USA Wrestling presents proposal to FILA concerning World Wrestling Championships
<< Back to Articles
Gary Abbott (USA Wrestling)
10/01/2001
USA Wrestling and its organizing committee NYC2012 have submitted to FILA, the international wrestling federation, its proposal concerning the postponed World Championships of Wrestling. USA Wrestling sent a letter, via FAX, to FILA's offices in Lausanne, Switzerland on Friday, September 28. Two possibilities were presented to FILA: either host the event in New York City from Dec. 6-9 this year, or move the event to another nation this year and return to New York City in 2003. The event was originally scheduled for September 26-29 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. FILA announced that the event was postponed on September 15, and indicated that the updated decision about the event would be announced by the end of September. According to FILA, the event was postponed in "respect for the families of the persons who died or disappeared and for security reasons for the participants in the Championship." In the plan presented to FILA, USA Wrestling and NYC2012 proposed hosting the Championships in New York City on the tentative dates of December 6-9. The first three days of the competition would be held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, which is the proposed venue for wrestling for the 2012 Olympic Games if held in New York City. The finals would be held in Madison Square Garden on December 9. The other option presented by USA Wrestling and NYC2012 would be for FILA to award the 2001 World Championships to another nation this year, and bring the combined Championships back to New York City in 2003. "USA Wrestling believes that bringing the World Championships of Wrestling to New York City provides a tremendous opportunity for the promotion of the sport in the United States and around the world," said Rich Bender, USA Wrestling Executive Director. "The record number of nations and athletes that agreed to compete in New York this year would be very excited about the opportunity to participate in the Championships if they were rescheduled for either December 2001 or in 2003 in New York City." "Preparations for the event were exemplary and the response from around the world extremely strong," said Jay Kriegel, Executive Director of NYC2012. "With adequate time to carefully plan, we are confident that a great World Championships can be held in New York City." On September 14, USA Wrestling requested from FILA a postponement of the Championships, and requested until September 28 for preparing its plan concerning the Championships. In the letter of September 28, USA Wrestling has requested a response from FILA concerning the two proposed solutions. FILA has scheduled a meeting of the FILA Bureau in Lausanne, Switzerland on October 10, and the scheduling of the World Championships is one of the agenda items.