Those athletes and coaches in the United States wondering about the possibility of a U23 World Team Trials this fall need to worry no more. Reportedly during a conference call held earlier today by United World Wrestling’s executive committee, it was decided that the 2020 U23 World Championships — scheduled for November 23-29 in Tampere, Finland — have been canceled. Both the Junior World Championships (December 4-10) and Senior Worlds (December 12-20) in Belgrade, Serbia remain on the calendar — for now. However, that may change on Friday when another UWW Bureau Members’ meeting transpires. It is believed that the fate of the last two World tournaments of the year will be decided on that call.
Currently, the US has an event scheduled for the Seniors, next month’s National tournament in Coralville, Iowa. Junior and U23 World Team Trials tournaments had been discussed for the end of October, but neither were added to the official events list. If the Senior World Championships are held in December (and the US plans on participating), the US Nationals will “most likely” become a Trials tournament. As of today, there is still no official word regarding a potential USA Junior Trials event.
Japan
The nation of Japan is not encumbered by the US’ Ted Stevens Act. If there is a Senior Worlds, they can simply select their Team via committee. That seems to be the plan on the heels of their announcement that the annual Emperor’s Cup (All-Japan Championships) will indeed take place in December. It was also noted that the Cup will go forth even if a reduction in participants is necessary due to COVID-19 restrictions.
BULGARIA
Multi-time European Championships medalist Daniel Aleksandrov (77 kg, BUL, world #12 at 82 kg) celebrated his 29th birthday on Sunday in quite the giving manner. Aleksandrov, along with business partner Georgi Naumov, launched a new endeavor called “Dupnitsa Sport” with the goal of providing Bulgarian youths with more opportunities to participate in sports (not just wrestling). “Our intentions are to stimulate and encourage young people to play sports,” Alexandrov told Bulgaria’s federation on Sunday (transcript converted to English via machine translation).
Dupnitsa is in the process of building its very own sports facility that will include indoor tennis courts as well as a general sports hall that would eventually be able to host wrestling tournaments. In fact also according to the report, Aleksandrov aims to apply for the privilege of holding the Bulgarian Nationals.
Vlasov
Russia media outlet The Match recently released a mini documentary on Roman Vlasov (77 kg) titled The Diary of the Olympics That Didn’t Exist on YouTube. The video — which is presented entirely in Russian — sees the World/Olympic superstar go into detail describing his reaction to the postponement of the 2020 Games and recalling his early days in the sport. Included for good measure are a few past performances, as well. The translation available via the closed caption settings on YouTube is not very accurate, but the doc is recommended viewing for anyone who enjoys watching Vlasov highlights and quick clips of techniques honed during practice sessions. (Video available below.)
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