#WrestleRome

Matteo Pellicone freestyle preview

Tuesday, June 21, 2022 - 09:26 By Vinay Siwach

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ROME, Italy (June 20) -- A year ago, Turan BAYRAMOV (AZE) was one of the most active wrestlers in the world. He competed in eight competitions including the Olympic Games, three World Championships and two continental ones. It seemed that Bayramov would be the go-to-wrestler for Azerbaijan at 74kg.

But at the beginning of 2022, Bayramov ran into Dzhabrail GADZHIEV (AZE) at the Dan Kolov tournament in Bulgaria. While the final was not action-packed, Gadzhiev scored two technical points against one of Bayramov to win the gold.

Still, Azerbaijan sent Bayramov to the senior European Championships in which he won bronze while Gadzhiev won the gold at the U23 European Championships.

Khadzhimurad GADZHIYEV (AZE)Khadzhimurad GADZHIYEV (AZE) is returning to competition after one year. (Photo: UWW / Gabor Martin)

Azerbaijan is now entering the Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series event in Rome with both of them competing at 74kg. The battle is now three-way as Khadzhimurad GADZHIYEV (AZE) returns after being away for a year due to injury.

Gadzhiyev had qualified Azerbaijan for the Tokyo Olympics from the European Olympic Qualifiers but injured his knee in practice and Bayramov took his place on the team. But with Islamic Games in August and the World Championships in September, Azerbaijan is in a dilemma with the three wrestlers trying to make the same weight class.

Winning gold in Rome won't be a guarantee as European champion and world silver medalist Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK) will be eyeing his second straight Ranking Series gold. He won the 74kg title at the Bolat Turlykhanov Cup in Almaty earlier this month.

The weight class is one of the deepest in the world and Azerbaijan may not want to suffer a slip on its part at the World Championships by not sending its best wrestler to Belgrade.

Horst LEHRHorst LEHR (GER) will be competing at 57kg in Rome. (Photo: UWW / Kadir Caliskan)

With the same thought in mind, they have entered two wrestlers in the 57kg weight class as well. U23 world champion and European Championships silver medalist Aliabbas RZAZADE (AZE) will be the favorite to win the gold in Rome but compatriot Afgan KHASHALOV (AZE) will be up for the task if he wants to make the team at 57kg.

World bronze medalist Horst LEHR (GER) is returning to competition since becoming Germany's first-ever U23 European champion in February. His experience and unique style of wrestling may upset the flow of the Azerbaijan pair.

Former U17 world champion Andrii YATSENKO (UKR) will also be raging to be competition ready in Rome. He last competed at the European Olympic Qualifiers in March last year.

Ukraine's two big stars, junior European champion Erik ARUSHANIAN (UKR) and Vasyl SHUPTAR (UKR) are entered at 65kg. While the 31-year-old Shuptar participated in the Oslo World Championships, a better result for Arushanian may see him make the cut for the Belgrade event.

But it won't be a cakewalk for him as European champion Iszmail MUSZUKAJEV (HUN) is eyeing his first Ranking Series gold medal of the year. The Hungarian defeated Olympic silver medalist Haji ALIYEV (AZE) in the final in Budapest.

Apart from him, former world champion Beka LOMTADZE (GEO), Pan-Am silver medalist Sebastian RIVERA (PUR), U23 European bronze medalist Hamza ALACA (TUR) and Ali RAHIMZADE (AZE), who is competing for the first time since Oslo, are entered at 65kg.

Haji ALIYEV (AZE)Haji ALIYEV (AZE) will be jumping up to 70kg for the Matteo Pellicone. (Photo: UWW / Kadir Caliskan)

Aliyev had the opportunity to avenge his Budapest loss against Muszukajev but made a jump to 70kg for the tournament. Aliyev has wrestled in the weight class once before -- at the '21 Poland Open Ranking Series. He ended up winning bronze.

