mat.

"I think the big thing of not making the world team, it was just, I got to get better in those specific areas," he said. "That's the most fun part. I thought this is all this is, is a title. This is gonna be fading so quick. So I thought I'm going to go out there and I'm going to work on the things that I've been working on and I've been working really hard since Final X to get those improvements."

Mobin AZIMI (IRI)Mobin AZIMI (IRI) celebrates after winning the 92kg gold medal. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kostadin Andonov)

In the only other final of Freestyle, Mobin AZIMI (IRI) earned the first gold medal for Iran after beating Takhir KHANIEV (UWW), 5-3, in the 92kg final. Azimi broken Khaniev down in the final and scored three stepout points to win the gold medal.

RESULTS

74kg
GOLD: Mitchell MESENBRINK (USA) df. Halit OZMUS (TUR), 12-2

BRONZE: Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN) df. PARVINDER (IND), 8-2
BRONZE: Manuel WAGIN (GER) df. Magomed KHANIEV (AZE), 8-4

92kg
GOLD: Mobin AZIMI (IRI) df. Takhir KHANIEV (UWW), 5-3

BRONZE: Sherzod POYONOV (UZB) df. Ivan CHORNOHUZ (UKR), 11-1
BRONZE: Magomed SHARIPOV (BRN) df. Ion DEMIAN (MDA), 10-0

Semifinals

57kg
GOLD: Yuta KIKUCHI (JPN) vs. Luke LILLEDAHL (USA)

SF 1: Yuta KIKUCHI (JPN) df. Nodirbek JUMANAZAROV (UZB), 6-1
SF 2: Luke LILLEDAHL (USA) df. Aiandai ONDAR (UWW), 7-1

70kg
GOLD: Kanan HEYBATOV (AZE) vs. Sina KHALILI (IRI)

SF 1: Kanan HEYBATOV (AZE) df. PJ DUKE (USA), 14-4
SF 2: Sina KHALILI (IRI) df. Alexandr GAIDARLI (MDA), 8-2

79kg
GOLD: Ibrahim YAPRAK (TUR) vs. Levi HAINES (USA)

SF 1: Ibrahim YAPRAK (TUR) df. Nikita DMITRIJEVS MAYEUSKI (UWW), 5-2
SF 2: Levi HAINES (USA) df. Davud DAUDOV (UWW), 11-4

125kg
GOLD: Abolfazl MOHAMMAD NEZHAD (IRI) vs. Khetag KARSANOV (AZE)

SF 1: Abolfazl MOHAMMAD NEZHAD (IRI) df. Khabib DAVUDGADZHIEV (UWW), 5-0
SF 2: Khetag KARSANOV (AZE) df. Daniel HERRERA (USA), 12-2