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Ashgabat, Turkmenistan to host the 2018 IWF World Championships

The IWF EB received the Anti-Doping Commission’s status report already reflecting some of the initiatives made by the Clean Sport Commission. Following the inclusive presentation of Alain Siegrist, IWF Financial Advisor, the EB approved the Budget for 2018 and received a status report on 2017. The Executive Board listened to three projects presented by Regional Organizations based on common language: the Francophone Confederation, the Russian speaking countries and Arabic Federation and acknowledged these as a further form of development in weightlifting. A tripartite agreement was born – unanimously supported by the Executive Board – on the organization of the 2018 IWF World Championships. Recognizing the request of Ashgabat, Turkmenistan to make post Games use of the legacy left by the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games which was an enormously successful event, the original host of the 2018 World Championships renounced the organization enabling the Executive Board to reallocate it to Turkmenistan. Athletes competing at the World Championships in Ashgabat will be able enjoy state-of-the-art venues and facilities which were constructed for the AIMAG, ensuring they can compete at their very best. In addition to its traditional Development Program for Member Federations, the IWF continues to provide unprecedented financial contribution to the Continental Federations in an annual value of 1 million USD which they have to spend on the development of the sport. The IWF is dedicated to help its constituents (National and Continental Federations) to improve the level of their governance in line with the IOC and ASOIF

IWF Executive Board unanimously approves recommendations of Clean Sport and Sports Programme Commissions

25 November 2017; Anaheim, USA: The IWF Executive Board (EB) today unanimously approved the recommendations of the Clean Sport and Sports Programme Commissions and pledged to implement them all in order to ensure the protection of clean lifters and the attractiveness of the sport at the Olympic Games. The independent Clean Sport Commission has held a number of meetings this year and following an extensive analysis of the anti-doping efforts in weightlifting over the last 10 years, presented its innovative and pioneering recommendations to the EB. The Commission determined that while significant improvements have been made in the IWF Weightlifting Programme since London 2012 there is scope to do a lot more work to combat doping. Of particular importance is the need for the IWF to combat doping in less than a dozen high risk countries where there is an entrenched culture of doping which also goes beyond weightlifting. Key recommendations of the Commission include: Contracting with the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport and collaborating with the International Association of National Anti-Doping Organizations and WADA to develop increased and more effective no notice out-of-competition testing in high risk countries Implementation of new rules in the IWF Anti-Doping Policy which send a clear deterrent message to IWF member federations that if they do not fulfil their anti-doping responsibilities to ensure that their athletes are clean, then they will lose their right to participate in international competition for a period up to four years. A requirement for athletes in in the IWF Registered Testing Pool and other national team athletes to provide IWF with an updated list of their coaches and other athlete support personnel Enhanced anti-doping education devised in collaboration with WADA and International Association of National Anti-Doping Organizations All the recommendations were approved by the EB and will form the basis of the IWF’s submission to the IOC Executive Board’s meeting this December. The IWF EB also approved the Clean Sport Commission staying engaged for an additional four year period in order to consult with the IWF as it progresses with the implementation of the recommendations. The Commission will also review and evaluate the progress of the IWF’s execution on an annual basis. Speaking following the first day of the IWF EB meeting, IWF President Ajan said: “Today marks the start of a new chapter for international weightlifting. We accept that in the past the incidence of doping in weightlifting has been too high and we had already moved aggressively to combat this. But with the excellent recommendations that we have approved today, we have a clear strategic plan for how to address this incidence and ensure that we move forward towards a cleaner future.” The IWF EB also approved the recommendations of the IWF Sport Programme Commission designed to protect the integrity of the sport and ensure the very best, clean weightlifting competitions at Tokyo 2020. One of the key recommendations was the shortening of the qualification period and an obligation for athletes to compete a minimum number of times, at certain intervals, to ensure athletes will be regularly subjected to in-competition doping controls. The other major recommendation was the switch from team to individual qualification allowing an easier traceability of the athletes. In addition to the reports of the Clean Sport and Sport Programme Commission, the IWF EB also heard reports from the Technical Committee, Coaching and Research Committee and Medical

XI. Mediterranean Cup, Ljubljana SLO

The 11th edition of Mediterranean Cup was held last weekend in the capital city of Slovenia, Ljubljana. More then 30 years passed since the last international competition was hosted by the Slovenian Federation and it proved to be a big test especially for the President, Damjan Canzek, and General Secretary, Slavko Laljek. The Opening ceremony showed a nice demonstration of home support from the young delegates as the President of the NOC, Mr. Bogdan Gabrovec, and Vice Mayor of Ljubljana Mr. Dejan Crnek, were invited to say a few words before the event. Mr. Attila Adamfi, IWF General Director was also present as honorable guest to show the support for Slovenian weightlifting. On Friday we had an opportunity to hear how to mentally prepare an athlete for the competition by an expert on that field and author of bestseller “Atleta Vincente” Mr. Massimo Binelli from Italy. On Saturday twelve countries participated with 48 athletes. That’s the highest number of participants ever for Mediterranean Cup. They were placed into five groups so the competition was ongoing for the whole Saturday from 9 am to 7 pm. Competition was right on schedule with no delays and great atmosphere was created by the crowd who cheered loudly for lifters that gave their best. At the end we had a strong competition between Italy and Serbia for the first place. Serbia won for only 10 Sinclair points in front of Italy and third place belonged to Slovenian team. “It was the best organized competition in my whole career as athlete and coach!” said Darov Konstantine, Tunisian head coach. “We are waiting with anticipation for next year Mediterranean Games in Tarragona, Spain and we hope to continue to compete in that high level of international competition that Slovenian Weightlifting Federation has set here in Ljubljana!” was the last encouraging words for all delegations from president of Mediterranean Weightlifting Confederation Mr. Maurizio Lo Buono. Source: Damjan Čanžek, President of Slovenian

