Wrestling makes stunning IOC comeback

Sport was dropped as an Olympic event in 2013.

KUALA LUMPUR: The head of wrestling’s world body Nenad Lalovic secured a place on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Monday, completing a remarkable comeback after his sport was threatened with exclusion from the Olympics.

The Serbian, one of two new entrants onto the IOC with Senegal’s Mamadou Diagna Ndiaye, won the backing of all 83 members who voted.

The IOC dropped wrestling as an Olympic event in February 2013, sparking a crisis in the sport which has been in the Olympics since it started.

Lalovic became president of the global federation now known as United World Wrestling. Following an aggressive campaign, it was voted back onto the programme for the 2020 Tokyo Games in September the same year.

The burly Belgrade businessman has since introduced a series of reforms to make wrestling more television-friendly, saying it was a question of “survival”.

Rules have been changed to give more points to aggressive tactics rather than defensive.

Blatter gives up IOC seat

Under pressure FIFA leader Sepp Blatter on Monday gave up his IOC seat because he will soon end his reign in charge of world football.

Blatter, whose organisation is embroiled in a corruption scandal, was among a group of eight IOC members who should have sought re-election on Monday at a meeting in Kuala Lumpur.

He has said he will stand down as FIFA president on February 26 when an election for a new leader will be held.

“Blatter does not deem it to be appropriate to stand for re-election for eight years knowing that after seven months his term would come to an end,” said IOC President Thomas Bach. 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 4^th,  2015.

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