#development

Sri Lankan Wrestling Federation Hosts National Referee Course

By United World Wrestling Press

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (October 25) – The Sri Lankan Wrestling Federation and Sri Lanka NOC organized an Introduction to Referee Course around their U20 National Championships. The course was held from 15-17 October and the competition was on 16 October.  Sri Lankan Wrestling Federation took an active part to make the course successful. Mr. Sarath Hewavithrana, president of Sri Lankan Wrestling Federation was present himself throughout the course.  Mr. Gopinath and Mr, Dinesh, both from Sri Lanka NOC, were also present during course.

The Introduction to Refereeing course was conducted by Mr. Ashok Kumar – UWW Educator, IS and Olympic Referee.  This course had 16 participants (14 men and 2 women).  Each day they had a theoretical session from 09h00 to 13h00 and a practical session form 14h30 to 18h00.  The referee participants focused on skills that would provide a solid foundation as a referee.  The areas they focused on were evaluation of holds, starting and ending matches, referee mechanics, positioning, safety of the athletes, and controlling the bout. During the course, they were asked to referee simulated matches before and after the competition.  All of the candidates took part in the U20 National Competition. These activities allowed the referees to apply the skills that they learned directly from the course. “The candidates were very enthusiast to under this course. All participants were happy to learn the course information.” said Mr. Kumar.

Training Camp in Vietnam

By UWW Development

The Vietnam Wrestling Federation in collaboration with a private company organized the “2022 Expanding Horizons World Camp” that took place in Hanoi, Vietnam from the 16th to 30th of June.

After an almost 2-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the camp was able to bring together 18 wrestlers (GR, FS, WW) from different countries such as; United States, Canada, Australia and the hosting nation, Vietnam. The camp combined several important areas from technical skills, nutritional knowledge, Olympic experience, social networking, cultural broadening, and aspirations and empowerment sessions to elevate the sport to new heights for the next generation of competitors.

Arsen Julfalakyan, PhD, UWW Athletes Commission Chairman and Bureau Member, Olympic Silver Medallist, World and European Champion coached the athletes throughout the camp.  He shared his knowledge as an Olympian while leading various sessions to expand the knowledge of the participants.

Aside the training sessions, the participants enjoyed several off the mat activities such as; a boat ride on the Red River Delta along the city of Ninh Binh, a visit to the Blue Dragon Foundation Orphanage, a cruise on the Halong Bay and much more to create bonding moments and share the Vietnamese culture.  

The intense training culminated in an individual/dual competition held on June 26-27, in which all young athletes were able to showcase their newly acquired knowledge and techniques on the mat.

The camp was a great success and showcased the value of diversifying collaboration, linking with a private sector is a great asset for the development of wrestling for the neediest national federations.

Camp VIE 2022