#WomensDay2022

Gender Equality, WW Development UWW's Focus Through '24 Paris Games

Monday, March 7, 2022 - 19:01 By United World Wrestling Press

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (March 8) -- United World Wrestling continues to make significant efforts to lift the standard of women's wrestling around the world -- not only on the mat, but off the mat as well.

One of the biggest testimonies to those efforts was UWW Bureau member ZHANG Xia being awarded the International Olympic Committee's Women in Sport Award as she strives to provide more opportunities to lift women wrestlers and referees.

A part of UWW's five-year strategic plan, women's wrestling is one of the main aspects with an aim to achieve gender equality. The UWW Gender Equality Development Programme represents recognition, encouragement, and empowerment for the individuals and the National Federations of UWW.

Each year, the program is awarded a project or organization that contributes to the development and is committed to tackling gender biases and inequalities in wrestling, in such areas as participation of girls in wrestling, elite-level women’s wrestling development, a coaching program for women [WSLA] and development of women referees and women in leadership.

Another high-level highlighting women in the sport was the '21-'22 The Women Lead Sport Programme, which featured  40 participants -- 95% women – from five different continents.

The objectives of the Women Lead Sports Master Program were to empower participants to shape the future of wrestling as a global sport, increase a diverse talent pool in leadership within UWW at all levels, and to learn effective leadership strategies, techniques, and applicable tactics that work today.

Women Lead Sports Master Program Topics:
- Personal Power and Influence
- Stakeholder management and use of skills navigating politics
- Self-awareness of personal leadership style, areas of development and strengths
- Communication and Persuasion skills
- Negotiation skills
- Networking, sponsoring, mentoring, and lobbying skills
- Self-confidence, courage and assertiveness
- Sport Electoral year and best practices
- Leading in male-dominated environments with success and authenticity.

UWW also renewed the Women in Sport Leadership Programme for five female coaches in collaboration with OS 2022-2024. Like for Tokyo Games, UWW has come up with a dedicated program for the promotion of women referees up to Paris Olympics 2024 with the first major event being the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham, England.

UWW also had two recipients of the World Academy of Sports Post Graduate program from Gambia and Australia.

Technical Assistance

In 2021, despite the barriers and challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, UWW continued to support the National Federations in various forms especially to increase more participation of women in wrestling.

One of the biggest courses held was in Saudi Arabia, which hosted the UWW Women’s Coaching Course. Women from different provinces of Saudi Arabia participated in the UWW Technical Course for Coaches – Introduction to Coaching and Safety from December 5-9, 2021 in the Green Hall, Ministry of Sport, Riyadh. This course was organized by the Saudi Arabian Wrestling Federation and supported by the Leaders Development Institute.

UWW has continued to put focus on gender equality and as a result, the 2021 Women Lead Sports Master Programme was organized. It is a biannual program that promotes gender equality and empowers women in wrestling has been organized. 

Due to the pandemic, the program was carried out virtually over two sessions on November 29 and December 6 with Q&A and Graduation/Certificates sessions in January 2022. With the 2024 Paris Games in mind, the program continues to be held every two years since 2017.

Regarding the technical assistance of wrestlers and coaches, UWW assisted a total of 79 athletes and 39 coaches from 44 countries on the five continents in participating in the Tokyo Olympic Qualifiers.

Women wrestlers constituted 18 percent of the total beneficiaries and one of the wrestlers -- Bolortuya BAT OCHIR (MGL) -- qualified for the Tokyo Games and even won a bronze medal.

For World Championships in Oslo in 2021 and 54 athletes and 25 coaches were approved for support and women wrestlers achieved the most noticeable results. Among all the teams that benefited from Technical Assistance, the following athletes finished in the top five. 

Samar HAMZA (EGY) -- 76kg bronze
MELENDRES Luisa VALVERDE (ECU) -- 53kg 5th
Lais NUNES DE OLIVEIRA (BRA) -- 62kg 5th

A 50 percent membership for women was achieved in the Athletes Commission. The election for the commission for the term 2021-2025 was held in Oslo during the World Championships. While two seats were pre-empted for women wrestlers, three were selected to the seven-member committee.

#WrestleZagreb

Zagreb Open 2025 Day 3: Blades dominant, Jafarov injured

Friday, February 7, 2025 - 09:16 By United World Wrestling Press

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ZAGREB, Croatia (February 7) -- Zagreb Open enters day three with four Women's Wrestling weight classes and two Greco-Roman weight class. Paris Games silver medalist Kennedy BLADES (USA) at 76kg is moving down to 68kg and Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE), bronze medalist in Paris at 67kg, is in action as well.

WATCH LIVE | LIVE MATCH ORDER

13:30: Further problems for Iran. After Gholami's loss, Ahmadreza MOHSEN NEZHAD (IRI) suffers a 6-1 loss to Valentin PETIC (MDA). Petic led 3-0 a the break but Mohsen Nezhad got two turns from par terre to make it 5-3 in the second period. Iran challenged that Petic committed a leg foul but it was seen on review that Mohsen Nezhad grabbed the singlet during par terre for the turns. The points were cancelled. A bodylock situation resulted in Petic falling on his back outside the zone but Mohsen Nezhad stepped out first make it 4-1. A desperate attempt from Mohsen Nezhad did not come through and gave Petic two more points

13:25: A front headlock throw from Haavard JOERGENSEN (NOR) gave him a 4-0 lead against Mohammadreza GHOLAMI (IRI). Joergensen got a turn from par terre to make it 7-0 but Gholami scored a stepout to reduce the lead to 7-1. But Norway challenged the call and it was a four-point throw from standing which made it 9-0 and Joergensen reached the final.

