#WrestleWarsaw

Live Blog: Poland Open Ranking Series, Day Five

By Eric Olanowski

Greco-Roman action begins at Poland Open with five weight classes on the mat in Warsaw on Saturday. Keep an eye for the 77kg weight category.

WATCH LIVE | MATCH ORDER

Saturday's Finals Matches (As they come in):
67kg: Mohamed ELSAYED (EGY) vs.  Murat FIRAT (TUR) 
77kg: Abuiazid MANTSIGOV (RUS) vs. Tamas LEVAI (HUN) 
82kg: Yaroslav FILCHAKOV (UKR) vs.Jalgasbay BERDIMURATOV (UZB) 
130kg: Aliakbar Hossein YOUSOFIAHMADCHALI (IRI) vs. Amin Mohammadzaman MIRZAZADEH (IRI) 

12:32: Tamas LEVAI (HUN) upsets Vlasov's run and likely ends his quest at winning a third Olympic title. 

11:55: That's two matches up and two matches down for Vlasov. Through those matches, he's outscored his opponents 19-0. 

11:46: World champion Mantsigov is making his way to Mat A for his tournament debut against Yunus Emre BASAR (TUR). The winner of this match will square off against the winner of  Tamas LEVAI (HUN) and Sakke Petteri PUROLAINEN (FIN). 

11:30: That's a wrap for qualification-round matches. We're moving into the quarterfinals. We'll have four matches on each mat then roll right into the semifinals. 

11:20: Vlasov has made his way to Mat A for his opening round matchup against Oliver Marco KRUEGER (DEN).

11:02: Two-time Olympic champion Roman VLASOV (RUS) is fighting for the right to represent Russia at the Olympic Games at 77kg. He'll have outplace '19 world champion Abuiazid MANTSIGOV (RUS) today, then beat '18 world Aleksander CHERKHIRKIN (RUS) in a later-scheduled wrestle-off for the spot.

Vlasov will take the mat in two matches on Mat A.

11:00: We're about two minutes from going live in Poland. It looks like we'll have between 12-14 matches per mat during this morning's session. We'll start things off this morning with two-time world champion and London Olympic silver medalist Heiki NABI (EST) on Mat A. 

#development

Bulgaria hosts OLYMP to increase media literacy

By United World Wrestling Press

BULGARIA (October 15) -- Bulgaria hosted a seminar on the OLYMP project, funded by the European Union's Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) Programme, at Diana National Wrestling Hall on October 9. The project aims to improve the media literacy of athletes, coaches, and sports managers.

The seminar was led by Georgi BANOV, one of the doyens of Bulgarian sports journalism, who has covered 14 Olympic Games in winter and summer sports, as well as a number of world and European Championships in wrestling, weightlifting, athletics, biathlon, and more.

The seminar was organized for the athletes of the national wrestling teams. The event was hosted by Belcho GORANOV, Chairman of the Ethics and Legal Commission of the United World Wrestling (UWW) and project manager on behalf of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee (BOC).

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by bgolympic (@bgolympic)

The team emphasized that the seminar is part of a six-month cycle of informal training under the OLYMP project, which covers a total of 110 young athletes. The program includes weekly sessions in small groups focusing on media and information literacy, critical thinking and analytical skills, as well as developing the participants' confidence and ability to defend their positions with reasoned arguments.

The weekly classes will include readings and discussions on biographies, novels, sports magazines, as well as topics related to sports management and economics. Additional informal activities -- meetings with prominent athletes and film screenings -- will be held twice a month, with each event featuring moderated debates and practical challenges for “fact checking” and ethical behavior on social media.

Banov drew the athletes' attention to how to verify the information they receive through social media and other sources, how to recognize fake news, how to search for reliable information, and how to use social networks correctly, avoiding hate speech.

At the end of the media literacy program, a combined (formal and informal) assessment is planned – short tests and case studies, observation of group work, participant portfolios, and satisfaction surveys—to report on the specific results of the training and its impact on the engagement of young athletes in public life.

Read more on BOC website