#Tokyo2020

Ethics Meeting, Blockchain, and Day One Draws Highlight Eve of Wrestling Competition at Tokyo 2020

By United World Wrestling Press

TOKYO (July 31) -- United World Wrestling president Nenad LALOVIC welcomed IOC Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer Pâquerette GIRARD ZAPPELLI to the sport's opening Technical Delegate meeting Saturday afternoon at the Makuhari Messe in Tokyo.

Zappelli introduced herself to the audience and outlined the IOC's broad mission as a mechanism to showcase cooperation, peace, competitive spirit, and ethical behavior.
Lalovic also addressed the delegation,emphasizing the recent efforts made by the sport to ensure fair play and ethical conduct. As an example, Lalovic discussed wrestling's leadership in the utilization of Blockchain technology to ensure 100-percent random and independently verifiable draws.
 


Youssef BOUAZIZ (UWW) oversees the initiation of the Ethereum-backed Blockchain.

The technology was then used moments later to draw the brackets for the first day of the competition with brackets in Greco-Roman 130kg, Greco-Roman 60kg, and Women's Wrestling 76kg all being drawn instantly on the big screen in Hall 5 of the Makuhari Messe.

#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.