Greco News

Monday Roundup: German GP Canceled; Tokyo Qualifiers Pushed To 2020ne

german gp canceled
Photo: Sachiko Hodaka

Actual Greco-Roman competition news is still being replaced by the coronavirus’ impact on the international schedule, which on this Monday results in two important items that have recently been announced.

The annual Grand Prix of Germany, a dependable tournament that often welcomes in many of Europe’s top competitors prior to a World Championships (or Olympics), will not be taking place this year. United World Wrestling has shut off all competitions through at least June 30; since the German GP was slated for June 20-21 in Dortmund, the original date was an automatic no-go. However, Deutscher Ringer-Bund does not plan on rescheduling, declaring in their official statement that “the pandemic does not currently allow normal training operations in all countries”, and also noting that “a shift does not make sense from a sports perspective.”

As of now, events scheduled past the June 30 cut-off have yet to be officially postponed (excluding the Tokyo Olympics). For Seniors, the only pseudo-major tournament available in July would be the Grand Prix of Spain (Madrid), though that could change soon. In late-August, the (Ivan) Poddubny in Moscow is still on the schedule as of today.

All OG Qualifiers Pushed to Next Year

UWW reportedly sent an email last week to all national federations intimating that the three remaining continental Olympic Qualifiers (Asia, Europe, and Africa/Oceania) along with the “Last Chance” World event will be moved to the spring of next year. It had been speculated that UWW would attempt to “mirror” the schedule that was in place this season, making this development not at all surprising. According to the Japanese Federation, the now-2021 Asian OG Qualifier will occur in late-March, with the OG World Qualifier staying put in Bulgaria and likely targeted for late-April or early-May. The United States will be sending two athletes (at 77 kg and 130 kg) to Bulgaria following the 2021 Olympic Trials.

|Stay tuned, as Episode 36 of The Five Point Move Podcast is expected to be released later today featuring Joe Betterman and Williams Baptist head coach Todd Allen.|

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