#WrestleBelgrade

World Championships: Sadulaev forfeits, to undergo scans for neck injury

By Vinay Siwach

BELGRADE, Serbia (September 19) -- Tokyo Olympic champion Abdulrashid SADULAEV (AIN) will undergo medical scans on Tuesday for a neck injury that forced him to end the World Championships.

The 27-year-old flew to Moscow on Monday night soon after his 97kg semifinal retirement against Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN) with the Bahrain wrestler leading 9-2 at the World Championships.

The five-time world champion was expected to wrestle for a bronze medal and qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics as an Individual Neutral Athlete but the medical staff decided to not worsen the injury.

Sadulaev is suffering from a neck hernia, towards the end of his spinal cord. Medical scans will determine if it is a tumor or if Sadulaev can return to the mat without surgery.

He became the second Olympic champion to pull out of the World Championships repechage as 65kg champion Takuto OTOGURO (JPN) also pulled out due to a foot injury he has been carrying for one year.

#UnitedWorldWrestling

Nine wrestlers elected to UWW Athletes' Commission

By United World Wrestling Press

ZAGREB, Croatia (September 23) -- United World Wrestling held elections for the Athletes' Commission during the World Championships in Zagreb, Croatia from September 12 to 20.

UWW received 14 candidacies for nine posts in Athletes' Commission which earlier had seven posts. According to UWW guidelines, a minimum three elected members must be women out of the nine posts.

After the elections, which spanned over nine days and nearly 400 accredited wrestlers voting, the nine members elected to the Athletes’ Commission for the 2025–29 term were:

Arsen JULFALAKYAN (ARG)
Yui SUSAKI (JPN)
Tamas LORINCZ (HUN)
Aisuluu TYNYBEKOVA (KGZ)
Hassan YAZDANI (IRI)
Maria PREVOLARAKI (GRE)
Abdellatif MOHAMED (EGY)
Jessica LAVERS-McBAIN (AUS)
Nicolaas DE LANGE (RSA)

The five wrestlers who could not be elected after the votes were:

Anthony WESLEY (CPV)
Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM)
Elmira SYZDYKOVA (KAZ)
Bilyana DUDOVA (BUL)
Iryna KOLIADENKO (UKR)

With this election, all continents are represented in the commission with four women elected.

The nine members have now to elect their president after a call for candidates for the presidency. If only one candidacy is put forward, he or she will be elected automatically. The president represents the voice and interests of the athletes at the Bureau and the Congress.

United World Wrestling congratulates all candidates and welcomes the elected members.