FILA President Lalovic to Run Unopposed for Further Six-Year Term

Nenad Lalovic will run unopposed for a further six-year term as President of FILA, ambulance wrestling’s world governing body.

The news was determined at a FILA Bureau meeting in Dubrovnik and means that Lalovic, who stepped in as President when wrestling’s Olympic future looked bleak, will be the sole contender on September 7 during the FILA Congress at the World Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Lalovic became Acting President in February 2013, after the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Executive Committee omitted Wrestling from the Olympic Programme.

He was elected President at an Extraordinary Congress in May in St. Petersburg, Russia, to serve the rest of the term of Raphael Martinetti who resigned his presidency after the IOC decision.

Wrestling was eventually re-instated into the Olympic Programme, defeating squash and baseball/softball to secure their Olympic participation.

Lalovic is credited with stepping “to the forefront of Wrestling’s battle to stay in the Olympics last year,” in an official press release from FILA.

The Serbian helped change the rules of the sport and make it more appealing to broadcasters and young people – something the IOC demanded for their re-instalment into the Games.

To learn more about how wrestling has changed, click here for a full interview with Lalovic during wrestling’s campaign to be in the 2020 Olympic Games.

Further votes

In addition to the presidency, the Congress will vote on seven FILA Bureau seats. Six members will be vying for six-year terms and one will be to fill the remaining two-year term of Dr. Matteo Pellicone of Italy, who passed away earlier this year. 

The FILA constitution states that women must fill three of the seats on the 23-member Bureau. Since two are already serving, one woman will be named to the group that leads the federation in September.

Current female members are Rodica Yaksi, of Turkey, and Natalia Yariguina, of Russia.

The news comes after FILA announced they would be updating their brand identity with a new name and logo

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