#development

Women in Sport: WISH Programme kicks off Cohorts 2 & 3

Tuesday, March 7, 2023 - 17:14 By United World Wrestling Press

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LONDON, England (4 March) – Women in Sport High-Performance Pathway (WISH) kicked off the 1st Edition of the programme on May 23, 2022. Since then they have started 2nd and 3rd cohort to help develop more women coaches in sport. The WISH Programme is designed to equip women coaches, who have the potential and ambition, to succeed in gaining roles at elite coaching levels within their sports. The programme is specifically designed to help coaches develop their sport-specific skills, leaderships skills and behaviours, and build confidence. United World Wrestling is participating along with many other IF’s and is being support by Olympic Solidarity, University of Hertfordshire, and Females Achieving Brilliance (FAB).

United World Wrestling has had three additional coaches start the most recent cohorts. Happiness Burutu (NGR) is participating in the 2nd cohort. That programme started on August 10, 2022 with a residential session at the University of Hertfordshire on October 24-28. The 3rd cohort started on November 30, 2022. Participating in this cohort includes Marwa Amri (TUN) and Yaima Payne (BAR). They recently completed their residential session at the University of Hertfordshire on February 20-24, 2023. “For met it was a distinguished week with a distinguished group of women coaches. The atmosphere prompted me to learn more about myself. I strengthen my self-confidence, learned positive thinking, how to better self-evaluate to improve, and to self-reflect to find a solution to any problem,” said Marwa Amri.

WISHWrestling's WISH attendees pose for photos. Top (right to left) Marwa AMRI (TUN) and Yaima PAYNE (BAR). Bottom (right to left) Edit DOZSA (ITA) and Happiness BURUTU  (NGR).

The residential session was a weeklong event where the coaches attended working sessions and participated in learning activities with over 20 coaches from other sports in attendance. Some of the key learning points included leadership skills, creative problem-solving, creating connections, mindset, having uncomfortable conversations, visualizing the future, etc… “This course helped me in many ways. It has made me have more self-confidence, to be creative, work as a team to achieve a goal, resolve conflict, handle challenges, better interact with the team, solve problems, and how to better train high-performing athletes,” said Happiness Burutu.

“The WISH (Empowering Woman Coaches) has been one of my favorite programs in terms of professional development for women coaches, managers, administrators and as a person," said Yaima Payne. "It also empowers you with educational knowledge, leadership and team work etc. This program will definitely helped me a lot to be a better coach and leader."

United World Wrestling also had Edit Dozsa (ITA) participate in the 2nd cohort. She was assigned to help with the delivery of the programme to the coaches. With her experience as a former athlete, coach, referee, and work within her Federation, she was able to provide valuable assistance to all the participants in the programme.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Marwa Amri (@amrimarwa)

The WISH Programme is a 21-month programme. These coaches will continue meeting with the WISH Leadership Team, work with their leadership mentors, and sport-specific mentors. WISH was originally piloted as the WSLA High-Performance Coach Programme. UWW participated in the original pilot program with four coaches. After a successful experience, the WISH Programme was developed and expanded to include participation by more International Federations. UWW has renewed its participation outstanding programme.

#WrestleAlexandria

Olympians gear up for African & Oceania qualifiers for Paris 2024

Tuesday, March 19, 2024 - 09:58 By Vinay Siwach

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ALEXANDRIA, Egypt (March 19) -- Wrestlers from two continents will battle on the mat for 18 Paris Olympic spots at the African & Oceania OG Qualifiers in Alexandria on March 22-24.

All eyes will be on Tokyo Olympic medalists Blessing OBORUDUDU (NGR) at 68kg in Women's Wrestling and Mohamed ELSAYED (EGY) at 67kg in Greco-Roman. The two failed to earn a Paris quota at the World Championships in September but will be the favorite to claim the spot in Alexandria.

The tournament will follow a bracket system and two winners of the semifinals will earn the Paris spot. There will be no gold medal bouts and repechage.

Oborududu won the African Championships on Monday in dominating fashion and has the best chance to qualify. Samah ABDELLATIF (EGY), Tayla FORD (NZL) and African medalist Khadija JLASSI (TUN) will try to stop her and earn a quota for themselves.

For Elsayed, Ishak GHAIOU (ALG) will be the biggest test as he will be randomly drawn in the 67kg bracket. Japan-born Gaku AKAZAWA (SAM) will be seeded number two and cannot face Elsayed.

In other Women's Wrestling weight classes, African champion Mercy GENESIS (NGR) will be primed to win the semifinal at 50kg. Traditional powerhouses in Africa Egypt and Tunisia will be represented by Nada MOHAMED (EGY) and Nourhene HEDHLI (TUN) respectively.

At 53kgm Nigeria will see Christianah OGUNSANYA (NGR) going for the Paris spot. She won the African Championships gold medal on Monday but the addition of Oceania wrestlers can make things interesting. 

