UWW

UWW Renews Commissions, Committees

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (February 2) -- United World Wrestling announced the renewed Commissions and Committees for the '24 Paris Olympic cycle after the Bureau meeting that was held last week. 

With the recent elections of the Athletes Commission, all continents are represented in the UWW Commissions and an overall increase of women representation amongst the commissions was prevalent in the changesSix Bureau members were elected Commissions presidents, while one was given the responsibility to preside over a Committee.

Daulet Turlykhanov will continue his duty as President of the Scientific Commissions, while Mikhail Mamiashvili will hold the role of the President of the Technical Commission. Stan Dziedzic, together with Don Ryan will preside over the Coaches, while Akhroldjan Ruziev will be in charge of the Media Commission. 

Pedro Gama Filho has assumed a new position as the President of the Marketing Commission. Nataliya Yariguina has been tasked with the continuation of heading the Gender Equality Commission.

The Legal and Ethics Commission will be fronted by Belcho Goranov. Georgy Bryusov will assume the role as the President of the Sport for All Commission, as Dr. Babak Shadgan will serve as the head of the Medical Commission.

For the Refereeing Commission, Antonio Silverstri remains at the helm.

UWW also elected four Committee presidents at the Bureau meeting, starting with Pedro Silva being named the head of the Beach Wrestling Committee. 

Rizvan Bochkaev will be responsible for the Grappling Committee, as Alexei Savchuk was named the President of Pankration while Cholpon Sultanbekova will preside over the Belt Wrestling Committee.

During the meeting, the Bureau also discussed the ongoing plans to start the implementation of the Five-Year Strategic plan presented during the Belgrade Congress. The plan outlined UWW's focus on Youth, Women’s Wrestling, Associated Styles, Image of Wrestling and the Digital Transformation in the Olympic cycle and how to prioritize them at each competition from 2022-'26.

For more details about UWW's Five-Year Strategic Plan, click here or see https://uww.org/organisation/strategy.

COMMISSIONS

Scientific
President: Daulet Turlykhanov (KAZ) 

Dr. David Curby (USA)
Dr. Nabil Hosny Elshorbagy (EGY)
Prof. Jose Maria Lopez Guillon (ESP)
Prof. Dr. Georgii Korobeinikov (UKR)
Prof. Dr. Ümit Karli (TUR)
Dr. Tibor Barna (HUN)
Assist. Prof. Ioannis Barbas (GRE)
Dr. Bahman Mirzaei Ghaziani( IRI)
Assoc. Prof. Mario Baic (CRO)

Legal and Ethics
President: Belcho Goranov (BUL)

Francisco Gonzales Pineda (GUA)
Aurélie Aim-Tuil (FRA)
Michael Smith (CAN)
Roman Kudinov (SUI)
Rouzbeh Vosough Ahmadi (IRI)
Osamu Shimizu (JPN)
Carla Morais (POR)
Laura Peeters (USA)
Houcine Kharrazi (TUN)

Technical 
President: Mikhail Mamiashvili (RUS)

Alin Grigore (ROU)
Finizio Salvatore I(TA)
Peter Bacsi (HUN)
Şeref Eroğlu (TUR)|
Zhang Ye (CHN)
Daniel Igali (NGR)
Paul Ragusa (CAN)
Rich Bender (USA)

Coach
President: Stan Dziedzic USA, with Don Ryan (CAN)

Andras Sike (HUN)
Dr. Mehmet Özal (TUR)
Mindaugas Ežerskis (LTU)
Mohsen Kaveh (IRI)
Paulin Kouakou (CIV)
Yury Shakhmuradov (RUS)
Evangelia Nikolaou (GRE)

Refereeing
President: Antonio Silvestri (GER)

Halil Ibrahim Cicioglu (TUR)
Kamel Bouaziz (TUN)
Cassey Goessl (USA)
Noravard Arustamyan (RUS)
Koike Kuninori (JPN)
Sherif Halawa (EGY)
Carlos García (ESP)
Tsong-rong Jang (TPE)
Stanislav Sernek (SLO)
Ferenc Gyarmati (ROU)
Gary Bird (CAN)
Mohammad Mosalaeipour (IRI)
Rui Marta (POR) (Beach Wrestling)
Vito Paolillo (ITA) (Grappling)

Sport for All
President: Georgy Bryusov (RUS)

Samim Miya Ansari (NEP)
Gérard Santoro (FRA)
Pablo Rubén Pintos Figueroa (ESP)
P.M.D. Sandamali Chandrasena (SRI)
Jean Claude Niyukuri (BDI)
Andy Barth (USA)
Milan Pavelic (CRO)