13:10: Mohammad KESHTKAR (IRI) with a dominant win in the semifinal against Islomjon BAKHRAMOV (UZB) after he blocks the Uzbek in par terre and scores two points, a correct throw for two more and a gut wrench for two more to lead 6-1 at the break. A beautiful four-point throw in the second to finish the match 10-1. He will take on Dinislam BAMMATOV (AIN) who was quick in a 8-0 win over Ziya BABASHOV (AZE)

13:00: Kennedy BLADES (USA) is the gold medalist at 68kg. She has Round 5 left but as she has drubbed her all opponents, she will most likely remain as the top wrestlers. She just beat Noémi SZABADOS (HUN) 10-0.

12:50: Round 4 bout at 62kg saw Adaugo NWACHUKWU (USA) pull out a takedown and gut wrench with a second remaining to win 5-2 against Bilyana DUDOVA (BUL). Nwachukwu got one extra point for Dudova's lost challenge. She is the gold medalist at 62kg as she won all four of her bouts in the round-robin bracket.

12:40: An all Azerbaijan final at 59kg! Alyona KOLESNIK (AZE) holds off Mariana CHERDIVARA (MDA) 3-1 while Hiunai HURBANOVA (AZE) beats Michaela BECK (USA) 6-0 to enter the final

12:10: Mohammad KESHTKAR (IRI) with a final second desperate move to beat AYTJAN KHALMAKHANOV (UZB) at 63kg. Keshtkar was trailing 2-0 when he got Khalmakhanov in a horizontal lift and brought him down in danger for four points. Khalmakhanov scored a counter for two but Keshtkar's big move gave the Iranian a 4-4 win. One point was added after Uzbekistan lost the challenge.

12:00: Kennedy BLADES (USA) was too quick for Adela HANZLICKOVA (CZE) at 68kg. She got a single leg for takedown. Blades then catches Hanzlickova in a bar on the edge and gets the fall just before the break. 

11:55: Daniial AGAEV (AIN) and Mohammadreza GHOLAMI (IRI) put on a show in their 67kg quarterfinal. Gholami, who last wrestled internationally at U17 World Championships in 2023 at 55kg, opened up a 5-1 lead at the break. However, Agaev with a takedown but gives up an exposure, giving Gholami a 7-3 lead and the win

11:45: U20 world champion Ahmadreza MOHSEN NEZHAD (IRI) rolls out a top-class gut wrench and beats Nozimjon BOYKUZIEV (UZB) 8-3 and moves into the semifinal at 67kg. With Jafarov out, he is now the favorite to win gold.

11:35: Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE) was leading 7-0 against Valentin PETIC (MDA) but pulls out injured. Update: Jafarov has peeled his skin behind his ear after a rub with the mat. He is being treated in the hospital

11:25: Trademark double armlock and pin for Adela HANZLICKOVA (CZE) as she beats Karolina POK (HUN) at 68kg. Hanzlickova trusts that move with her life

11:20: Bilyana DUDOVA (BUL) with two activity points as she wins 2-0 against Nikolett SZABO (HUN) at 62kg.

11:15: Change in weight classes but no change in Kennedy BLADES (USA). She comes out with a throw and then arm bars Kendra DACHER (FRA) in the Round 2 bout at 68kg.

11:10: Former world champion at 63kg Sebastian NAD (SRB) and Farid KHALILOV (AZE) share a turn each from par terre but Nad does it in the second period and wins 3-3 at 67kg.

11:00: Hasrad JAFAROV (AZE), bronze medalist at the Paris Olympics, was staring at defeated with a minute remaining in his opening bout against Morten THORESEN (NOR) but is awarded a third passivity par terre and he does a reverse lift for four points and wins 5-1

10:55: In Round 1 at 65kg, Dinara KUDAEVA (AIN) pins Milla ANDELIC (CRO) while Eniko ELEKES (HUN) comes back from 4-0 to beat Elizaveta PETLIAKOVA (AIN) 4-4.

10:50: Two bouts in Round 1 of 59kg and Azerbaijan has a great start. Alyona KOLESNIK (AZE) got a 5-0 win over Erika BOGNAR (HUN) while Hiunai HURBANOVA (AZE) pinned Sofia MACALUSO (USA)

10:45: World bronze medalist Adela HANZLICKOVA (CZE) gave up an early point against Kendra DACHER (FRA) but manages to see her off 6-2 at 68kg. Hanzlickova became the first-ever Czech wrestler to win a world medal when she won bronze at 72kg in Tirana last year. 

10:30: Welcome to day three of the Zagreb Open Ranking Series event. With Freestyle done, we have four women's wrestling weight classes in action today -- 59kg, 62kg, 65kg and 68kg along with Greco-Roman in 63kg and 67kg.