Jessica LAVERS MCBAIN (AUS) will be at 53kg for Australia while Guam has Mia AQUINO (GUM). Shaimaa MOHAMED (EGY) and Lobna ICHAOUI (TUN) will also look to win as well.

Nigeria already has won the quota at 57kg through world bronze medalist Odunayo ADEKOUROYE (NGR), leaving others to earn a Paris spot. Irene SYMEONIDIS (AUS), Natacha NABAINA (CMR), Louji YASSIN (EGY), Rckaela AQUINO (GUM) and Faten HAMMAMI (TUN) will have to fight it out for the two spots.

Marwa AMRI (TUN) usually locked the 62kg for Tunisia but the now-retired wrestler will be coaching Siwar BOUSETA (TUN) as she tries to fill the shoes. Esther KOLAWOLE (NGR) will be a big test for everyone in this weight class as she won the African Championships.

Two-time world medalist Samar HAMZA (EGY) will be looking for a second trip to the Olympics if she can win the 76kg spot in front of the home crowd. It could go three-way as African silver medalist Hannah RUEBEN (NGR) and now African champion Zaineb SGHAIER (TUN) are also entered.

Mohamed ELSAYED (EGY)Tokyo bronze medalist Mohamed ELSAYED (EGY) is the favorite at 67kg. (Photo: UWW / Kadir Caliskan) 

Greco-Roman

Tokyo Olympian Abdelkarim FERGAT (ALG) will be tested by Moamen MOHAMED (EGY) and Mohamed HKIRI (TUN) as the three look to win the two spots available at 60kg in Greco-Roman.

Egypt and Algeria usually dominate Greco-Roman in Africa which will add pressure on Abd OUAKALI (ALG) and Mahmoud ABDELRAHMAN (EGY) who will be the favorite to win the Paris spot at 77kg. Sheng ZHANG (AUS) will be representing Australia.

Two Tokyo Olympians will have a chance to earn another trip to the Olympics as Bachir SID AZARA (ALG) and Mohamed METWALLY (EGY) gear up for a battle in 87kg. Both skipped the African Championships to prepare for the qualifiers.

At 97kg, Fadi ROUABAH (ALG), Mohamed GABR (EGY) and Mohamed MISSAOUI (TUN) have the best chance to win a spot while top seed Maulalo ALOFIPO (SAM) will look to get one through as only six wrestlers are entered in the weight category.

As Egypt already has a quota at 130kg, four wrestlers will battle for the two quotas in this weight class. Hemza HALOUI (ALG), Oussama ASSAD (MAR), Marcus CARNEY (NZL) and Tokyo Olympian Amine GUENNICHI (TUN) will face each other in a round-robin format to decide the two spots.

Amr REDA (EGY)Amr REDA (EGY) will look to repeat as an Olympian. (Photo: UWW / Bayrem Ben Mrad)

Freestyle

Egypt will hope to get all six Freestyle spots for Paris as it fields a strong team. Tokyo Olympian Amr REDA (EGY), backed by the home crowd in Alexandria, has his eyes set on the Paris spot in the 74kg weight class. Reda has proved on several occasions that he is a notch up the field in Africa. However, Bacar NDUM (GBS), a former African Championships silver medalist, will hope to get a spot even if he falls in the same bracket as Reda.

At 57kg, African champion Diamantino IUNA FAFE (GBS) will be the favorite to win the spot along with Tokyo Olympian Abdelhak KHERBACHE (ALG). Gamal MOHAMED (EGY), Thomas SANTIAGO (GUM) and Suraj SINGH (NZL) will also fancy their chance to win a Paris spot.

Oceania Championships silver medalist Ethan AGUIGUI (GUM) pulled out of the qualifiers at 65kg. But Oceania champion Georgii OKOROKOV (AUS) will be a huge favorite to earn a quota. Omar MOURAD (EGY), Gaku AKAZAWA (SAM), who is also competing in Greco-Roman, and Sylvio DIATTA (SEN) can prove to be dark horses.

Australia can have a second Olympian from Alexandria if Jayden LAWRENCE (AUS) can bring out his best performance and earn a spot at 86kg. He also needs Fateh BENFERDJALLAH (ALG) to fall on the other side of the bracket.

Tokyo Olympian and African champion Benferdjallah has dominated the weight class in Africa and will look to earn a Paris quota for himself. Other names include Ahmed MAHMOUD (EGY) and Imed KADDIDI (TUN).

Mohamed SAADAOUI (TUN) was in Tokyo and has a chance to be in Paris if he can earn a quota at 97kg in Alexandria. It will be a similar case for South Africa as former African silver medalist Nicolaas DE LANGE (RSA) hopes to win a quota.

Wali KEBIR (ALG), Mostafa ELDERS (EGY) and Anas SAMIR (MAR) will also hope to finish in the top two to earn a ticket.

The two wrestlers who won the 125kg quotas for Tokyo from continental qualifiers are back at it. Diaaeldin ABDELMOTTALEB (EGY) and Hamza RAHMANI (TUN) will be the favorite to win the two spots again.