#WrestleBelgrade

UWW hosts Congress before World Championships in Belgrade

By United World Wrestling Press

BELGRADE, Serbia (September 9) -- The United World Wrestling hosted its ordinary Congress Friday, a day before the World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia.

UWW President and International Olympic Committee Executive Board member Nenad LALOVIC opened the Congress which was attended by 106 countries.

President of IOC Thomas BACH addressed the gathering with a message to remain united and work towards Olympic solidarity.

Lalovic, who has attended 11 executive board meetings in the last 12 months, echoed the same views during his opening remark.

Nenad LALOVICUWW President Nenad LALOVIC addressing the Congress in Belgrade. (Photo: UWW / Kadir Caliskan)

"We as sports lose in such [conflict] situation," Lalovic said. "Our family is not about politics but about wrestlers and fans. So we should remain united.

"Our athletes promote peace around the globe. We had problems in the past but we hope our medals will shine in the right way."

The attendees of the Congress also held one-minute silence to mourn the death of bureau member Lucio CANEVA and Francois CARRARD.

The Congress discussed the improvement of wrestling via youth engagement, women's wrestling, associated styles, the image of wrestling and digital transformation. The reports of all the different departments of UWW were also presented during the Congress.

The Congress also held the election for seven bureau members for a five-year term. A total of 122 votes were cast with the majority being 61 votes.

Out of the seven, four were re-elected which include Theodoros HAMAKOS, Karl-Martin DITTMANN, Rodika YAKSI, Namig ALIYEV. The three newly elected members were Daniel IGALI (NGR), Razvan PIRCALABU (ROU) and Zhang YE (CHN).

The Congress emphasized that to continue on their goal to be self-reliant they need overall growth with more sponsors, and engagement and take wrestling to regional and local levels.

Details of the Congress are available at uww.org.

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