Fair Play

Lalovic Reaffirms Wrestling’s Commitment to Olympic Charter, Fair Play

Saturday, April 7, 2018 - 22:01 By United World Wrestling Press

Share this article

IOWA CITY (April 8) – United World Wrestling president and IOC executive board member Nenad LALOVIC today reasserted wrestling’s commitment to open and fair play in sport.

“Like many federations we face problems with countries allowing their politics to interfere in competition,” said Lalovic. “For wrestling, this problem has been visible among our stakeholders. No longer can we allow political problems to enter the field of play. We must fight against any opponent of our sport community with all the means we have.”

Lalovic is currently in Iowa City, United States attending the 2018 Men’s Freestyle World Cup, a dual meet competition featuring the top eight wrestling nations in the world.

“If every international political conflict is transferred to the field of play, and we fail to respond, then all of sport would be in jeopardy. Every nation and every sport on the Olympic programme must respect the Olympic charter and the nature of their sport in general.”

“We will never allow any disrespect to our nations, nor will the IOC.”

United World Wrestling is reviewing all host cities and national federations to ensure they have no outstanding political disputes which might conflict with the idea of open and fair competition. Also, nations who do not allow for entrance of other nations will not be considered for hosting future events.

2026 Muhamet Malo

Muhamet Malo 2026 Wrestling Day 5 Live Updates: Makhmudov, Lolua in Action

Sunday, March 1, 2026 - 08:36 By Vinay Siwach

Share this article

TIRANA, Albania (March 1) -- The final day of the Muhamet Malo Ranking Series in Tirana will be an all Greco-Roman day. Akzhol MAKHMUDOV (KGZ) is returning to a United World Wrestling competition since winning bronze medal at the Paris Olympics in August 2024. Vakhtang LOLUA (GEO), world champion at 55kg, is moving up to 60kg and will make his debut.

WATCH LIVE | LIVE MATCH ORDER | LOLUA DEBUT

11:40: European champion Nihat MAMMADLI (AZE) begins with an 8-0 technical superiority over Maxwell BLACK (USA) at 60kg. He will in all likelihood get 55kg world champion Vakhtang LOLUA (GEO), who is moving up, next.

11:30: Demeu ZHADRAYEV (KAZ) finds a way to beat Dmitrii DZHIOEV (UWW) at 82kg. Dzhioev led 1-1, holding criteria when he was given the third par terre, which is without points, but fails to score and it is Zhadrayev, the Olympic silver medalist at 77kg, who scores and wins.

11:20: Former world champion Akzhol MAKHMUDOV (KGZ), up at 82kg, begins with a close win over Dias KALEN (KAZ). Makhmudov was cautioned when he committed a defensive leg four on Kalen in par terre, giving Kalen a 3-0 lead. Makhmudov then scored a stepout to get one points. When he was given the par terre in the second period, he turned Kalen to make it 4-3 and defended that score to win.

11:10: Almost two years after his last competition, Viktor NEMES (SRB) was just 20 seconds away from making a winning start. But, Amin HOSSEINI (IRI) comes out with a suplex for four points to beat the Serbian 5-2 at 82kg.

10:50: In the first top match of the day, world silver medalist Artur SARGASIAN (UWW) takes out world bronze medalist Murad AHMADIYEV (AZE) at 97kg. Sargasian led only 3-2 at the break but he launched a big four-pointer at the start of the second period and led 7-2, all but making it out of reach for Ahmadiyev.

10:30: A big day ahead in Tirana with six Greco weight classes in action -- 55kg, 60kg, 72kg, 82kg, 97kg and 130kg.