Marketing
President: Pedro Gama Filho (BRA)

Jean-Carl Fossati (FRA)
Lajos Virág (HUN)|
Morten Sandnæs (NOR)
Prof. Dr. Süleyman Şahin (TUR)
Ali Eftekhari (IRI)
Michael Faller (GER)
Morgan Rabine (USA)
Sahif Mustapha (MAR)
Yury Federov (RUS)

Media
President: Akroldjan Ruziev (UZB)

Didier Favori (FRA)
Ali Feizasa (IRI)
Darren Matte (CAN)
Ikuo Higuchi (JPN)
Przemysław Kaliski (POL)
Taylor Gregorio (USA)
Waffa Fadou (TUN)

Medical
President: Dr Babak Shadgan (CAN)

Dr. Camillieri Gianluca (ITA)
Dr. Mika Lehto (FIN)
Dr. Szabolcs Molnár (HUN)
Dr. Francisco Salvador Lee Guandique (GUA)
Dr. Radivoj Filipov (SRB)
Dr. Loukas Konstantinou (GRE)
Dr Stefan Strugarov (BUL)
Dr. Elena Abaeva (UZB)}
Dr. Dorsaf Methni (TUN)
Dr. Irina Doulepova (RUS)

Gender Equality
President: Nataliya Yariguina (RUS)

Lise Legrand (FRA)
María Teresa Méndez Mayo (ESP)
Milica Vukasinovic Vesic (SRB)
Yareni Guerrero (AUS)
Fatemeh Dearkhshani (IRI)
Rosalie Benie (CIV)
Tamara Medwidsky (CAN)
Eri Tosaka (JPN)
Nikolay Stanchev (BUL)

COMMITTEES

Beach Wrestling
President: Pedro Silva (POR)

Magomed Magdiyev (UKR)
Gabriella Sleisz (HUN)
Mohamed Mahmoud Aly (EGY)
Jian Wang (CHN)
Marian Berbec (ROU)
Konstantinos Papakonstantinou (GRE)
Ed Duncan (USA)
Eugeny Abarius (RUS)

Grappling 
President: Rizvan Bochkaev (RUS)

Antonio Garcia Morales (ESP)
Kanat Alin (KAZ)
Serhiy Cherednichenko (UKR)
Richard Tado (USA)}
Azad Askerov (AZE)

Pankration
President: Alexei Savchuk (BLR)

Anastasia Tukmachova (UKR)}
Italo Morello (ITA)
Konstantin Klimov (RUS)
Edmar Abdoelaev (NED)
Amatto Zaharia (ROU)
Ron Hill (USA)
Pavel Pokatilov (MDA)
Evangelos Koutras (GRE)

Belt Wrestling
President: Cholpon Sultanbekova (KGZ)

Alik Shpekbayev (KAZ)
Edmar Abdoelaev (NED)
Artur Ayramidi (UKR)
Jahja Madjid (INA)
Somayeh Khani Bakhtiari (IRI)
Omarmukhtar Chandpasha Tamboli (IND)
Marian Berbec (ROU)

#WrestleTirana

World Championships: Five years after third, Kinjo earns shot at fourth gold

By Ken Marantz

TIRANA, Albania (October 29) -- Two-time Olympic champion Risako KINJO (JPN) earned a shot at a fourth world title and first in five years, but Jia LONG (CHN) denied the powerful Japanese team a potential sweep of the women's golds.

Kinjo broke open a tight semifinal at 59kg against Svetlana LIPATOVA (AIN), scoring eight points in the second period for a 9-0 victory at the Non-Olympic Weight Categories World Championships on Tuesday in Tirana.

Japanese hopes of winning all four of the women's titles on Wednesday ended when Asian champion Long rode a second-period surge to an 11-1 victory over Miwa MORIKAWA (JPN) at 65kg, avenging a loss to the Japanese in the final at the 2022 World Championships.

The two other Japanese in action, Moe KIYOOKA (JPN) at 55kg and Ami ISHII (JPN) at 72kg, had little trouble advancing to the finals of their respective weight classes.

At 59kg, Kinjo earned just an activity point in the first period against Lipatova, but came out firing in the second, scoring a takedown off a low-ankle shot that she topped off with an exposure and gut wrench for a 7-0 lead. Kinjo then added a double-leg takedown.

Kinjo, who needed a dramatic last-second victory in a domestic playoff with 18-year-old Sakura ONISHI (JPN) to earn her ticket to Tirana, will be aiming to add to her consecutive world titles from 2017 to 2019 in Wednesday's final against veteran Tserenchimed SUKHEE (MGL).

