Development

United World Wrestling Opens High Performance Centre in China

Wednesday, May 1, 2019 - 14:48 By United World Wrestling Press

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BEIJING (May 1) – The Chinese Wrestling Federation and the Chinese Olympic Committee last week hosted United World Wrestling for the opening ceremony of the “UWW China High Performance Center” at the Athletes Hotel in the National Olympic Sports Center in Beijing.

The China High Performance Center will host several wrestling-related activities including UWW advanced training camps and educational programs for coaches and referees.

“China is one of our most important partners, and it has great potential to help bring the sport of wrestling to another level,” said United World Wrestling president and IOC executive board member, Nenad Lalovic. “I am very happy to see the state-of-the-art facilities here in the training center that are now open to wrestling athletes worldwide. We hope to work closely with the Chinese Wrestling Federation in advancing the sport of wrestling in the region.”

Mr. Lalovic also held a friendly meeting with Mr. GOU Zhongwen, Director of General Administration of Sport of China, President of the Chinese Olympic Committee and discussed the wrestling development in China on this occasion.

“Although it was a short time since Ms. Zhang was appointed as the President of Chinese Wrestling Federation, we have seen the progress already in many areas,” said Mr. Gou. “We are very happy that United World Wrestling chose to allocate its high-performance center here, we will try our best to facilitate the growth of wrestling in China and contribute to the global development of the sport.”

For more information on how you can benefit from UWW educational programs, please contact development@unitedworldwrestling.org
 

Ms. ZHANG Ye, International Relations Manager, Chinese wrestling federation; Mr. LIU Guoyong, Director of the Competitive Sports Bureau of General Administration of Sport of China, Vice President of the Chinese Olympic Committee; Mr. LI Quanhai, Director of the National Olympic Sports Centre of China; Mr. GOU Zhongwen, Director of General Administration of Sport of China, President of the Chinese Olympic Committee; Mr. BIAN Zhiliang, Chairmen of the Board of Taishan Sports; Ms. ZHANG Xia, President of Chinese Wrestling Federation, Vice Director of Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau; Mr. Fouad Meskout, President of UWW African Council; Mr. Nenad Lalovic, United World Wrestling President, IOC Executive Board Member; Mr. SHENG Zetian, National Team GR Head Coach, Chinese Wrestling Federation; Ms. LIANG Lei, Development Manager, United World Wrestling

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UWW History Makers of 2025: Kougioumtsidis, Reasco, Sultangali

Tuesday, December 23, 2025 - 12:29 By Eric Olanowski

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (December 22) -- United World Wrestling has announced the History Makers of the Year 2025. The performance of these three wrestlers transcended competition and produced a once-in-a-generation accomplishment.

Freestyle’s History Maker 2025: Georgios KOUGIOUMTSIDIS (GRE)

If there’s one nation that’s draped in sports tradition, it’s Greece, but surprisingly enough, the nation had never produced a male wrestling world champion.

Prior to 2025, wrestlers from Greece were 0-3 in gold-medal matches and had not reached a world finals since 1991. Then came 23-year-old Georgios KOUGIOUMTSIDIS who stunned the world by defeating Levi HAINES (USA) 3-2 in the 79kg final to become his nation’s first-ever world champion.

Up until Kougioumtsidis' victory, Georgios ATHANASSIADIS (GRE) lost both of his world finals matches and Iraklis DESKOULIDIS (GRE) lost the final in 1991. The lone Greek woman to ever step to the top of the medal podium at the World Championships was Sofia POUMPOURIDOU (GRE), who won the women's 51kg gold on home soil in 2002.

"I'm very lucky that I am Greek," Kougioumtsidis said. "So I feel like I made all Greeks proud. I am Greek and I love my country." He continued, saying, “I'm the first male [from Greece] who won a gold medal at the World Championships. It's my dream come true. I think this year is a good achievement. I achieved my goal."

Women’s Wrestling History Maker: Genesis REASCO (ECU)

Reasco made history by becoming Ecuador's first-ever world champion, which came two years following Lucia YEPEZ (ECU) silver-medal finish at the 2023 World Championships where she still become the Ecuador's first-ever world medalist.

Reasco reached the pinnacle of the sport with a 4-2 victory in the 76kg final over two-time world medalist Aiperi MEDET KYZY (KGZ), which came one match removed from knocking off Paris bronze medalist Milaimy MARIN (CUB) in the semifinals.

"I went in, gave my all, and it worked," Reasco said. "That’s how the gold medal was achieved, because honestly, I have a lot of respect for all my opponents. They gave everything out there on the mat, and they were really good matches -- both yesterday’s and today’s. Everything was very tough, very close."

Greco-Roman’s History Maker: Aidos SULTANGALI (KAZ)

Sultangali ended a 26-year Greco-Roman drought, giving Kazakhstan their first Greco world champion since 1999 with a very quick victory over Uzbek youngster Alisher GANIEV (UZB) in the 60kg finals at the World Championships.

Sultangali, who won two world bronze medals between 2018 and 2022, only needed 1:07 to cap off masterful first-period 9-0 win over Asian runner-up GANIEV (UZB).

"I didn’t plan to win the final match so easily and quickly," Sultangali said. "But it happened. Today is a historic day for our country because the last gold medal for Kazakhstan came in 1999, 26 years ago," said Sultangali, "I am happy that my country is happy."