Development

Jordan Hosts Level I Technical Course

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY (May 10) – The Jordanian Olympic Committee with the support of Olympic Solidarity and in collaboration of the Jordan Wrestling Federation, hosted a Level I technical course for coaches  February 4-8 in Amman.

The course was conducted by UWW Educator Batbayar BUYANDELGER (MGL) and gathered 21 participants and was followed by an "Introduction to Refereeing" conducted by fellow UWW Educator Sherif HALAWA (EGY).

Jordan is among the first nations to benefit from the launch of the development initiative to assist developing nations in organizing national wrestling competitions. To ensure that lessons were well-received the participants at both courses took part in the organization and delivery of the competition, which included 20 cadet and junior level boys and 7 national referees.

The budget of $3000 was allocated for the event, with the Jordan Wrestling Federation offering positive feedback on their experience.  

In order to encourage grassroots development of smaller wrestling national federations, UWW is encouraging countries to organize at least one competition per year, and when possible that will be supported and assisted by UWW in conjunction of an Olympic Solidarity Technical Course for Coaches.

“The aim is to promote the sport of wrestling in Jordan and the region. Middle-East countries have a strong wrestling history with great potential for development, this is why we want to assist them in their development process.” said Ms. Deqa Niamkey, UWW Development Director. “ Following the first project in Burundi, we received many requests of technical courses for coaches and a high demand to host national competitions right after the educational courses. UWW expert educators, are contributing tremendously to this growth and I trust these events will contribute tremendously to the growth of wrestling.”

#WrestleBelgrade

Unheralded Tazhudinov stuns Olympic champs Snyder, Sadulaev

By Vinay Siwach

BELGRADE, Serbia (September 18) -- The 97kg hegemony has been broken. Unheralded Akhmed TAZHIDUNOV (BRN) stunned two Olympic champions in Kyle SNYDER (USA) and Abdulrashid SADULAEV (AIN) in back-to-back matches to confirm a first World Championships final since 2014 which will not feature one of the two.

The 19-year-old Asian champion was a shocker no one saw coming as he made it to the final and also confirmed a Paris Olympic quota for Bahrain. He will take on Magomedkhan MAGOMEDOV (AZE) for the gold medal.

Magomedov avenged his European Championships final loss to Givi MATCHRASHVILI (GEO) to make it his first World Championships final. He also earned a Paris Olympic quota for Azerbaijan.

In the other Olympic weight class in action in Belgrade, Olympic and world champions fell like nine pins as Iszmail MUSZUKAJEV (HUN) and Sebastian RIVERA (PUR) made it to the gold medal finals and earning Paris Olympic spots for Hungary and Puerto Rico respectively.

Muszukajev took out Tokyo Olympic champion Takuto OTOGURO (JPN), Shamil MAMEDOV (AIN) and world champion Rahman AMOUZAD (IRI) in three absolute stunners to get to the final.

Rivera, a fifth-placer last year, got a buzzer-beating lace to beat European champion Vazgen TEVANYAN (ARM) 10-9 in the other semifinal.

In the two women's wrestling weight classes that were in action, Yuliia TKACH (UKR) returned to the World Championships final after nine years, reaching the gold medal about at 59kg. She will take on Qi ZHANG (CHN) who beat Jennifer PAGE (USA). Zhang's win over Page means that Sae NANJO (JPN) will return empty-handed.

At 55kg, two-time world champion Haruna OKUNO (JPN) also returned to the final. Her last gold came in 2018. She will take on 2019 world champion Jacarra WINCHESTER (USA), who is also returning to the final for the first time in four years.

Winchester won 10-0 against Anastasia BLAYVAS (GER) in the semifinal while Okuno won over Mariana DRAGUTAN (MDA) 6-0.