If he wants to win the gold now, he will have to go through two crafty wrestlers in European champion Zurabi IAKOBISHVILI (GEO) and World and Asian silver medalist Ernazar AKMATALIEV (KGZ).

The Georgian has not competed since winning the 70kg title in Budapest after winning bronze at the Yasar Dogu Ranking Series at the start of the year.

Akmataliev failed to win a medal in Istanbul but returned to win silver at the Asian Championships. He suffered a 4-3 loss in the final against Taishi NARIKUNI (JPN). But Akmataliev will now be looking to win his second Ranking Series gold after he won the top medal in Almaty.

For Azerbaijan, world bronze medalists Abubakr ABAKAROV (AZE) and Osman NURMAGOMEDOV (AZE) will be the favorite to win the 86kg and 92kg respectively.

While European silver medalist Abakarov has Boris MAKOEV (SVK) and U23 world champion Mukhmammed ALIIEV (UKR) as his top opponents, Nurmagomedov may face Erhan YAYLACI (TUR).

The two wrestled at the '21 U23 European Championships and Nurmagomedov had all but sealed the gold medal. In the dying second, he resorted to keeping a distance from Yaylaci and on the final attack from the Turkey wrestler, Nurmagomedov committed a single-pull. The penalty point cost him the continental title.

The 97kg field for Rome can be dubbed as a mini European Championships. All the top six wrestlers from Budapest are entered for Rome led by gold medalist Magomedkhan MAGOMEDOV (AZE). Silver to him in Budapest Vladislav BAITSAEV (HUN) will be eyeing revenge if the two meet on the mat.

The two bronze medalists Batyrbek TSAKULOV (SVK) and Zbigniew BARANOWSKI (POL) will also look to reverse the results from Budapest. The Slovakia wrestler had lost to Baitsaev in the opening round while Baranowski suffered a semifinal loss to Magomedov.

In the bronze medal bouts, Tsakulov, who won the gold at the Bolat Turlykhanov Cup, defeated Erik THIELE (GER) while Baranowski went past veteran Elizbar ODIKADZE (GEO).

But entering his first Ranking Series event since 2018, Odikadze will hope to extend his perfect record at such tournaments. In 2018, he won gold at both Ranking Series events.

Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO)Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO) will be the favorite to win the 125kg gold in Rome. (Photo: UWW / Kadir Caliskan)

Another Georgian star and Olympic silver medalist Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO) is the favorite to win the gold at 125kg. After losing to Taha AKGUL (TUR) in the European Championships final, Petriashvili would like to return to winning ways before the grand event in September.

But Robert BARAN (POL) may have other ideas. In a thrilling semifinal at the European Championships, Baran managed to hold off Petriashvili for the majority of the time. He ultimately suffered a 2-1 loss but in Rome, he would back himself to reverse the result.

U23 world silver medalist Azamat KHOSONOV (GRE) and former U23 European champion Anil KILICSALLAYAN (TUR) may finish at the podium.

At 79kg, U23 and senior European champion Georgios KOUGIOUMTSIDIS (GRE) will be the one to watch as he tries to prove that his two continental titles in two months were not flukes.

Freestyle action begins Friday and can be watched live at uww.org.

Women in Sport High Performance Pathway

Women in Sport High Performance Pathway call for candidates

Saturday, April 9, 2022 - 12:06 By United World Wrestling Press

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (April 8) -- United World Wrestling is calling for candidates for the Women in Sport High Performance Pathway programme.

The Women in Sport High Performance Pathway (WISH for short) is supported by Olympic Solidarity and was developed to target women and sport development, according to Recommendation 6 from the IOC Gender Equality Review Project (March 2018).

