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

U23 Worlds: What to watch in Freestyle

Thursday, October 19, 2023 - 13:21 By Vinay Siwach

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TIRANA, Albania (October 19) -- The final World Championships of the season, the U23 edition, is here. Like every year, the U23 World Championships will throw in some memorable matches and records that the wrestling world cannot ignore.

The one in Tirana beginning next week will see close to 600 wrestlers and a few of wrestling's biggest stars will be on the mat. Here's what to follow in Freestyle

74kg

The U23 World Championships will kick off on October 23 and a few age-group world champions, wrestlers who have made their mark at the senior level and some strong youngsters will be on the mat on the first day itself.

As is the case in most World Championships, the 74kg weight class offers stiff competition. Defending champion Mohmmadsadegh FIROUZPOUR (IRI) is going to see former U20 world champs Keegan OTOOLE (USA) and Dzhabrail GADZHIEV (AZE) at 74kg.

Gadzhiev won the gold medal at 74kg in 2022 while Otoole is the U20 world champion at 74kg in 2021, a run that saw him pin three of his opponents.

Returning bronze medalist Vasile DIACON (MDA), U20 World bronze at 70kg Ibrahim YAPRAK (TUR) and senior world fifth placer NAVEEN (UWW) are also in the field.

Iran's heavy stars

Last year, Iran captured four gold medals. Firouzpour at 74kg was joined by his brother Amirhossein at 92kg, Amirali AZARPIRA (IRI) won at 97kg and Amirreza MASOUMI (IRI) was the champion at 125kg.

Both Azarpira and Masoumi are returning and it would be surprising if they don't defend the gold medals in Tirana. Azarpira stepped in for an injured Kamran GHASEMPOUR (IRI) at 92kg for the World Championships in Belgrade but lost to Zahid VALENCIA (USA). Back at 97kg, he is the wrestler to beat.

Masoumi continues his tremendous record in international wrestling, having not lost a single bout at the age-group level. To maintain that record and defend his title, he will have to go through Abdulla KURBANOV (AIN) who finished fifth in Belgrade and returning silver medalist Solomon MANASHVILI (GEO) who troubled Masoumi last year before running out of steam.

At 92kg, Iran is going with U20 world champion Mohammadmobin AZIMI (IRI). In Amman, he emerged as the champion after beating Rizabek AITMUKHAN (KAZ) who has now won a world champion at 92kg at the senior level. Azimi won the U20 Asian Championships as well.

Ziraddin BAYRAMOV (AZE)Ziraddin BAYRAMOV (AZE) will be the favorite at 65kg. (Photo: UWW / Kostadin Andonov)

New crop at 65kg

The U23 world champion in Pontevedra was Vazgen TEVANYAN (ARM). He is now a world bronze medalist at the senior level and left the category at U23 level for a new star to rise. In fact, none of the four medalists from 2022 are returning.

That leaves two-time U20 world silver medalist Ziraddin BAYRAMOV (AZE) as the favorite to win his first world title at any level. Bayramov has wrestled internationally only once since the 2022 U20 Worlds, finishing third at the Yasar Dogu.

Adlan ASKAROV (KAZ) will hope to win a U23 World Championships medal since that silver in 2019. He finished fifth last year and is still trying to find his footing at 65kg.

U20 world champion at 61kg Mohit KUMAR (UWW) will be at 65kg in Tirana and look to make his mark in a new weight class. Iran will send Mohammadali AMOUZAD (IRI), the twin brother of 2022 65kg world champion Rahman.

Vladimeri GAMKRELIDZE (GEO)Vladimeri GAMKRELIDZE (GEO) is the defending champion and senior world silver medalist at 79kg. (Photo: UWW / Amirreza Aliasgari)

Other stars

Georgia will look to repeat last year's performance including the two gold medals as both Giorgi ELBAKIDZE (GEO) and Vladimeri GAMKRELIDZE (GEO) are returning at 70kg and 79kg respectively.

At 79kg, Ashraf ASHIROV (AZE), Shoban YARI (IRI) and Sagar JAGLAN (UWW) will be waiting to upset Gamkrelidze who finished with a silver medal at the World Championships in Belgrade.

Aaron BROOKS (USA), deemed as the successor to world and Olympic champion David TAYLOR (USA) domestically, will be returning to the international scene in four years. He has a silver medal from the 2018 U20 Worlds but finished 17th a year later.

Defending champion at 86kg, Tatsuya SHIRAI (JPN) is also returning to become Japan's first two-time freestyle world champion at the U23 level.