Development

Palau Showing Support for Peace-Through-Sport Movement with White Cards

Monday, April 23, 2018 - 07:01 By United World Wrestling Press

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Palau has been actively supporting the peace-through-sport movement by displaying a white card as part of their digital campaign to show their commitment to peace and sports efforts worldwide. 

The annual campaign recognizes the importance of the peace-through-sport movement, capturing the attention of millions of people each year through social networks in the lead up to International Day of Sport for Development and Peace (IDSDP). As part of the White Card campaign, Olympians and members of the Olympic family are invited to hold up a symbolic white card and share a photo of themselves doing so on social media.

The first display of the white card was in Peleliu State during the outreach program and sports events that began on April 7 and concluded on April 9 in commemoration of Palau National Olympic Day and the third anniversary of the Emperor and Empress of Japan historic visit to Palau. Mats were provided by United World Wrestling.

On April 9, the first beach wrestling competition took place in Peleliu. After the competition, wrestlers displayed the white card as part of their Olympic support. 

The symbolic white card was displayed by students at Ngarchelong Elementary, Ngeremlengui Elementary and Ngaraard Elementary after taking part in the wrestling outreach PE program. 

According to John Tarkong Jr., Olympian and President of the Palau Olympians & Athletes Commission (POAC), "This is our way of showing the world that Palau is committed on promoting peace and sport as a means of change in Palau and the world when conducting our activities and events. This effort is also in line with the Presidential Proclamation designating 2018 as the Year of Good Health."

#WrestleTirana

Tuesday's U23 World Championship semifinals set

Tuesday, October 24, 2023 - 08:34 By Eric Olanowski

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TIRANA, Albania (October 24) --- Welcome back to Tirana for the second day of freestyle action at the 2023 U23 World Championships. Tuesday's qualification-semifinal action will include 57kg, 65kg, 70kg, 79kg and 97kg. 

Stars in Action (Tuesday):
79kg - Vladimeri GAMKRELIDZE (GEO) - '22 U23 world champion, '23 senior world silver
57kg - Bekzat ALMAZ UULU (KGZ) - '22 U23 world bronze 
92kg - Islam ILYASOV (AZE) - '22 U23 world bronze

Semifinal matches as they come in:
57kg
Munkh Erdene BATKHUYAG (MGL) vs. Manvel KHNDZRTSYAN (ARM)
Bekzat ALMAZ UULU (KGZ) vs. Nachyn MONGUSH (AIN)

65kg
Kumar MOHIT (UWW) vs. Ibragim Charaputinovitch IBRAGIMOV (AIN)
Ziraddin BAYRAMOV (AZE) vs. Goga OTINASHVILI (GEO)

70kg
Inalbek SHERIEV (AIN) vs. Douglas Weber ZAPF (USA)
Giorgi ELBAKIDZE (GEO) vs. Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN)

79kg
Ashraf ASHIROV (AZE) vs. Shamsat TAIR (KAZ)
Dzmitry DZENISENIA (AIN) vs. Magomed MAGOMAEV (AIN)

97kg
Isaac Whitman TRUMBLE (USA) vs. Sergey SARGSYAN (ARM)
Sahil SAHIL (UWW) vs. Radu LEFTER (MDA)

15:14: Ziraddin BAYRAMOV (AZE) and Brock David HARDY (USA) are in a tight race over on Mat B. Bayramov was up 4-2, shot a head outside single, and exposed Hardy twice, extending his lead to 8-2. The American corner challenged one of the exposures, sending it to referee review. 

After review, the call on the mat was reversed, but it didn't matter. Bayramov went on to score eight additional points in the final minute, grabbing the semifinal berth with a 14-11 win.

14:36: Sorry for the delay as I was working out some technical issues. I'll be posting the semifinals as they come in. 

14:24: This'll be the last 1/8 final match before we roll into the quarterfinals.

14:14: Below, you'll find the 35-point match between Aden SAKYBAEV (KGZ) and Frederik NORTJE (RSA) that I was talking about earlier. Watch and enjoy!

13:56: Nachyn MONGUSH (AIN) continues to roll through the 57kg field, scoring a 7-1 win over Yerassyl MUKHTARULY (KAZ) in the 1/8 finals.

13:41: In the battle of U23 world champs, four takedowns--one in the first and three in the second--propelled Magomaev past Gamkrelidze.

13:14: Defending champion Vladimeri GAMKRELIDZE (GEO) will make his '23 U23 world debut on Mat C next. He'll wrestle '21 U23 world champion Magomed MAGOMAEV (AIN).

13:02: Ibragim IBRAGIMOV (AIN), the ’22 Russian National champion and ’23 Russian National silver medalist, picked up a 10-0 first-round win over Khamzat ARSAMERZOUEV (FRA). He’ll wrestle Abdullah TOPRAK (TUR) in the 65kg 1/8 finals on Mat B in about an hour.

12:26: I've been around the sport for a long time, and I don't think I've ever seen one individual score 24 points in a six-minute bout, but Aden SAKYBAEV (KGZ) just did so against Frederik NORTJE (RSA). The pair combined for 35 points, trading blows back and forth in their qualification-round meeting, but it was Sakybaev who ultimately came out on top, 24-11.

12:03: Although he's not a world medalist just yet, Nachyn MONGUSH (AIN) is a guy we'll be keeping an eye on today. He's a guy who has been working his way into the second tier of 57kg guys on Russia's depth chart. In 2021, he fell to Olympic champion Zaur UGUEV in the Russian National finals, which helped book his ticket to the post-COVID European Championships in Warsaw. In Poland, he reached the gold-medal bout but fell to Turkiye's Suleyman ATLI and settled for silver.

Today, Mongush opened up his day with a 10-0 win against Luka GVINJILIA (GEO).

11:47: That's what wrestling fans pay to see. I'll have the match up shortly, but Sagar JAGLAN (UWW) and Eugeniu MIHALCEAN (MDA) just combined for 28 points, with the United World Wrestling athlete coming out on top, 16-12.

11:19: The biggest star that we'll be watching today is Georgia's budding star Vladimeri GAMKRELIDZE (GEO), who returns to the U23 World Championships looking to defend his title from a year ago.

Since winning that U23 world title, Gamkrelidze has really emerged as one of wrestling's brightest young stars will loads of potential. Fellow Georgian great Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO) told me in our hotel lobby at the World Championships, "This guy is going to be great. He's good right now, but ge needs to have confidence in his wrestling--then he will be great."

Here's Gamkrelidze's resume over the last year:
- '23 Zagreb Open Ranking Series bronze 
- '23 Kyrgyz Ranking Series gold 
- '23 Hungarian Ranking Series silver 
- '23 Senior world silver 

11:13: This will be our final repechage bout of the morning, and we'll get back to championships action.

10:30: Good morning again, wrestling fans. We're going to run through some repechage bout before welcoming in today's competitors. It should take another half hour or so.