#development

Record number attend India's Introduction to Referee Course

By United World Wrestling Press

SONEPAT, India (November 30) -- The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) organized an Introduction to Referee course on November 18-20 in Sonepat. This was the largest-ever course with 96 participants (86 men and 10 women).

“The course was very useful for developing skills and knowledge of the Indian national referees. WFI organizes 25 domestic competitions in a year. After this course, we have enough national referees to conduct these competitions as this group will serve as referees at many of those events,” said Brijbhushan Sharan Singh, WFI President.

This course was led by Carlos GARCIA (ESP) and assisted by Ashok KUMAR (IND). Both are IS Referees and certified UWW Educators.

During the three-day course, the participants concentrated on several areas that are important to the development of referees. After an initial assessment, the main topics were focused on referee mechanics, positioning, referee team duties, and athlete safeguarding.

The morning sessions centered around the theory, mainly through videos or direct examples from their practical sessions. The afternoon sessions were dedicated to practicing on the mat by refereeing short matches. These practical sessions allowed participants to apply what they learned and improve their performance.

“I learned a lot from this course and even things that I did not know about including the latest rules and regulations of the competition. This course was very useful for me, and I really enjoyed this course," Shivaji, a referee, said.

“I would like to thank the Wrestling Federation of India for organizing the course and their hospitality. It is very motivating when you see so much interest and passion which may not be everything, but it gets you to your goals faster. The young Indian referees have a passion that could drive Formula 1 cars at maximum speed," Garcia said.

#WrestleIstanbul

Wednesday's U17 World semifinals set

By Eric Olanowski

ISTANBUL, Turkiye (August 2) --- The third day of wrestling at the 2023 U17 World Championships welcomes women's wrestling action at 43kg, 49kg, 57kg, 65kg and 73kg. 

 The morning session, which starts at 11:00 (local time), will run through the quarterfinals before taking our mid-day break. We'll return at 17:00 for the semifinals, then roll directly into the final set of Greco-Roman medal bouts at 18:00.

Wednesday's opening session will feature 19 medalists from this year's continental champions, including seven wrestlers who reached the top of the podium at the 2023 Asian, European, African or Pan-American Championships.

Everything you need to know:
📍Istanbul, Turkiye 🇹🇷
🗓️: July 31-August 6
Qualification: 11:00
🥇🥈🥉= 18:00
#️⃣#WrestleIstanbul
🖥️: uww.org 
📱: UWW App

Here's a list of the reigning continental champs in action on Wednesday:
43kg  - Aleksandra BEREZOVSKAIA (AIN)
43kg -  Parveen PARVEEN (IND)
49kg -  Sviatlana KATENKA (AIN)
57kg  - Sabah KHAMIS (EGY)
57kg  - Neha NEHA (IND)
73kg  - Mouda HAMDOUN (EGY)
73kg -  Shiksha SHIKSHA (IND)

Wednesdays night's women's wrestling semifinals

43kg
Nilufar NURMUKHAMMADOVA (UZB) vs. Morgan Nicole TURNER (USA) 
Mona EZAKA (JPN) vs. Maria Louiza GKIKA (GRE) 

49kg
Rinka OGAWA (JPN) vs. Tana TIULIUSH (AIN) 
Sviatlana KATENKA (AIN) vs. Heather Marie CRULL (USA) 

57kg
Aziza KELDIBEKOVA (KGZ) vs. Eylem ENGIN (TUR) 
YeoJin MIN (KOR) vs. Sowaka UCHIDA (JPN) 

65kg
Chisato YOSHIDA (JPN) vs. Margarita SALNAZARIAN (AIN) 
Duygu GEN (TUR) vs. Maryia MAKARCHANKA (AIN) 

73kg
Aliaksandra KAZLOVA (AIN) vs. Piper Meredith FOWLER (USA) 
Lotta ENGLICH (GER) vs. Asaloy AMANGELDIEVA (UZB) 

Japanese score tracker: 68-10 (Record: 9-1 with five technical superiority wins and two falls)

13:30: That'll do it for our morning session. We'll see you back here at 17:00 for the women's wrestling semifinals, followed by the closing session of Greco-Roman action at 18:00.

13:26: Reigning U17 world champion Sowaka UCHIDA (JPN) punched her ticket to the 57kg semifinals with a hard-fought 7-4 win over 2023 U17 Asian champion Neha NEHA (IND).

13:02: Morgan Nicole TURNER (USA) at 43kg is someone to keep an eye on. She's picked up consecutive tech falls over Saadat GULIYEVA (AZE) and Alina MAZHAROUSKAYA (AIN). She awaits the winner of Yagmur KARABACAK (TUR) and Nilufar NURMUKHAMMADOVA (UZB).

12:59: Tack on two additional wins for Japan, as they improve to 7-1 in the morning session with back-to-back wins over Indian athletes.

12:42: Piper Meredith FOWLER (USA) takes out Ako UCHIYAMA (JPN), 6-0, at 73kg, handing Japan their first women's wrestling loss of the competition.

12:30: Despite falling to Elmira YASIN (TUR) in the opening round, Sarah RANDRIANANDRASANA (MAD) just became the first U17 wrestler--in women's wrestling, freestyle or Greco-Roman--to compete at the U17 World Championships.

12:23: Shiksha picked up two takedowns before planting Pupp on her back for the first-period fall. Next, she'll wrestle the winner of Sabina Nicoleta PETRACHE (ROU) and Margarita SALNAZARIAN (AIN).

12:05: Reigning U17 Asian gold medalist Shiksha SHIKSHA (IND) will wrestle last year's U15 European champion Viktoria PUPP (HUN) next on Mat C.

11:47: After the first three dominant Japanese performances, it looks like a score tracker is a must for the day. Thus far, they are 3-0 and have outscored their opponents 27-0--including two wins via technical superiority and one by fall.

11:36: The match between Ezaka and Berezovskaia was short-lived. The reigning U17 European champion was no match for the Japanese wrestlers, as Ezaka walked her way to a fall in 75 seconds after leading 6-0.

11:20: That does it for the repechage matches. We're rolling right into the qualification rounds for women's wrestling. The first star-studded match of the day that'll be up will take place on Mat B in three matches. Mona EZAKA (JPN), the reigning U17 world silver medalist, will square off against 2023 U17 European champion Aleksandra BEREZOVSKAIA (AIN).

11:00: Before we get into our women's wrestling matches, we'll start the morning off with Greco-Roman repechage matches to see who will compete in Wednesday night's medal matches.

10:45: We're 15 minutes from kicking off day three action in Istanbul.