This recommendation states, as an action, to encourage ‘Balanced gender representation for coaches selected to participate at the Games.’ Specifically, the working group recommended that ‘the IOC coordinates the development of an action plan in collaboration with Olympic Movement stakeholders for more women to be eligible to participate at Olympic Games. It is also recommended that a baseline for female entourage members at the Olympic Games is established.’ Closing the gender gap in coaches at the Olympic Games has been reiterated as a priority for the IOC in the new IOC Gender Equality and Inclusion Objectives for 2021-2024, objective 15 “Taking into account that women represent 10 per cent of coaches at the Olympic Games, the IOC to coordinate the development of an action plan in collaboration with IFs & NOCs, for more women to be eligible and selected to participate at World Championships and the Olympic Games”.

The WISH Programme has been developed in cooperation with the IOC/Olympic Solidarity, ASOIF, AIOWF and several International Federations already engaged in projects to increase opportunities and pathways for high-performance women coaches. This programme has also been supported by the International Council for Coaching Excellence (ICCE) ICCE | Home who voiced a global call to action to increase the number of women in coaching at all levels and so provide athletes with greater choice. This call to action is supported by ensuring there is a strong and sustainable pipeline of women coaches equipped to step up to elite roles, maintain their roles and mentor future high performance coaches both women and men.

About the Programme
The programme runs over 21 months and allows women who are involved, or have the potential to be involved in elite coaching, to access leadership training, leadership mentoring and complementary sport-specific training led by the IF (UWW) and with the engagements of the National Olympic Committees.

A cohort of 26 women from six sports and 23 nations completed a pilot women’s high-performance coach programme (WSLA HPC) led by the same delivery team from 2019-'21, which had many successes despite the global pandemic. Several women have gone on to be leading or supporting national programmes, appointed into national coaching roles and have had success at championships. One of the coaches has attended the Olympics as a coach and several others have led their team to World Championships. 

The programme is special in that Olympic Solidarity and IOC with the IFs (UWW) and NOCs will continue to track and support these high performance women coaches going forward and a commitment has been made to support a series of new cohorts of women coaches in the next three years.

Exact dates will be communicated once we have received the expressions of interest from the NFs and have confirmed the number of participants. The organisers will work closely with IFs (UWW) on the planning and dates, but it is proposed that the first cohort will commence in May 2022 with a residential week in the UK from August 14-20 2022. The second cohort will commence in August 2022 with a residential week in the UK from October 23-29 2022.

The women coaches for the programme will be selected with an aim to target those who have the necessary level to be successful at the Regional and/or Continental Games, World Championship, Youth Olympic Games ‘YOG’ and Olympic level and are working with national teams who are also targeting this level. Additional support for these coaches to work towards their objectives in coordination with the various stakeholders will be provided as part of the programme before, during and after the programme. 

At the end of the 21 month period, the best-identified candidates who may require more support to progress will be invited to attend a more specific and top-level coaching education programme under the umbrella of their respective IF (UWW). For this second part, candidates could benefit from another Olympic Solidarity scholarship through the Entourage Unit.

These coaches will be selected based on the following criteria:

  1. Recognised by their International Federation, National Federation and their National Olympic Committee as being a part of, or having the potential, to be a part of a national delegation to the Regional and/or Continental Games, World Championships, YOG and/or Olympic Games in a sport on the Summer or Winter Olympic Games Sport Programme.  Coaches who are working outside of their host nation can also be considered.
  1. Identified by the respective International Federation to be targeted for mentorship support to help them prepare towards participation with their athletes/team at the Regional and/or Continental Games, World Championships, YOG and/or Olympic Games.
  2. Able to integrate, or are already integrated into national programmes that are in pathway to qualify athletes for the Regional and/or Continental Games, YOG, World Championships and Olympics at the World or Continental/Regional events or via the Tripartite system.
  3. Have no history of anti-doping violation, safeguarding violation, manipulation of competition or other ethics violation.
  4. Able to commit to the whole programme.
  5. Have good written and spoken English (min IELTS 6.5). 

If you're interested in participating in the Women in Sport High Performance Pathway programme, please contact your National Federations before April 12 with your preferred start date.