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: The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) on Sunday withdrew the medals from six of the current junior national champions, who failed to provide samples to the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) for dope test. WFI had requested NADA to collect samples from the Junior National Wrestling Championships that were held in Chandigarh May 9-12. However, some grapplers, including medal winners, avoided giving samples for the tests, and fled the...
05:29 PM, May 12, 2013
New Delhi: Amit Kumar Dhankar delivered the last hurrah for India in the Senior Asian Wrestling Championship by clinching a gold, as the hosts finished with their best ever showing in the continental event on Monday. India emerged on top in freestyle category with two gold and as many bronze medals. Overall, India finished the championships with nine medals -- 2 gold, one silver and 6 bronze, their best ever...
10:04 PM, Apr 22, 2013
New Delhi: Amit Kumar Dhankar on MOnday assured India of one more medal after reaching the finals of the 66kg category at the Senior Asian Wrestling Championship here. Amit, who is star Indian wrestler Sushil Kumar's replacement in this competition, came from behind to prevail over Uzbekistan's Ruslan Pliev to set up a gold medal bout to be played later in the day. Ruslan won the first round in the...
06:54 PM, Apr 22, 2013
New Delhi: It was a good day at the office for Indian grapplers as they bagged one silver and three bronze medals in the Senior Asian Wrestling Championship here Sunday. Navjot Kaur settled for silver in the 67kg category after losing her final bout to Mongolia's N Ochirbat while Geetika Jakhar (63kg) and Jyoti (72kg) won their bronze medal ties, after star grappler Geeta Phogat made a shock first round...
10:13 PM, Apr 21, 2013
New Delhi: Amit Kumar stole the limelight as he stormed into the finals of men's freestyle 55kg category at the Senior Asian Wrestling Championship on Saturday. Women grapplers Vinesh and Babita Kumari will also have a shot at a bronze medal each as they lost their semifinal bouts in 51kg and 55kg category. The other Indian in the fray today, Bajrang, will be competing against Japan's Shoogo Maeda for a...
06:33 PM, Apr 20, 2013
New Delhi: India's hopes of winning a medal in the Greco-Roman category went up in smoke after Bhim Singh lost his bronze-medal bout at the Senior Asian Wrestling Championship here on Friday. Bhim was thrashed by his Iranian opponent, Davoud Gilnirang, in the 96 kg category. Davoud did not allow any opening for the Indian to score points in the bouts. The Iranian registered a resounding 1-0 8-0 win over...
11:58 PM, Apr 19, 2013
New Delhi: India's Sunil Kumar Rana and Gaurav Sharma placed themselves in contention for bronze medals in the 66kg and 55kg, respectively, as the country started its campaign in the Senior Asian Wrestling Championship on a mixed note here on Thursday. Rana, who got a bye in the first round, defeated China's Gaoquan Zhang 2-1 1-1 to reach the semifinal of the Greco Roman category. In the semi-final however, Ji-Hun...
06:18 PM, Apr 18, 2013
New Delhi: Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt's withdrawal from the Senior Asian Wrestling Championship due to their respective injuries might have taken the sheen out of the tournament but the event provides an opportunity for other Indian grapplers to make a mark for themselves when they take on the best from the continent. Considering the rising profile of the sport after the medal-winning efforts of both Sushil and Yogeshwar in...
04:56 PM, Apr 17, 2013
New Delhi: Indian fans would be deprived of watching their Olympic medal winning grapplers Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt in action at the upcoming Senior Asian Wrestling Championship as the two have not yet recovered from their respective injuries. Amit Dhankar (66kg) and Bajrang (60kg), who were named as reserves, will replace Suhil and Yogeshwar for the championship, starting from April 18, here. "Both Sushil and Yogeshwar are nursing their...
03:55 PM, Apr 15, 2013
New Delhi: Recuperating from their shoulder and knee injuries, star Indian grapplers Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt remain doubtful starters for the Senior Asian Wrestling Championship to be held here from April 18 to 22. "I am recovering well from my injury. My knee is showing signs of improvement. I will undergo a fitness test a day or two before the Championship and based on it, the coach and the...
07:30 PM, Apr 08, 2013
The Wrestling Federation of India announced the squad, selected on the basis of trials held at the National Institute of Sports, Patiala. ...
08:16 PM, Apr 02, 2013
Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt will spearhead India's challenge at the Senior Asian Wrestling Championship to be held from April 18 to 22. ...
08:53 PM, Mar 21, 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
The influential Association of National Olympic Committees backed the move for wrestling's re-inclusion in the Olympics. ...
07:19 PM, Mar 08, 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
Kumar and Dutt said they won't hesitate to return their Olympic medals if it helps the sport stay at the 2020 Games. ...
05:54 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
Grappler Geeta Phogat stood out in an otherwise average performance by the Indian team which finished fifth in the senior women's Senior Wrestling World Cup in Mongolia. ...
06:09 PM, Mar 04, 2013
Double Olympic wrestling champion has decided to go on a hunger strike to protest against the sport's possible exclusion from the 2020 Games. ...
08:22 PM, Mar 02, 2013
