6th World University Wrestling Championship
Lodz, Poland - June 3rd to 6th, 2004
Iran Pins Down the Championships
Iranian wrestlers made the day at these WUC wrestling championships, bringing home ten of the 16 gold levels in the men's events.
Iran brought wrestling back to the FISU programme when it organized the second World University Wrestling Championship in Teheran in 1996, after an interim of nearly 30 years, and they were magnificent. 171 wrestlers from 18 countries took part, including great champions like Serguey Liehtrvan and Alexander Zanko from Belarus. The third edition took the wrestlers back 30 years to Turkey, which had hosted the first games in 1968, and again organized the World Championships in this sport in 1998. It seems that wrestling is definitely back in favour since many of our Member Associations have shown lively interest in organizing the championships themselves. In 2000, the wrestlers went to Japan, and in 2002, both men and women (for the first time) met in Edmonton, Canada.
The Polish University Sports Association, AZS, has always been very active in organizing FISU championships and proved it again this year by taking charge of the Wrestling WUC in Lodz. The town, a major educational centre, is located in the middle of the country, with a population of 1 million. Lodz was the first town to introduce free, mandatory education in 1919. A branch of Warsaw University was inaugurated there in 1928 as the starting point for Lodz University. Today, the town boasts countless private and public schools. Many research centres are also located there. Lodz bent over backwards to be a great host for the University wrestling championship. The Mayor, Mr. Jerzy Kropiwnicki, officially opened the games at the friendly and colourful opening ceremony.
Iran Towered over the Men's Competition
It has almost become a tradition – Iranian wrestlers did an exemplary job at these championships, winning 10 of the 16 gold medals offered for the men's events (plus three more in silver). There can be no doubt that Iranian wrestling team members worked very hard for three months, focusing exclusively on these World University Championships. We can only congratulate them on the fantastic performance that gave them another gold medal in the freestyle team competition and a silver in the Greco-Roman event.
Many spectators who came to watch the qualifications and the finals had eyes for no one but their local wrestler from Lodz: Adrian Mazan, a medical student who came in third in his category - 66 kg (freestyle) and another Pole, Tomasz Szewcyk, who took the bronze medal in the freestyle 120 kg. Belarus, Turkey and Hungary, to mention only three, also gave very good performances.
Polish Women Carried the Day
Since the Olympic Games in Athens, women’s wrestling (free-style) has become a mandatory sport. At FISU championships, this was the case in Edmonton 2002 as well as at this year’s edition. In Lodz, the lady wrestlers competed in freestyle exclusively, and it must be said that the local team did wonders, cheered on by the audience. They actually took 4 titles out of 7, as the Polish team beautifully dominated all the women's events and came in first in the team competition. Greece, Japan and the Ukraine were also outstanding.
In any case, for both men and women, participation was at a very high level. Mr. Andrzej Supron, the main umpire for the competition, underlined this even before the qualifications began: "Just looking at the list of contestants, I can promise you that we will reach the standards of the International Wrestling Federation (FILA) World Championships", and he was right.
Mr. Kiselev (FISU) & Mr. Korpak (AZS)
Excellent Relations
Another thing we saw at this University tournament was confirmation of the excellent collaboration between FILA and FISU. In fact, FILA President, Mr. Raphaël Martinetti insisted on coming to the University tournament in person. FILA feels that the FISU championships are very important dates on its calendar. For that matter, it must also be said that wrestling has become one of the indispensable FISU sports where it attracts a growing number of participants from year to year. This was true again at Lodz -- the town welcomed delegations from 26 countries with total of 291 participants (including officials). A very handsome success, there's no denying it. Next year, wrestling will be on the Universiade programme in Turkey as an optional sport, and we will meet again in two years' time in Mongolia for the seventh edition of the World University Wrestling Championships.
Organizing Committee
AZS lodz Mr. Lukasz Janczar 22/26 Lumumby St. 91-404 Lodz - Poland phone: (48.42)6771011 fax: (48.42)6781813
Results
Men
Medallists Men's -55kg
-55kg 1. KHALPOUR ALAMDARDEHI YASER - IRI 2. ORUC TURGAY - TUR 3. ISAJEV JERBOL - KAZ
Medallists Men's -60kg
-60kg 1. KARNYTSKI ALEXANDRE - BLR 2. AKHOUNDI MOSTAFA - IRI 3. TULBEA GHENADIE - MDA
Medallists Men's -66kg
-66kg 1. VAHEDI MASOD - IRI 2. BUDISTEANU RUSLAN - MDA 3. MAZAN ADRIAN - POL
Medallists Men's -74kg
-74kg 1. GAIDAROV MURAD - BLR 2. HABIBI HADI - IRI 3. NAGASHIMA KAZUYUKI - JPN
Medallists Men's -84kg
-84kg 1. DOROSTKAR PEJMAN - IRI 2. WEITZEL JOSHUA - USA 3. SEMIANOK SIAMION - BLR
Medallists Men's -96kg
-96kg 1. SAIFI HAMMID - IRI 2. ZILBERMAN DAVID - CAN 3. DUCHIN EVGENIV - UKR
Medallists Men's -120kg
-120kg 1. REZAEI ALIREZA - IRI 2. RAYCHEV PETRO - UKR 3. SZEWCZYK TOMASZ - POL
Women
Medallists Women's -48kg
-48kg 1. SERA MOMOKO - JPN 2. SADOWSKA IWONA - POL 3. PSATHA FANI - GRE
Medallists Women's -51kg
-51kg 1. BILENSKA SYLWIA - POL 2. BRANDUSH VICTORYA - UKR 3. KASCHEYEVA PALINA - BLR
Medallists Women's -55kg
-55kg 1. TETYANA LAZAREVA - UKR 2. PETERSEN JESSICA - CAN 3. SEKINE YU - JPN -59kg 1. VAN DUSEN MARCIE - USA 2. SERBINA VOHLA - BLR 3. GRAHAM BREANNE - CAN
Medallists Women's -63kg
-63kg 1. SHODA AYAKO - JPN 2. HENNICK HELEN - CAN 3. KHILKO VOLHA - BLR
Medallists Women's -67kg
-67kg 1. DUGRENIER MARTINE - CAN 2. MAJ MONIKA - POL 3. WALERIA ZLATOWA - UKR -72kg 1. LEE STEPHANIE - USA 2. WIESZCZEK AGNIESZKA - POL 3. VIVIONI MARIA-LUIZA - GRE
