UWW Restructures Commissions, Adds Two New
Tuesday, March 4, 2025 - 11:32 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)
Former Olympic and world champion Risako KINJO (JPN) will be eyeing another world title, first since 2019. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)
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