UWW

UWW Renews Commissions, Committees

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (February 2) -- United World Wrestling announced the renewed Commissions and Committees for the '24 Paris Olympic cycle after the Bureau meeting that was held last week. 

With the recent elections of the Athletes Commission, all continents are represented in the UWW Commissions and an overall increase of women representation amongst the commissions was prevalent in the changesSix Bureau members were elected Commissions presidents, while one was given the responsibility to preside over a Committee.

Daulet Turlykhanov will continue his duty as President of the Scientific Commissions, while Mikhail Mamiashvili will hold the role of the President of the Technical Commission. Stan Dziedzic, together with Don Ryan will preside over the Coaches, while Akhroldjan Ruziev will be in charge of the Media Commission. 

Pedro Gama Filho has assumed a new position as the President of the Marketing Commission. Nataliya Yariguina has been tasked with the continuation of heading the Gender Equality Commission.

The Legal and Ethics Commission will be fronted by Belcho Goranov. Georgy Bryusov will assume the role as the President of the Sport for All Commission, as Dr. Babak Shadgan will serve as the head of the Medical Commission.

For the Refereeing Commission, Antonio Silverstri remains at the helm.

UWW also elected four Committee presidents at the Bureau meeting, starting with Pedro Silva being named the head of the Beach Wrestling Committee. 

Rizvan Bochkaev will be responsible for the Grappling Committee, as Alexei Savchuk was named the President of Pankration while Cholpon Sultanbekova will preside over the Belt Wrestling Committee.

During the meeting, the Bureau also discussed the ongoing plans to start the implementation of the Five-Year Strategic plan presented during the Belgrade Congress. The plan outlined UWW's focus on Youth, Women’s Wrestling, Associated Styles, Image of Wrestling and the Digital Transformation in the Olympic cycle and how to prioritize them at each competition from 2022-'26.

For more details about UWW's Five-Year Strategic Plan, click here or see https://uww.org/organisation/strategy.

COMMISSIONS

Scientific
President: Daulet Turlykhanov (KAZ) 

Dr. David Curby (USA)
Dr. Nabil Hosny Elshorbagy (EGY)
Prof. Jose Maria Lopez Guillon (ESP)
Prof. Dr. Georgii Korobeinikov (UKR)
Prof. Dr. Ümit Karli (TUR)
Dr. Tibor Barna (HUN)
Assist. Prof. Ioannis Barbas (GRE)
Dr. Bahman Mirzaei Ghaziani( IRI)
Assoc. Prof. Mario Baic (CRO)

Legal and Ethics
President: Belcho Goranov (BUL)

Francisco Gonzales Pineda (GUA)
Aurélie Aim-Tuil (FRA)
Michael Smith (CAN)
Roman Kudinov (SUI)
Rouzbeh Vosough Ahmadi (IRI)
Osamu Shimizu (JPN)
Carla Morais (POR)
Laura Peeters (USA)
Houcine Kharrazi (TUN)

Technical 
President: Mikhail Mamiashvili (RUS)

Alin Grigore (ROU)
Finizio Salvatore I(TA)
Peter Bacsi (HUN)
Şeref Eroğlu (TUR)|
Zhang Ye (CHN)
Daniel Igali (NGR)
Paul Ragusa (CAN)
Rich Bender (USA)

Coach
President: Stan Dziedzic USA, with Don Ryan (CAN)

Andras Sike (HUN)
Dr. Mehmet Özal (TUR)
Mindaugas Ežerskis (LTU)
Mohsen Kaveh (IRI)
Paulin Kouakou (CIV)
Yury Shakhmuradov (RUS)
Evangelia Nikolaou (GRE)

Refereeing
President: Antonio Silvestri (GER)

Halil Ibrahim Cicioglu (TUR)
Kamel Bouaziz (TUN)
Cassey Goessl (USA)
Noravard Arustamyan (RUS)
Koike Kuninori (JPN)
Sherif Halawa (EGY)
Carlos García (ESP)
Tsong-rong Jang (TPE)
Stanislav Sernek (SLO)
Ferenc Gyarmati (ROU)
Gary Bird (CAN)
Mohammad Mosalaeipour (IRI)
Rui Marta (POR) (Beach Wrestling)
Vito Paolillo (ITA) (Grappling)

Sport for All
President: Georgy Bryusov (RUS)

Samim Miya Ansari (NEP)
Gérard Santoro (FRA)
Pablo Rubén Pintos Figueroa (ESP)
P.M.D. Sandamali Chandrasena (SRI)
Jean Claude Niyukuri (BDI)
Andy Barth (USA)
Milan Pavelic (CRO)

Marketing
President: Pedro Gama Filho (BRA)

Jean-Carl Fossati (FRA)
Lajos Virág (HUN)|
Morten Sandnæs (NOR)
Prof. Dr. Süleyman Şahin (TUR)
Ali Eftekhari (IRI)
Michael Faller (GER)
Morgan Rabine (USA)
Sahif Mustapha (MAR)
Yury Federov (RUS)

Media
President: Akroldjan Ruziev (UZB)

Didier Favori (FRA)
Ali Feizasa (IRI)
Darren Matte (CAN)
Ikuo Higuchi (JPN)
Przemysław Kaliski (POL)
Taylor Gregorio (USA)
Waffa Fadou (TUN)

Medical
President: Dr Babak Shadgan (CAN)

