Nenad Lalovic Re-Elected As United World Wrestling President

November 1, 2021

Serbia’s Nenad Lalovic has been re-elected as the President of United World Wrestling (UWW) after standing unopposed for the position at the body’s Congress in Belgrade on Sunday.


The International Olympic Committee (IOC) member, who has led the worldwide governing body since 2013, is set to serve a fresh six-year term.

Lalovic had been due to be re-elected in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the UWW to postpone its Congress until this year.

He first became President after being chosen to serve for the remaining two years of Raphael Martinetti’s term following the Swiss official’s resignation. Nenad Lalovic was a key figure in Serbian sports after the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. After the war, his son Milos started to wrestle at a local club in which Mr Lalovic became involved before joining the national federation. He became President of the Serbian Wrestling Federation a year later and helped shape the new nation’s sports history. Indeed, during his presidency, he helped transform the organization into a professional federation with new offices and an organizational structure and it began organizing international competitions that laid the groundwork for building international recognition. The Junior European Championships in Greco Roman style were held in Subotica, Serbia, in 2002 and the Senior Championships were held in 2003 in Belgrade. Serbia won its first medals in the sport of Wrestling in both competitions.

Martinetti resigned after the IOC Executive Board’s recommendation to drop wrestling from the program after Rio 2016.