Beach wrestling

Action-Packed Day One at Beach Wrestling Worlds

By Marc Berman

SARIGERME, Turkey (October 6th and 7th) --  The sun has set over the beach in Turkey as day one of the 2018 Beach Wrestling World Championships has come to an end. 

Qualification rounds took place for Cadet, Junior and Senior divisions today, setting the stage for tomorrow's thrilling finals matches.

With temperatures reaching 30 degree celsius defending champion Semen RADULOV (UKR) defeated Turkish opponents in both of his matches today at 70kg without being scored against. Tomorrow, Radulov will open the day with Vegard STROEM (NOR) in his first match and setting up a possible collision with Konstantine KHABALASHVILI (GEO) who also went undefeated today with just one point scored against him.

Jakob MAKARASHVILI (GEO) won three matches today in impressive fashion at 80kg and will take on teammate Jumber KVELASHVILI (GEO) in the semifinals. The other semifinal will be Vasyl MYKHAILOV (UKR) against Efe Sami UNAL (TUR). Unal fell to Mykhail in the group round in a tight match, 2-1.

The returning 90kg champion Muhammad INAM (PAK) picked up where he left off last year cruising past both his opponents and will now face Mihai Nicolae PALAGHIA (ROU) in his third qualifying match. Patrik PUESPOEKI (HUN) went 1-1 on the day but pulled of the upset of Chris BORG (NOR) 3-0 and takes on Borg’s fellow countryman John Harald Foss FJELDBU (NOR) in his 3rd group match on Sunday.

The heavyweight title just may stay in Turkey with Baki SAHIN (TUR) and Irfan METE (TUR) both making the semifinal. Sahin faces scrappy Niazi IMPIS (GRE) and Mete takes on Rares Daniel CHINTOAN (ROU) in the other semifinal. Chintoan was a force on day one going undefeated in three matches.

In women’s action, Kamila BARBOSA VITO DA SILVA (BRA) takes on Sevil ALIOGLU (TUR) while Maria Alexandra CIOCLEA (ROU) will face teammate Stefania Claudia PRICEPUTU (ROU) in the 50kg semifinals. Barbosa and Aliogl are lined up for an exciting match as both athletes were in top form on Saturday. The winner could be the 2018 gold medalist at 50kg.

Reigning 60kg champion Francesca INDELICATO (ITA) is a star in the making, looking to take home her second world title in as many years. Indelicato ran into some trouble against Camila FAMA TRISTAO (BRA) in a round 2 match up. Indelicato was down by one point late before scoring a takedown in the closing seconds of the match for the victory. First-timer Jeannie Agnes KESSLER (AUT) will look to stop Indelicato run of making it two-in-a-row in the semifinals.

All eyes are on team Norway at 70kg as countrywomen Charlotte SKAUEN (NOR) and Cesilie Hoeivik MAGNUSSEN (NOR) will face off in a semifinal match. The Norwegians were dominate all day with a 5-1 record with Skauen winning her three matches with no points scored against. She brings a physicality that has yet to be stopped this weekend. On the other side of the bracket Beatrice DUKOV OANCEA (ROU) and Adina Elena POPESCU (ROU) will face off.

Aikaterini Eirini PITSIAVA (GRE) is the last roadblock in the way of the heavyweight title going home with team Romania. Pitsiava had 3 matches today defeating two Turkish opponents and Adina Ionela IRIMIA (ROU), the youngest competitor in the women’s Seniors. If Irimia can win her semifinal match, we could see a rematch in the final.

Match by match results can be found here: https://bit.ly/2zVYfgB

Day 2 will start 7am GMT tomorrow, watch the live stream on United World Wrestling

 

#UnitedWorldWrestling

Good governance at UWW: most women ITOs at Paris 2024, reserved seats in Bureau

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (July 11) -- United World Wrestling will send its highest number of female International Technical Officers (ITOs) to Paris 2024. This marks a significant jump with 22 percent of the total wrestling ITOs for Paris 2024 begin women.

Continuing its efforts towards gender balance, UWW will send 11 ITOs to Paris, the most in wrestling history at the Olympic Games. The first female ITO in wrestling at the Olympics was back in 1988 at the Seoul Olympics.

In another significant move, UWW amended its constitution to reserve two more seats for women in the Bureau, thereby bringing the minimum number of women Bureau members to five. The number of vice presidents was also increased from the current number of five to six, including a minimum of two women vice presidents.

These steps were in line with the good governance that UWW strives for in its work. The results of the past efforts are reflected in the fifth governance report of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations published last month.

UWW moved from Group B to Group A2 in the ASOIF report, scoring 188 points out of a maximum of 240 points and progressed since the last review, moving up one group.

The ASOIF also used UWW's example to demonstrate good ways to showcase organizational structure, allowances and benefits in finance, the conduct of elections, announcing of open positions, competition law compliance, appeal process and data protection and IT security.

UWW was one of the 32 International Federations that participated in the study which includes five sections -- transparency, integrity, democracy, development and sustainability and control mechanisms.

Each of these sections is further divided into 12 indicators and the ASOIF scores each IF based on these indicators.

The first review of IFs was conducted in 2016-17. In the latest review, all 32 IFs exceeded the target of 150 out of 240, and most saw their score on the 50 retained indicators increase by a meaningful amount.