Sukhee, a world champion in 2014 and silver medalist in 2015, scored a late takedown to clinch a 4-1 victory over MANSI (IND) in the other semifinal. Both Kinjo and Sukhee were bronze medalists this year at the Asian Championships, with the Mongolian's coming at 62kg.

Kinjo could have been expected to retire after failing to make Japan's team to Paris 2024 in a bid for an Olympic three-peat, but she has often said that she wants her daughter, now 2 1/2, to see
how good her mother was, not just hear about it.

The 30-somethings Kinjo and Lipatova's careers had crossed paths before, meeting in the semifinals at the 2018 World Championships. Kinjo won that one 10-0 en route to the second of her three consecutive gold medals.

Kiyooka, winner of both the world U23 and U20 golds in 2022, will be aiming to capture her first senior global title, after seeing her brother Kotaro KIYOOKA (JPN) and Ikuei University teammates Tsugumi SAKURAI (JPN) and Sakura MOTOKI (JPN) all strike gold at the Paris Olympics.

She got the parade into the final started by scoring a takedown in each period for a 4-0 victory over reigning European champion Iryna KURACHKINA (AIN), who was the losing finalist to Kinjo in the 57kg final at the Tokyo Olympics.

In the final, Kiyooka will face world U20 champion Jin ZHANG (CHN), who advanced with a victory by fall over Areana VILLAESCUSA (USA). Zhang got in on a deep single for a takedown that led to two quick exposures, then levered the American over before securing the fall.

At 65kg, Morikawa was ahead 1-1 on criteria in the second period when Long used a counter lift for 2 points (originally ruled 4, but later changed on the challenge). She had Morikawa's arm locked and used that for three rolls. After the match was resumed following the challenge, Long ended it with 43 seconds left with another counter lift.

In the final, Long will face European silver medalist Kateryna ZELENYKH (ROU), who scored a second-period fall over Valeriia DONDUPOVA (AIN) after building up an 11-6 lead.

Morikawa and Long were meeting for the second time, but one round earlier than before. Morikawa edged the Chinese 2-0 in the final at the 2022 World Championships.

The two finalists at 62kg at the World U23 Championships held last week at the same venue, champion Iryna BONDAR (UKR) and runnerup Macey KILTY (USA), lost to Morikawa and Zelenykh, respectively.

Ishii, the 2022 world 68kg silver medalist, won a battle of newly crowned world U23 champions by overwhelming Kylie WELKER (USA) with a 12-1 technical fall that she concluded in the final seconds. Ishii had won the U23 68kg title, while Welker had triumphed at 72kg.

In the final, Ishii will face three-time former Asian champion Zhamila BAKBERGENOVA (KAZ), who will be looking to take home a first world gold after winning two silvers and a bronze over the past three years.

Bakbergenova prevailed in an entertaining 8-6 victory over Bolortungalag ZORIGT (MGL), scoring 4 points in a first-period scramble and clinching the win with a late takedown in the second.

Both Morikawa and Ishii lost out on the place at the Paris Olympics at 68kg to Nonoka OZAKI (JPN), who ended up with a bronze medal.

For Ishii, the pain of missing out on Paris was particularly sharp, as she had earned the quota for Japan by placing fifth at the 2023 World Championships, only to lose in the last second of a playoff against Ozaki.

Morikawa rebounded from her disappointment by making the team at 72kg to the 2023 worlds, from which she took home a bronze. Now she is back at her normal weight class, in which she won the world gold in 2022 and finished second in 2021.

Women's Wrestling Results

55kg (18 entries)
SF: Jin ZHANG (CHN) df. Areana VILLAESCUSA (USA) by Fall, 1:28 (8-0)
SF: Moe KIYOOKA (JPN) df. Iryna KURACHKINA (AIN), 4-0

59kg (22 entries)
SF: Tserenchimed SUKHEE (MGL) df. MANSI (IND), 4-1
SF: Risako KINJO (JPN) df. Svetlana LIPATOVA (AIN), 9-0

65kg (19 entries)
SF: Kateryna ZELENYKH (ROU) df. Valeriia DONDUPOVA (AIN) by Fall, 1:59 (11-6)
SF: Jia LONG (CHN) df. Miwa MORIKAWA (JPN) by TF, 11-1, 5:17

72kg (18 entries)
SF: Zhamila BAKBERGENOVA (KAZ) df. Bolortungalag ZORIGT (MGL), 8-6
SF: Ami ISHII (JPN) df. Kylie WELKER (USA) by TF, 12-1, 5:58