Development

Level II Course for Coaches and Referees in Guatemala

By United World Wrestling Press

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala (December 30) -- 15 coaches and 5 referees from different departments from Guatemala participated in the UWW Course for Coaches and Referees Level II from the 7th to 13th December 2021 in the Guatemala National Wrestling Training Center. This course was organized by the National Federation of Guatemala, United World Wrestling Development Department, and the National Olympic Committee of Guatemala with the support of Olympic Solidarity.

UWW certified educators Abraham GALVA (PUR) for referees and Pedro ROJAS (PUR) for coaches.

The course was focused on the updating of new regulatory changes and at the same time in which they learned about teaching methodology and planification of sports training.

GUA

Group discussions were realized and experiences from other coaches were presented about topics related to methods and processes about sports training by age and stages. During every session, participants including coaches and referees showed a great level of commitment.

Recently retired athlete and current National Coach Christian Jose MOX ARIAS said “I’m very excited to have this kind of workshop in my country. This will help me to develop my skills as a coach and I can’t wait to give my students all the new knowledge.”

After the course, at the closing ceremony were present Francisco LEE LOPEZ, President UWWA, the President of the Guatemala Federation Ramón Francisco GONZÁLEZ PINEDA, and members from the National Olympic Committee of Guatemala awarding the participant with the participation certificates.

More than 1000 Wrestlers in Saudi Arabia's Biggest Competition

By United World Wrestling Press

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (February 24) -- Saudi Arabia organized its largest wrestling competition to date with more than 1000 wrestlers participating in the 10-day event.

The Saudi Wrestling Federation organized the event from February 8 to 17 with wrestling in Freestyle, Greco-Roman and Women's Wrestling. The age groups included U12, U17, U23 and senior level.

The tournament was also open to government and private clubs which surged the number of wrestlers participating. The clubs included wrestlers from different nationalities. According to the Saudi federation, 1,173 wrestlers participated with 1,034 male and 139 female wrestlers.

Over the 10 days, 1,491 matches were conducted using the official UWW Arena competition management system to ensure professional organization, transparency, and technical accuracy.

"The number of registered wrestlers in the Kingdom has doubled in recent years," Sherif HALAWA, UWW Certified Educator & Head of Sports Performance of the Saudi Wrestling Federation, said. "This development has already produced historic achievements, including Saudi Arabia’s first-ever Asian silver medal at the U20 Asian Championships."

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia, which termed the event as National Championships, has made steady success recently. It has also managed to grow wrestling at grassroots, women’s participation, referee development, and high-performance pathways.

"The technical level of Saudi wrestlers has improved significantly in recent years," Yusup ABDULSALAMOV, Senior Manager of High Performance at the Saudi Olympic Training Center, said. "There are promising talents capable of achieving strong international results in the near future. Saudi wrestling is clearly on the right path."