Moscow: Wrestling has introduced drastic changes designed to keep the ancient sport in the Olympic programme, the newly-elected president of the world governing body (FILA) said on Saturday. More categories for women, eliminating draws and cutting down the number of competitors are just some of the initiatives being introduced as wrestling battles to salvage its Olympic status after the International Olympic Committee (IOC)'s executive board made a surprise recommendation to drop it from the 2020 Games programme.
"Today we made decisions needed for our struggle to remain in the Olympic movement," Serbian Nenad Lalovic told a news conference shortly after winning overwhelming majority votes to lead the sport at FILA's extraordinary congress in Moscow. The sport, which featured in the first modern Olympics in 1896 and every Games since apart from 1900, has joined seven other candidates battling for one spot in a revamped programme.
Wrestlers were told to bring changes to their sport, adapt to a new environment and make it more suitable for television audience if they wanted to remain in the Olympics. "They (IOC) gave us a yellow card, so we had to change. And we did," Lalovic said. "The new rules had been adapted. Also we gave more equality to women in our sport. The most important thing is the changes in our constitution and the new rules."
Wrestling, which had 18 medals - seven in both freestyle and Greco-Roman and four for women - contested at last year's London Olympics, has now
12:07 AM, May 19, 2013
New Delhi: India's Sports Minister Jitender Singh on Thursday said that the roadmap for India's return to the Olympic fold has been chalked out by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and it will take 30 to 60 days to complete the entire process. The Sports Minister, who met the IOC officials in Lausanne on Wednesday, said, "The roadmap has been decided by IOC to bring India back into the Olympic...
08:28 AM, May 16, 2013
Lausanne: It's status quo for the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Wednesday refused to lift its suspension until free and fair elections are held. The IOC Wednesday held a meeting with the Indian delegation headed by the Minister of State for Sports Jitendra Singh and representatives from the National Sports Federations (NSF), who are also members of the suspended IOA. A representative of the...
01:03 AM, May 16, 2013
A crucial meeting between India's top sports officials and the International Olympic Committee is currently on at its headquarters in Switzerland to try and get India's suspension revoke. although IOA president VK Malhotra and IOC member Randhir Singh are not at this meeting, a nine member indian delegation is presenting its case to find ways to get India back into the fold. ...
04:38 PM, May 15, 2013
New Delhi: Top IOA delegates were busy giving finishing touches to their action plan as they geared up for the crucial meeting with the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne to draw a roadmap for India's return to the Olympic fold. Most of the IOA delegates will leave for Lausanne tonight for the May 15 meeting which is expected to start the process of getting the ban on India lifted. Though...
05:16 PM, May 13, 2013
New Delhi: The crucial Lausanne meeting between the Indian officials and the International Olympic Committee to find a way for the country's return to the Olympic fold will proceed as per schedule on May 15 despite the dramatic pull-out of IOA acting president V K Malhotra and IOC member Randhir Singh. The IOC has sent a message to the Swiss Embassy here to expedite the visa formalities of all the...
06:14 PM, May 10, 2013
New Delhi: Sports Ministry on Thursday termed Vijay Kumar Malhotra's decision to stay away from the May 15 meeting with the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne as "disappointing" but said that the IOA acting chief's presence would not have in any case mattered too much. "I am disappointed. I wish he could reconsider his decision and come for the meeting. However, Malhotra's presence does not matter too much in any...
06:05 PM, May 09, 2013
New Delhi: Three separate lists of sports officials have gone to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) offering to present India's case before the apex body of Olympic sports in Lausanne May 15 for lifting the suspension of the Indian Olympic Committee (IOA). The three lists have a couple of common names but they are all waiting to hear from the IOC which of the lists or a common panel would...
09:21 PM, May 03, 2013
New Delhi: Falling in line with the government's Sports Code, the Badminton Association of India (BAI) has amended its constitution by fixing the term and the age limit of its office bearers. The sports ministry has asked the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and the National Sports Federations (NSFs) to be on the same page by adopting the Sports Code ahead of next month's meeting with the International Olympic Committee (IOC)....
12:36 PM, Apr 28, 2013
New Delhi: The much-anticipated joint meeting between representatives of the suspended IOA, the Sports Ministry and the International Olympic Committee, to find a way in resolving the issues that led to India's ban from the Olympics, has been postponed from May 7 to May 15. Sports Secretary PK Deb informed that the meeting, scheduled to be held at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland has been postponed as IOC president...
09:43 PM, Apr 17, 2013
New Delhi: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has again invited representatives of the suspended IOA and Sports Ministry for a meeting in Lausanne on May 7 in yet another attempt to find a way for India's return to the Olympic movement even as the stand-off between the government and sport body persisted. After the joint meeting, which was earlier scheduled to be held in Lausanne on April 15 and 16,...
02:09 PM, Apr 13, 2013
New Delhi: Sports Minister Jitendra Singh expressed disappointment over the Indian Olympic Association holding the Sports bill responsible for the country's suspension from the Olympic movement, terming it as "very, very unfortunate". "I am deeply shocked and upset after reading the contents of the letter. It is delayed tactics. As far as the Sports bill is concerned, priority of the government is to get the bill passed by both the...
10:12 PM, Apr 10, 2013
IOA president V K Malhotra said that he will write to the Sports Ministry and IOC to give the IOA more time to have a meaningful discussion over the differences. ...
01:58 PM, Apr 03, 2013
Kuzenkova, 2004 Olympic champion in the women's hammer, tested positive at the 2005 world championships in Helsinki, where she also finished first. ...
10:01 PM, Apr 02, 2013
The meeting was arranged after international sports federations complained of deteriorating relations with WADA. ...
03:49 PM, Mar 22, 2013
In a letter written to VK Malhotra, the acting chief of the IOA before it was banned on December 4 last year, and IOC member in India Randhir Singh, the IOC said the joint meeting could be held in April. ...
11:21 PM, Mar 14, 2013
Wrestling officially became part of the inaugural 2015 European Games despite being axed from the 2020 Olympic Games last month by the IOC. ...
10:20 PM, Mar 12, 2013
Wrestling will implement a string of immediate changes as the sport seeks to win back its Olympic spot with time fast running out, acting international federation president Nenad Lalovic said. ...
11:08 PM, Mar 07, 2013
"We have been hugely impressed by the quality of the bid presentations made by the bid committee. Across the board, they have just been excellent," an IOC official said. ...
04:21 PM, Mar 07, 2013
The IOC has not given any reason for the decision, but Bubka outlined the arguments made before the vote, saying wrestling's governing body FILA lacked important governance structures. ...
04:56 PM, Mar 06, 2013
