#Wrestle4Fun

UWW launches Wrestle4Fun toolkit and updates

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (April 6) -- UWW launches Wrestle4Fun toolkit following an extensive review of the Wrestle4Fun programme by the UWW Development Department and the creation of new videos, the Wrestle4Fun toolkit is available to all who wish to introduce wrestling in schools and to young children.

The content and videos are available on the UWW Academy platform: Wrestle4Fun | Academy | United World Wrestling (uww.org). The lesson are located in the Resources section and the videos will be in the Video Library. 

The programme aims at assisting Physical Education teachers and/or club coaches in introducing wrestling to children from ages 4 up to 16 in a pedagogical fun approach.  This approach is based around the Teaching Games for Understanding concept.  Children will be able to learn the sport of wrestling through fun games and activities.  

There are 5 stages based on developmental level.  Each stage is divided into 15 lessons for a total of 75 lessons.  Each lesson plan has videos to illustrate the activities and skills.  Collectively, there are over 200 videos within the programme. 

We hope that these tools will help you introduce wrestling to young children in a safe/healthy environment.

Currently, Wrestle4Fun is only available in English.  In time, the programme will be developed in additional languages.

For any further information or assistance you may require, please feel free to contact Zach Errett, UWW Education Manager and/or Deqa Niamkey, UWW Development Director for any questions or further information.

#UWWAwards

Kougioumtsidis, Antim, Jafarov named 2023 Rising Stars

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (December 13) -- Georgios KOUGIOUMTSIDIS (GRE), ANTIM (UWW) and Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE) have been named as UWW's Rising Stars of the Year for their phenomenal performances in 2023.

Georgios KOUGIOUMTSIDIS (GRE) has shown his mettle in the past but the 2023 World Championships made him the one for the future. He began the year with gold at the U23 Europeans, silver at the senior Europeans and his run in Belgrade made him the Rising Star in Freestyle.

At the Olympic weight of 74kg, he opened the World Championships by beating Olympic silver medallist Magomedkhabib KADIMAGOMEDOV (AIN), stunned world silver medallist Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK) and almost checked Kyle DAKE (USA) in the semifinals. He then returned to earn a Paris Olympic quota by beating Turan BAYRAMOV (AZE).

 

In women's wrestling, ANTIM (UWW) was awarded the Rising Star for her performances in 2023. She won a silver medal in her senior Asian Championships debut, defended her U20 world title and then won a bronze medal at the World Championships at 53kg. It was her first senior-level World Championships and an unfazed Antim handed defeats to world champion Dom PARRISH (USA), Roksana ZASINA (POL) and European champion Jonna MALMGREN (SWE). She came in touching distance of entering the final but was stunned in the final second of the semifinal by Vanesa KALADZINSKAYA.

The medal in Belgrade made the 19-year-old the youngest Indian to win a medal at the World Championships. Soon after, Antim traveled to Hangzhou, China for the Asian Games and won a bronze medal at 53kg.

Teenage phenom Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE) Hasrat Jafarov another step towards stardom as he added a World Championships silver medal to his resume as he reached the 67kg Greco-Roman final. Not only that, Jafarov won his first European title, gold at the Ranking Series and is now the biggest threat for gold for the Paris Olympics. In Belgrade, he defeated Kristizan VANCZA (HUN), Mohammadreza GERAEI (IRI) and Slavik GALSTYAN (ARM) before settling for silver.

Jafarov already has world titles at the U20 and U23 level and his remarkable rise at just 20 years of age wins him the Rising Star award in Greco-Roman.