Dr. Camillieri Gianluca (ITA)
Dr. Mika Lehto (FIN)
Dr. Szabolcs Molnár (HUN)
Dr. Francisco Salvador Lee Guandique (GUA)
Dr. Radivoj Filipov (SRB)
Dr. Loukas Konstantinou (GRE)
Dr Stefan Strugarov (BUL)
Dr. Elena Abaeva (UZB)}
Dr. Dorsaf Methni (TUN)
Dr. Irina Doulepova (RUS)

Gender Equality
President: Nataliya Yariguina (RUS)

Lise Legrand (FRA)
María Teresa Méndez Mayo (ESP)
Milica Vukasinovic Vesic (SRB)
Yareni Guerrero (AUS)
Fatemeh Dearkhshani (IRI)
Rosalie Benie (CIV)
Tamara Medwidsky (CAN)
Eri Tosaka (JPN)
Nikolay Stanchev (BUL)

COMMITTEES

Beach Wrestling
President: Pedro Silva (POR)

Magomed Magdiyev (UKR)
Gabriella Sleisz (HUN)
Mohamed Mahmoud Aly (EGY)
Jian Wang (CHN)
Marian Berbec (ROU)
Konstantinos Papakonstantinou (GRE)
Ed Duncan (USA)
Eugeny Abarius (RUS)

Grappling 
President: Rizvan Bochkaev (RUS)

Antonio Garcia Morales (ESP)
Kanat Alin (KAZ)
Serhiy Cherednichenko (UKR)
Richard Tado (USA)}
Azad Askerov (AZE)

Pankration
President: Alexei Savchuk (BLR)

Anastasia Tukmachova (UKR)}
Italo Morello (ITA)
Konstantin Klimov (RUS)
Edmar Abdoelaev (NED)
Amatto Zaharia (ROU)
Ron Hill (USA)
Pavel Pokatilov (MDA)
Evangelos Koutras (GRE)

Belt Wrestling
President: Cholpon Sultanbekova (KGZ)

Alik Shpekbayev (KAZ)
Edmar Abdoelaev (NED)
Artur Ayramidi (UKR)
Jahja Madjid (INA)
Somayeh Khani Bakhtiari (IRI)
Omarmukhtar Chandpasha Tamboli (IND)
Marian Berbec (ROU)

#WrestleZagreb

Zagreb Open Flashback: Iran, U.S. opened season with success

By Vinay Siwach

ZAGREB, Croatia (January 18) -- United World Wrestling's 2026 season will kick off with the Ranking Series in Zagreb February 4. The recent memories of Zagreb may be the September World Championships but the 2025 season also kicked off with the Ranking Series in the Croatian capital.

Iran and the United States had strong performances in the first of the four stops of the Ranking Series, a theme which continued throughout the 2025 season as the U.S. dominated Freestyle while Iran dominated Greco-Roman.

Women's Wrestling participants were less in numbers but still saw U.S. and UWW wrestlers share gold medals.

Here's a trip down memory lane of the 2025 Zagreb Open Ranking Series before the 2026 season kicks off:

WATCH ZAGREB OPEN 2025 TOP BOUTS HERE

Freestyle

A young Iranian team snapped four gold medals in Zagreb with Ahmad JAVAN (IRI) winning gold at 61kg, Abbas EBRAHIM (IRI) winning at 65kg, Amirhossein FIROUZPOUR (IRI) became champion at 92kg and Amirreza MASOUMI (IRI) winning the 125kg gold.

For the U.S., Spencer LEE (USA) kicked off the season with 57kg with gold, Zahid VALENCIA (USA) won at 86kg and Kyle SNYDER (USA) at 97kg. Both Valencia and Snyder went on to win gold at the World Championships later in the season.

Azerbaijan, Slovakia and France won one gold each, with Kanan HEYBATOV (AZE) winning at 70kg for Azerbaijan, Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK) winning gold at 74kg, and Zelimkhan KHADJIEV (FRA) winning at 79kg for France.

Iran dominance began when Ahmad JAVAN (IRI) won gold at 61kg, beating the likes of Nuraddin NUVROZOV (AZE), Nashon GARRETT (USA), Giorgi GONIASHVILI (GEO) and Ebrahim KHARI (IRI). Javan would later win a silver medal at the World Championships. At 65kg, Ebrahim held his own in a thrilling final against Joseph MCKENNA (USA) to grab the second gold for Iran.

Young superstars Firouzpour and Masoumi put up a show to win gold medals at 92kg and 125kg respectively.

Lee was making a returning to competition six months after winning the silver medal at the Paris Olympics. He won the Zagreb Open gold with rather ease. For the U.S., Valencia saw himself win gold at 86kg outscoring his opponents 35-4 in four bouts. In the final, Valencia defeated world bronze medalist Arsenii DZHIOEV (AZE), 8-0.

Snyder opened his season with a 33-1 scoring run in three bouts at 97kg in Zagreb. In the final, he easily defeated Abolfazl BABALOO (IRI).

Heybatov gave early warnings to the 70kg field by winning gold in Zagreb, a run which included wins over Austin GOMEZ (MEX), two back-to-back wins over Iranian wrestlers including a 12-1 one again Sina KHALILI (IRI) in the final. The two would wrestle again towards the end of the year at the U23 World Championships. Heybatov won that final with a 9-4 score.

Two veterans, Salkazanov and Khadjiev, were at their best in the opening Ranking Series tournament. Salkazanov blanked everyone, including winning 4-0 against David CARR (USA) in the final, to win 74kg gold.

Khadjiev had a tougher bat but managed to win the 79kg gold with a 5-3 win over Mahdi YOUSEFI (IRI) in the final. The French wrestler would later win silver at the European Championships.