Wrestling supremo pleased after Rogge talks

LAUSANNE, Switzerland: Nenad Lalovic, acting president of the International Federation for Wrestling (FILA) said he had very helpful talks with International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge on Friday.
Lalovic has been spearheading the campaign to have wrestling — one of the few sports to have appeared in both the Ancient and modern Olympics — reinstated into the 2020 Olympics.
Wrestling had been selected to disappear from the Games in 2020, and be replaced by an as yet unidentified sport, by the 15-man IOC Executive Board at their meeting on Feb. 12.
Both decisions — the exclusion of wrestling and the sport to replace it — have to be rubber stamped by the whole membership of the IOC at their Congress in Buenos Aires in early September.
Lalovic, though, said that his talks with Rogge had been productive and educational.
“The meeting was very cordial and helpful,” said Lalovic, who assumed the interim role after Raphael Martinetti resigned on Feb. 16 when he failed to gain enough support from FILA board members for him to head the campaign.
“Our objective was to listen and learn from the discussion with President Rogge and I am very pleased with the result. Every sport, including wrestling, has to earn its place on the Olympic program.
“We know this will take hard work and are ready for it. Our goal is to make a great sport better and to be stronger partners in the Olympic Family.” Lalovic outlined the initial steps that FILA is taking to address the concerns expressed by the IOC Executive Board.
“FILA has already begun a number of innovative initiatives to modernize the governance, presentation and promotion of our sport,” said the 54-year-old Serbian.
“The IOC’s process has given wrestling a golden opportunity, for which we are very grateful, to improve our sport at every level and to help strengthen the Olympic Movement.”