#development

Dominican Republic hosts Coaches Courses Level 1, 2, Introduction to Refereeing

By United World Wrestling Press

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (October 3) A series of UWW courses were held in the city of Santo Domingo from September 25 to 29; The courses were: Coaches Course Level 1 and Level 2 and Introduction to Refereeing. A total of 31 participants, between coaches and referees, took part in the course. The educators were all local, from different provinces of the Dominican Republic.

This course is part of the UWW's education program, and the purpose is to provide the coaches with tools to strengthen their professional work. The course consisted of several sessions between, theoretical and practical, structured in such a way that what was learned in the classroom was applied on the mat.

This course was made with the support of the Olympic Solidarity Dominican Olympic Committee and the Dominican Wrestling Federation.

The opening ceremony was held in the Dominican Olympic Center on September 25 and was attended by distinguished personalities such as the President of the National Olympic Committee and the Dominican Wrestling Federation, Antonio CORLETTO, Secretary of the Executive Committee of the NF, Onésimo RUFINO, Technical Director of NF, Rodolfo Castro Martinez and Olympic Solidarity of the NOC, Lussy Caraballo.

CourseParticipants discuss theoretical and practical topics that will ultimatly be uitalized on the mat. (Photo: United World Wrestling)

The course was officially inaugurated after listening to the notes of the Dominican National Anthem and the words of welcome by Antonio Corletto.

As we are used to, we had the facilitators Pedro ROJAS (PUR) for the coaches and Abraham GALVA (PUR) for the referees. 

"I want to thank on behalf of the two women who are present in this course, thanks to our administration, to Olympic Solidarity, and thanks to God, today we were able to learn. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts because today, we will no longer be like before. Thanks to our excellent facilitators. I am sure that our colleagues and I will not return to our provinces empty-handed," said Francia Mayelin Perez, woman referee.

The Dominican Wrestling Federation is working very hard in the development of the sport in its country. And from the UWW, we hope to continue working in this way with them and accompany them in their growth and institutional strengthening.

#WrestleCoralville

Iran announces freestyle World Cup roster

By Gary Abbott

CORALVILLE, Iowa (November 22) -- Iran’s lineup for the Freestyle World Cup has been released.

The Freestyle and Women’s Wrestling World Cup will be held at Xtream Arena in Coralville, Iowa, December 10-11. It is the first time that freestyle and women’s wrestling will be held together side-by-side at the World Cup.

The World Cup is the annual international dual meet championships, conducted by United World Wrestling. The top five teams in freestyle and the top five teams in women’s wrestling from the 2022 Senior World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia in September have confirmed their participation. There is also an All-World Team in each discipline, featuring the top available athletes from the World Championships in each weight class that were not from a nation that qualified for the World Cup.

The Iran World Cup team will feature five senior world medalists, as well as seven others who have won world medals at the age-group levels.

The team is led by two-time world champion Kamran GHASEMPOUR at 97kg. Ghasempour won world titles in 2021 and 2022 and also won U23 world titles in 2018 and 2019.

2022 World champion Rahman AMOUZADKHALILI will wrestle at 65kg. He has also won three age-group world titles, with a U20 title in 2021 and U17 world titles in 2018 and 2019.

Three-time world medalist Alireza KARIMI is competing at 86kg. Karimi won a 2019 World silver medal, as well as claimed world bronze medals in 2015 and 2018. He was also a 2011 U17 World silver medalist.

Two-time world silver medalist Mohammad NOKHODI will wrestle at 79kg. Nokhodi lost in the 2021 and 2022 World finals to Jordan BURROUGHS (USA). He was also a 2019 U20 world silver medalist and a 2017 U17 world bronze medalist.

The other senior world medalist on the roster is 2021 World silver medalist Amirmohammad YAZDANI at 70kg. He was also a 2015 U17 world silver medalist.

Other athletes on the Iran roster who have won age-group world medals include Armin HABIBZADEH (61kg), Aliakbar FAZLIKHALILI (70kg), Mohmmadsadegh FIROUZPOUR (74kg), Ali SAVADKOUHI (79kg), Amirhossein FIROUZPOUR (92kg), Amirali AZARPIRA (97kg) and Amirreza VALADI (125kg).

Iran, which placed second at the 2022 World Championships in freestyle, will be joined in the World Cup by the first-place United States, third-place Japan, fourth-place Mongolia and fifth-place Georgia, in addition to the All-World Team.

The rosters of the World Cup teams for the other nations have now all been announced by USA Wrestling.

Ticket packages for the 2022 Freestyle and Women’s Wrestling World Cup are currently on sale. The seating capacity for Xtream Arena for the World Cup will be approximately 5,300. Ticket packages include a Gold package for $275, Silver package for $200 and All-Session tickets for $90.

A special Presentation of Teams and Team USA Meet & Greet will also be held on Friday, December 9 at 6:45 p.m. It is free and open to the public.

Freestyle and Women’s Wrestling World Cup tickets -> https://worldcupiowacity.com/tickets/

Iran Freestyle World Cup team:
57 kg – Reza MOMENIJOUIJADEH
61 kg – Armin HABIBZADEH
65 kg – Rahman AMOUZAD
65 kg – Mohammadreza BAGHERI
70 kg – Aliakbar FAZLIKHALILI
70 kg – Amirmohammad YAZDANI
74 kg – Mohmmadsadegh FIROUZPOUR
79 kg – Mohammad NOKHODI
79 kg – Ali SAVADKOUHI
86 kg – Alireza KARIMI
92 kg – Amirhossein FIROUZPOUR
97 kg – Kamran GHASEMPOUR
97 kg – Amirali AZARPIRA
125 kg – Amirreza VALADI