IWF Development Program, Coach Seminar

An international seminar for trainers was held in Košice under the framework of the IWF development program called “Myths and facts about doping”. The seminar was held in the premises of the Gloria Palace Hotel on 18 November, 2017. Seminar topics were lectured by representatives from the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport in Bratislava, Dr.Sedliak Milan, Dr. Buzgó Gabriel, Mgr. Matej Vajda, Mgr. Michal Králik, Mgr. Michal Pokusa from the Czech Republic lecturers Mgr. Tereza Králová and Mgr. Petr Krol and the Slovak anti-doping committee lecturer MU Dr. Ľubomír. The seminar was attended by IWF Vice-President Mr. Krol and more than 30 participants. Source: Korpa

Weightlifting Technical Course for Coaches in Lao

Due to the generous support of the Olympic Solidarity and IWF the Lao Weightlifting Federation was able to organize Technical Course for Coaches in Weightlifting for 20 participants including coaches, PE teachers and athletes. The seminar took place at the Lao National Sports Training Center in capital Vientiane, Lao PDR between 13-17 November 2017. The expert was Maj. Dr. Aphinya Dattuyawat (THA) former Asian Champion, Olympic Lifter & Thailand Olympic Coach and IWF Certified Lecturer. Additional support was received by Mr.Winai Khamjeensri (THA) Senior professional level teacher and 1st coach of Gold medalist Olympic Games Athens 2004 (Pawina Thongsuk) - an experienced coach from 1992 till now. The following topics were covered in the course: Safety in Weightlifting, Principal of Coaching and How to Warm up & Basic Preparation Exercise, Workshop in Warm up & Basic Preparation Exercise, Introduction of Clean&Jerk and Clean&Jerk Technic and Assistant Exercise, Workshop in Technic & Exercise for Clean and Jerk Exercise, Introduction of Snatch and The Snatch Technic and Assistant Exercise, Workshop in The Snatch Technic and Assistant Exercise, 2017 Technical and competition rules & Regulation, Weightlifting Competition, Workshop in Weightlifting Competition, Test in Theory & Evaluation in Snatch and Clean&Jerk. The seminar was a big success and all participants enjoyed it. There were also interesting discussions among participants after the presentations. All participants passed the score over 80% at the practical and theoretical examination. The Lao Weightlifting Federation would like to thank Olympic Solidarity and IWF also TAWA for the support to this valuable

X. International Tournament Vladan Mihajlovic Memorial and IWF Course

X. International Tournament Vladan Mihajlovic Memorial was held in Indjija (SRB), on 4th November, 2017. Athletes from 9 countries participated at the competition: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Israel, Hungary, Uganda, Malta, Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia, in total 27 athletes. The winner for the female category (calculated by Sincler points) was Yazmin ZAMMIT STEVENS (MLT), followed by Marina OHMAN (ISR) and Nastasja STESL (SLO). Winner for the male category was Nenad KUZIC (SRB), followed by Stevan VLADISAVLJEV (SRB) and Vilmos Marcell BOJTI (HUN). The winner team was Serbia (Tamara ZIVKOVIC and Nenad KUZIC), followed by Israel (Marina OHMAN and Bar LEWI) and Hungary (Veronika MITYKO and Vilmos Marcell BOJTI). Mr. Milan Predojevic, President of the Indjija Municipal Assembly, opened the Competition and awarded the winner team. The IWF Course for Technical Officials, as part of IWF Development Program, was organized from 2nd to 5th November 2017, also in Indjija (SRB). Course Directors, IWF Experts were Jesmond CARUANA (MLT) and Salim Musoke SSEMPEREZA (UGA). About 20 domestic and 30 foreign participants participated. Experts from Belgrade Faculty for Sport also gave lectures. Technical Rules together with video analyse of competition attempts were in focus. Practical part of course was conducting during X. International Tournament Vladan Mihajlovic. Memorial and referee examination for two candidates was organized. Viktoria Litvinov (ISR) and Bruno Svara (SLO) successfully passed the exam for International Referee category 2. Serbian Weightlifting Federation is thankful to all participants, but especially to IWF for supporting Technical Officials Course and Competition. Such activities significantly contribute development of national weightlifting federations. Source: Prof. Dr. MILAN V. MIHAJLOVIC President, Serbian Weightlifting Federation IWF TC member EWF CR&SC