Training Camps

Ivorian Wrestling Federation Hosts Training Camps for Francophone Countries

Wednesday, January 20, 2021 - 14:37 By UWW Development

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About thirty French-speaking wrestlers gathered towards the end of 2020 in Abidjan, the capital city of Ivory Coast, at the prestigious National Sports (INJS) for a camp entitled Camp de la Francophonie and placed under the banner of friendships, for a week of knowledge sharing and skills development with regard to international standards.
le camp de la francophonie 2020

The Wrestling Federation of Ivory Coast led this project, organised under the auspices of the Union of Francophone Wrestling Federations and with the support of United World Wrestling, represented by M. Vincent Aka, Development Officer at UWW.

In addition to the training of coaches, the preparation of athletes and the training of technical officials and referees, the camp hosted competitions of olympic wrestling and beach wrestling, and the Nordic system allowed for a maximum number of bouts in each weight category. Round-table debates of the elected representatives of the attending Federations provided for discussions and exchanges about what directions to take with the Union of Francophone Wrestling Federations. 

Cameroon, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea-Conakry and Togo took part in the courses and the olympic wrestling competition, while the beach wrestling tournament – comparable to African wrestling - saw the further participation of Burkina, Niger and Mali. 
Les officials

The camp was led by experts from United World Wrestling, namely Vincent Aka, Development Officer, Alexis Rodrigues, Coach-Expert and Danga Christian, Instructor. Thus, as Coach-Expert Alexis Rodriguez took care of the program and the intensive training of athletes, Danga Christian instructed the referees and technical officials towards both competitions (olympic and beach wrestling), while Vincent Aka briefed the attending coaches.

Olympic training enabled Togo to make its return to the world stage while beach wrestling let Niger and Burkina follow a new path towards the olympic world. 

Media coverage was wide and the event was broadcasted to all the partners of this French-speaking event ; the camp fostered involvement, mutual assistance and sharing amongst athletes, coaches and referees.

Equipe de CIVEquipe de Togo Equipe de Conarkry

As a grand finale, each entity was able to put its assets to use during the two competitions that closed the week at the Camp de la Francophonie. 

Mr Didier Sauvaire, President of the Union of the Francophone Wrestling Federations on site on the Saturday 26 December, congratulated all the participants (athletes, coaches, referees and officials) and encouraged them to pursue their training pathway, so as to be worthy representatives of Francophonie.

Didier Sauvaire

#WrestleTirana

Masterful Uguev Repeats as European Champion

Sunday, April 26, 2026 - 23:12 By Vinay Siwach

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TIRANA, Albania (April 26) -- Zavur UGUEV (UWW) became a two-time European champion in Tirana on Sunday. His gold medal run may have gone under that radar given the return and dominance of Abdulrashid SADULAEV (UWW), who won his sixth European gold on Saturday and first in six years.

However, if there was an award for the most outstanding wrestler of the tournament, Uguev would handsomely beat all others wrestlers to it.

On Sunday, Uguev defended his 61kg gold medal in Tirana with rather ease after defeating former world champion and home-favorite Zelimkhan ABAKAROV (ALB). The 4-0 win over Abakarov consisted one activity clock, one stepout and a two-point takedown from Uguev.

Even the low-scoring final was a masterclass from Uguev, one of the few who still mixes the art of defense and positioning to win bouts.

At one point, Abakarov would keep trying the two-on-one on Uguev's arm and instead of panicking, Uguev would casually block Abakarov using his head. After the two-minute mark in the match, Abakarov had a similar grip and Uguev was blocking using his head and grip one of Abakarov's wrist.

Abakarov moved to a position from which he could either whizzer or wrist snap Uguev. However, as soon as Abakarov moved sideways, Uguev placed his foot behind Abakarov and let go off his grip, quickly switching to a leg-attack. He scored a stepout to lead 2-0 after one activity period point.

Uguev set up his takedown in the second period when Abakarov took a shot from space and Uguev blocked it using a chest wrap. Instead of scoring exposure from front, Uguev jumped behind and locked Abakarov who tried to break the grip. But Uguev scored a takedown on the edge to lead 4-0, his winning score.

It was in the semifinals against Arsen HARUTYUNYAN (ARM), Uguev fell behind 3-2 but he brought down Harutyunyan in danger for two points before holding the Armenian in such a grip that he failed to move despite having split hands. Eventually, he gave up to Uguev's pressure who won via fall.

"The final is always a tough contest, both last and this year," Uguev said. "Last year it was Harutyunyan, a four-time European champion, and this year it’s Abakarov, the world champion. It’s a real pleasure to compete against them. I’ve come here solely to compete against them."

Two months ago, Uguev was in Tirana and he put on a wrestling masterclass, winning the 61kg gold medal. However, it was in Tirana that he lost to phenom Masanosuke ONO (JPN) and Vitali ARAJAU (USA) and finished fifth at the World Championships.

"I was here at the start of February for the ranking tournament, and I suppose I had some thoughts about it [losing World Championships in Tirana]," he said. "But I managed to win that tournament, and I came here with the sole intention of winning. The first attempt [2024 World Championships] didn’t go to plan."

The three-time world champion and Tokyo Olympic gold medalist at 57kg has been competing at 61kg for three years now. While he will eventually move to 57kg for a run at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, Uguev says he is enjoying wrestling at a higher weight and not dieting during competitions.

"I’ll be wrestling in 65kg soon. I’m joking, of course," he said. "I’ll probably be dropping down to 57kg. I’ll probably compete for another year or so [at 61kg], and then I’ll keep dropping down. I’m not actually that heavy to begin with, and I reckon anyone competing at 57kg is roughly the same weight as me. For now, I don’t see the point in cutting weight, and I think it’s better to stay as I am for the time being, compete for another year or so. I think that this year, or early next year, we’ll start thinking about which weight class to move to.

"Now that I’ve moved up to 61kg, I’m really enjoying the competition. When I was competing at 57kg, I struggled so much. Now, when I watch the wrestlers like Musa MEKHTIKHANOV (UWW), for example, I’m reminded of my own days on the mat. It’s just that when you’re on a diet, you don’t want to think about anything else. All you can think about is food. Now I feel comfortable. I’m not dieting; I enjoy wrestling and I’m managing to do well at it."