#UnitedWorldWrestling

UWW Restructures Commissions, Adds Two New

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (March 4) -- United World Wrestling has announced two new commissions and renewed other as it enters a new Olympic cycle.

After it's latest Bureau meeting on February 5, UWW approved the addition of two new commissions:

- School and University Sports Commission
- Legacy & Sustainability Commission

The School and University Sports Commission will be chaired by Bureau member Peter BACSA while the Legacy and Sustainability will be co-chaired by UWW Vice-President Theodoros HAMAKOS and Bureau member Razvan PIRCALABU.

UWW also restructured other commissions with new members for a four-year term. All National Federations were invited to nominate candidates for different commissions.

Buyandelger PELJEE is the new chairperson of the Scientific Commissions, while Mikhail MAMIASHVIL will continue his role as chairperson of the Technical Commission which now has former Olympic champion Danial IGALI (NGR) as a member. Stan DZIEDZIC, who retired in 2024, is replaced by Don RYAN as the chairperson of the Coaches' Commission.

Akhroldjan RUZIEV will be continue to be incharge of the Media Commission. Likewise, Pedro GAMA FILHO will enter his second term as the chairperson of the Marketing Commission. Nataliya YARIGUINA will also continue to serve as head of Gender Equality Commission.

The Legal and Ethics Commission and Medical Commission will continue to be fronted by Belcho GORANOV and Dr. Babak SHADGAN respectively.

Zamel AL-SHAHRANI was announced as the new chairperson of the Sport for All Commission while Refereeing Commission got a new head in Levent SEN.

UWW set up a Refereeing Advisory Board which will have former Refereeing Commission chairperson Antonio SILVESTRI, veteran Kamel BOUAZIZ and Athletes Commission chairperson Arsen JULFALAKYAN as its members.

Ibrahim CICIOGLU (TUR) has been chosen as the Refereeing Education Coordinator while Carlos GARCIA (ESP) will be the Administrator for referees.

Newly elected Bureau member Bruce BAUMGARTNER will preside over the Hall of Fame & Historical Heritage Commission.

UWW rebranded two committees with the Belt Wrestling Committee now called Traditional Wrestling Committee. The Grappling Committee and Pankration Committee were merged to Grappling & Pankration Committee.

Cholpon SULTANBEKOVA was named chairperson of the Traditional Wrestling Committee while Grappling and Pankration Committee will be headed by Namig ALIYEV. The Associated Styles Committee is head by UWW Vice-President Rodica YAKSI.

Pedro SILVA will remain the head of the Beach Wrestling Committee.

For more details, refer to: UWW Commissions and Committees

Technical Commission

Chairperson: Mikhail MAMIASHVILI

Members

Daniel IGALI (NGR), Bureau Member
Ye ZHANG (CHN), Bureau Member
Peter BACSI (HUN)
Alin GRIGORE (ROU)
Milorad DOKMANAC (SRB)
Paul RAGUSA (CAN)
Rich BENDER (USA)
Alireza DABIR (IRI)
Salvatore FINIZIO (ITA)
Nikolaou EVANGELIA (GRE)
Taha AKGUL (TUR)

Scientific Commission

Chairperson: Buyandelger PELJEE

Members
Barbas IOANNIS (GRE)
José LOPEZ GULLON ESP
Funda ELMACIOGLU (TUR)
Georgiy KOROBEYNIKOV (UKR)
Edisher MACHAIDZE (GEO)
David CURBY (USA)
Bahman GHAZANI (IRI)
Mario BAIC (CRO)
Nabil ELSHORBAGY (EGY)
Pu ZENG (CHN)

Refereeing Advisory Board

Antonio SILVESTRI (GER)
Kamel BOUAZIZ (TUN)
Arsen JULFALAKYAN (ARM)

Refereeing Education Coordination

Ibrahim CICIOGLU (TUR)

Administrator/Coordinator

Carlos GARCIA (ESP)

Refereeing Commission

Head: Levent SEN

Members
Levent SEN (TUR)
Casey Goessl (USA)
Zvonko OCIC (CRO)
Vaclav SCHEINER (CZE)
Gyarmati FERENC (ROU)
Aleksei BAZULIN (RUS)
Marcia CHIASSON (CAN)
Sherif HALAWA (EGY)
Rafael GALVA LEBRON (PUR)
Koike KUNINORI (JPN)
Ji Woo LEE (KOR)

