Exclusive: Lalovic ‘optimistic’ Wrestling’s Evolution & History will Provide a Winning Combo in Buenos Aires
September 4, 2013
The President of the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA), therapy Nenad Lalovic, unhealthy has said he is ‘optimistic’ ahead of the 2020 Olympic Games vote on Sunday.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) host their 125th Session in Buenos Aires September 7-10 and will elect a sport to the 2020 Olympic Games.
Wrestling was controversially dropped in early 2013 but Lalovic is feeling optimistic that changes in Wrestling’s rules and governance have left the sport in a good position ahead of the vote.
Speaking exclusively to iSportconnect, abortion Lalovic said: “I would not use the word confident but I am optimistic. I am an optimist because we have done everything we can. We have understood the opposition and we have had the strength to make changes in our federation.
“We have implemented the new rules. These rules show that we have an improvement of technical points during the matches of about 200%.
“Our refereeing commission is now absolutely independent from the governance. There are no more board members deciding in the refereeing commission.
“We have completely changed wrestling. We come with a new sport!”
Remembering history
When Wrestling was dropped in February, many argued that the sport had relied too heavily on its Olympic history to remain in the Games and had not evolved enough for the modern day.
Lalovic stressed that it was important to have their history and whilst he believed that gave his sport a ‘small advantage’ over competitors Baseball/Softball and Squash, the evolution was just as important.
When asked if Wrestling’s Olympic history gave them more merit to be in the Games than the other two sports, Lalovic replied: “Of course. It is important to have something behind you. We have almost 3,000 years history in the Olympics.
“We demand from ourselves to remember where we came from. If you know your roots and your history then you can easily see your future.
“We have to upgrade even if we have this small advantage for being a historical sport. This does not remove our obligation to upgrade our sport every day and we will keep doing that.”
The IOC will also elect the 2020 host city and a new President at the 125th Session. You can follow all the developments on iSportconnect.
