Obituary

Malta Wrestling Federation Founder Bonello Passes Away

Tuesday, September 4, 2018 - 12:38 By United World Wrestling Press

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (September 4) -- Simon A. Bonello, former president and founder of the Malta Wrestling Federation, passed away on Monday. He was 85. 

Bonello introduced freestyle wrestling to Malta in 1967, which led to the creation of the federation in late 1969. A year later the federation became fully affiliated with the International Federation.

He served as an official of the Maltese Olympic Committee for 25 years, vice president for four years, and was an established referee. Bonello was one of Malta's longest serving presidents of a national association.

Bonello also worked to promote wrestling outside of his home country. His organization hosted international wrestling tournaments between 1993 and 2004 involving European small states and autonomous regions. 

During the 1970s, Bonello also served as president of the Weightlifting Federation, Bodybuilding Association and Chess Federation. He spent time working as a journalist and was vice president of the Sports Journalists Association.
 

CAS imposes four-year ban on Gadisov

Wednesday, September 20, 2023 - 10:48 By United World Wrestling Press

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (September 27) -- The Court of Arbitration for Sport has imposed a four-year suspension on former world champion Abdusalam GADISOV for a sample collected on August 6, 2015.

Gadisov, who won the gold medal at the 2014 World Championship, was subjected to an out-of-competition test. The sample was initially reported negative by the Moscow lab but it was kept for long-term storage.

On a re-analysis by the Lausanne lab in April 2020, it returned with an adverse analytical finding for dehydrochloromethyltestosterone, an anabolic-androgenic steroid prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

The RUSADA ‘Disciplinary Anti-Doping Committee’ declared a decision on May 27, 2021 that the wrestler had not committed a doping violation. WADA and RUSADA appealed this decision to CAS.

The CAS heard the matter and decided that the wrestler had committed a doping violation and all the results of Gadisov from August 6, 2015 till August 5, 2019 must be disqualified including the silver medal he won at the 2015 World Championships in Las Vegas.

Abdusalam Gadisov has appealed against CAS’s decision to the Swiss Federal Tribunal.