Legal Commission

Chairperson: Belcho GORANOV

Members
Ramon GONZALES PINEDA (GUA)
Belcho GORANOV (BUL)
David OHARA (USA)
Rouzbeh AHMADI (IRI)
Osamu SHIMIZU (JPN)

Coach Commission

Chairperson: Don RYAN

Members
Grégory FERREIRA (FRA)
Petr IUMSHANOV (RUS)
Terry STEINER (USA)
Hassan RANGRAZ (IRI)
Karntanov AMIRAN (GRE)
Ryszard WOLNY (POL)
Ashraf MOHAMED (EGY)
Kuniko TANIOKA (JPN)

Marketing Commission

Chairperson: Pedro GAMA FILHO

Members
Erica WIEBE (CAN)
Yury FEDOROV (RUS)
Michael FALLER (GER)
Jiayi WANG (CHN)
Danail GANCHEV (BUL)
Mutasem AL-SA'ID (JOR)
Manisha MALHOTRA (IND)

Media Commission

Chairperson: Akhroldjan RUZIEV

Members
Jörg RICHTER (AUT)
Anna GURIEVA (RUS)
Richard IMMEL (USA)
Ikuo HIGUCHI (JPN)
Amanpreet SINGH (IND)
Mohsen VAHDANI SEYDABAD (IRI)

Medical Commission

Chairperson: Dr. Babak SHADGAN

Members
Klaus JOHANN (GER)
Elena ABAEVA (UZB)
Saam FALAHATI (GBR)
Francisco LEE GUANDIQUE (GUA)
Szabolcs MOLNAR (HUN)
Stefan STRUGAROV (BUL)
Radivoj FILIPOV (SRB)
Mika LEHTO (FIN)
Konstantinou LOUKAS (GRE)
Dorsaf METAHNI (TUN)
Kohei NAKAJIMA (JPN)
BJ ANDERSON (USA)
Irina DULEPOVA (RUS)

Gender Equality & Diversity Commission

Chairperson: Natalia YARIGUINA

Members
Csilla ALI (HUN)
Dimitar CHIFUDOV (BUL)
Lise LEGRAND (FRA)
Claudia GONZALEZ (CHI)
Mustafa AMASHA (EGY)
Ruba MUSHA’SHA’ (JOR)
Tamara MEDWIDSKY (CAN)
Sheyda SHAHRIAN (IRI)
Papadaki ANTONIA (GRE)

Hall of Fame & Historical Heritage Commission

Chairperson: Bruce BAUMGARTNER

Members
Valentin JORDANOV (BUL)
Lee ROY SMITH (USA)
Hamid SORYAN (IRI)
Patrice MOURIER (FRA)
Mahmut DEMIR (TUR)
Elsayed GOMAA (EGY)

Sport For All Commission

Chairperson: Zamel AL-SHAHRANI

Members
Georgy BRYUSOV (RUS)
Pablo PINTOS FIGUEROA (ESP)
Andy BARTH (USA)
Milan PAVELIC (CRO)
Esraa JUMAA (JOR)
Riad HASSAN (PLE)
Nese GUNDOCAN (TUR)

Beach Wrestling Committee

Chairperson: Pedro SILVA

Members
Oyan NAZARIANI (AZE)
Marian BERBEC (ROU)
Rui MARTA (POR)
Jean BAHADERIAN (FRA)
Ed DUNCAN (USA)
Dimash SULTANOV (KAZ)
Papakonstantinou KONSTANTINOS (GRE)
Ibrahim MOUSTAFA (EGY)
Yasugay AKSAKAL (TUR)
Jian WANG (CHN)

Pankration and Grappling Committee

Chairman: Namig ALIYEV

Technical Director: Adrian Bakos

Members
Łukasz WINIARSKI (POL)
Justin BROWN (USA2)
Francisco PESSOA (BRA)
Vito PAOLILLO (ITA)
Koutras EVANGELOS (GRE)
Alvin AGUILAR (PHI)

Traditional Wrestling Committee

Chairperson: Choplan SULTANBEKOVA

Members
Robert CATE (USA)
Dong DAYONG (CHN)
Ali BAZYAR (IRI)
Damir BEKBOSSYNOV (KAZ)
Gaurav SACHDEVA (IND)
Edmar ABDOELAEV (NED)
Khalifa SOW (SEN)
Mehmet GULTEKIN (TUR)

#WrestleAthens

World U17 Championships 2025: Day 4 Wrestling Highlights

By Vinay Siwach

ATHENS, Greece (July 31) -- The World U17 Championships enters day four with Women's Wrestling continuing in five more weight classes -- 40kg, 46kg, 53kg, 61kg and 69kg.

