Coaching Course

Poland Hosts Level 1 Referee and Coaches Course

By United World Wrestling Press

CETNIEWO, Poland (July 28) -- The long journey to open up wrestling activities is underway in Poland, with the recent delivery of a national coaches and referee course last week in Cetniewo.

The course, attended by 18 coaches and referees, was organized for the national freestyle and women wrestling coaches, and club the coaches in Cetniewo. The course was initiated and fully funded by the Poland Wrestling Federation and delivered in accordance with international standards.

"We are excited to see these courses being delivered in a responsible manner," said UWW Development Director Deqa Niamkey. "This is a good sign that we will soon be able to deliver more educational programming in appropriate locations."

The course was well received by the national referees and a similar course will be delivered later this year for regional level referees and coaches. The federation says it hopes the future programming will help promote education among referees and coaches; update knowledge of referees and coaches and to bring new perspectives into wrestling coaches at national level.

The coaches course focused on the proper management of athletes and included coaching skills like communication, planning, organization, training calendars, sport psychology, and a review of the UWW Code of Ethics.

Those who completed the course received certification from the Poland Wrestling Federation.

#WrestleBelgrade

Unheralded Tazhudinov stuns Olympic champs Snyder, Sadulaev

By Vinay Siwach

BELGRADE, Serbia (September 18) -- The 97kg hegemony has been broken. Unheralded Akhmed TAZHIDUNOV (BRN) stunned two Olympic champions in Kyle SNYDER (USA) and Abdulrashid SADULAEV (AIN) in back-to-back matches to confirm a first World Championships final since 2014 which will not feature one of the two.

The 19-year-old Asian champion was a shocker no one saw coming as he made it to the final and also confirmed a Paris Olympic quota for Bahrain. He will take on Magomedkhan MAGOMEDOV (AZE) for the gold medal.

Magomedov avenged his European Championships final loss to Givi MATCHRASHVILI (GEO) to make it his first World Championships final. He also earned a Paris Olympic quota for Azerbaijan.

In the other Olympic weight class in action in Belgrade, Olympic and world champions fell like nine pins as Iszmail MUSZUKAJEV (HUN) and Sebastian RIVERA (PUR) made it to the gold medal finals and earning Paris Olympic spots for Hungary and Puerto Rico respectively.

Muszukajev took out Tokyo Olympic champion Takuto OTOGURO (JPN), Shamil MAMEDOV (AIN) and world champion Rahman AMOUZAD (IRI) in three absolute stunners to get to the final.

Rivera, a fifth-placer last year, got a buzzer-beating lace to beat European champion Vazgen TEVANYAN (ARM) 10-9 in the other semifinal.

In the two women's wrestling weight classes that were in action, Yuliia TKACH (UKR) returned to the World Championships final after nine years, reaching the gold medal about at 59kg. She will take on Qi ZHANG (CHN) who beat Jennifer PAGE (USA). Zhang's win over Page means that Sae NANJO (JPN) will return empty-handed.

At 55kg, two-time world champion Haruna OKUNO (JPN) also returned to the final. Her last gold came in 2018. She will take on 2019 world champion Jacarra WINCHESTER (USA), who is also returning to the final for the first time in four years.

Winchester won 10-0 against Anastasia BLAYVAS (GER) in the semifinal while Okuno won over Mariana DRAGUTAN (MDA) 6-0.