WATCH LIVE | LIVE MATCH ORDER | DAY 3 RESULTS

The semifinals in Women's Wrestling will begin at 17:00 hours local time and the medal bouts at 18:00 hours.

13:37: MANISHA (IND) gets the fall over Cassandra GONZALES (USA) inside the first period and reaches the semifinals at 69kg. Sixth Indian wrestler to reach semifinals in Women's Wrestling in Athens. Four on Wednesday, all reached the final. Can YASHITA (IND) and MANISHA (IND) keep the record?

13:35: Miranda KAPANADZE (GEO) is into the semifinals at 69kg! She is the first Georgian to reach so far in Women's Wrestling. A win away from historic medal! She defeated Nadia KOCIA (POL), 7-1.

13:15: World U17 champion Tania FERNANDEZ (USA) and European U17 champion Zalina TOTROVA (UWW) in a battle and it is Fernandez who comes out on top. Leading 6-5, Totrova tries a chest wrap but gives up four points. Fernandez eventually wins 13-6 at 61kg and is back in the semifinals

13:10: A 6-5 lead for Epenesa ELISON (USA) in the 53kg quarterfinal against European U17 champion Mariia ZHYTOVOZ (HUN) and then hits a four-pointer to make it 10-5. Zhytovoz can't make a comeback and falls to Elison 12-7

13:05: Jaclyn BOUZAKIS (USA) hands India its third defeat inside five minutes! She kept countering Kasish GURJAR (IND) with whizzers and then got the cradle and 12-4 win at 46kg. Bouzakis looks good to upgrade her bronze to gold this year.

13:02: Make that two losses for India as Rinka OGAWA (JPN) defends a takedown attempt from SAARIKA (IND) and wins 4-2. India challenges, asking for a clean takedown but at no point did Ogawa's three points touch the mat. She wins 5-2.

13:00: Maria GKIKA (GRE), the hosts Greece's best hope for a medal here, beats Elanur BERBER (TUR) 12-2 and enters the 46kg semifinals.

12:55: Maisie ELLIOTT (USA) hands India it's first defeat of the day as she she beats Preeti YADAV (IND), 6-2, at 40kg. Three takedowns for Elliott to Yadav's one.

12:35: Taina FERNANDEZ (USA), returning world champion, with a 10-0 technical superiority win over Zichen DONG (CHN). Only a takedown in the first period but she rallies her gut wrenches in the second and wins with 43 seconds left out of the four minutes.

12:27: Mariia ZHYTOVOZ (HUN) with a fall as well at 53kg over Baktygul ZHUMANAZAROVA (KGZ). Zhytovoz has not made too many mistakes and is now in the quarterfinals.

12:25: Miranda KAPANADZE (GEO), Georgia's first-ever European U17 champion in WW, wins 7-2 over Natalie WOJCIECHOWSKI (CAN). She is looking to win a medal at the World Championships after missing out last year.

12:20: MANISHA (IND) pins Dilrabo DULLIEVA (UZB) at 69kg to continue the Indian juggernaut at the World U17 Championships in Women's Wrestling.

12:00: Epenesa ELISON (USA) is on a mission! She pins Maria VANDOULAKI VANDOULA (GRE) at 53kg. Nice cradle from Elison. Back to back wins for the U15 Pan-Am champ

11:45: World U17 bronze medalist Jaclyn Rose BOUZAKIS (USA) is so good! She catches Yuting YUAN (CHN) on different occasions and wins 7-4 at 46kg.  

11:30: India has been unbeaten today, with Kasish GURJAR (IND) at 46kg, YASHITA (IND) at 61kg and SAARIKA (IND) at 53kg all win their respective matches.

11:25: Mariia ZHYTOVOZ (HUN), European U17 champion, takes out Fatima BAYRAMOVA (AZE) at 53kg with a fall. Offense at it's best from Zhytovoz

11:20: Waka AWANO (JPN) with two four-point throws and she beats Asian U17 champion Zhaidar MUKAT (KAZ), 10-0 at 61kg. Awano's counter-attacks were too much for Mukat.

10:45: Jiaqing JIANG (CHN) rolls to a 12-3 win over Josefine WIDMANN (GER) at 53kg. Epenesa ELISON (USA) with some big doubles as she beats Kanita SPAHIJA (KOS) 12-0 at 53kg as well.

10:30: Welcome to day three of Women's Wrestling at the U17 World Championships. Action continues in 40kg, 46kg, 53kg, 61kg and 69kg.