By Brian Oliver
Looking into a new future was the theme of the afternoon at the AWF Congress in Tashkent, where the 2024 Asian Championships begin tomorrow.
There was news of reforms that will affect coaches and referees, in line with new policies at the IWF. Future competition hosts were approved by the AWF board, and arguably the most important event was the official launch of a new AWF website.
“This was our number one approval at today’s executive board meeting,” said Mohamed Jalood, the IWF president who is also AWF first vice-president. “This new website will be as strong as Asia’s weightlifters and administrators.”
Eshaq Ebrahim Eshaq, chair of the AWF marketing and media commission, said, “We are building on our past and moving into the future.
“Other sports have transformed themselves through marketing – look at the success of MMA, which is now a multi-billion dollar sport.
“We are a more traditional sport that deserves the same success. We are not going to move into a new world overnight, but we are making progress. Promoting our athletes is our priority because without them we are nothing.
“We have been working for three months and we have had more than five million views on social media in that time, showing that focusing on athletes is the way to go.
“Our new website is integrated with social media and it is optimised for phones. The website and social media give us a new digital horizon, one that can make money through paid advertising when we reach a big enough audience.”
“We are at the inception of our journey, marking the beginning of a gradual process. Please be assured that we are committed to continuous growth and development.”
Host nation Uzbekistan stated its intent to build for the future, quite literally. When Uzbekistan hosts the Asian Youth Games next year the event will be centred on a new Olympic city under construction in Tashkent, at a cost of hundreds of millions of US dollars.
Shakrillo Makhmudov, AWF vice-president and his nation’s deputy sports minister, said weightlifting will have the maximum 10 categories at the Youth Games and will be “a big chance to promote our sport and encourage young athletes to try for the 2028 Olympic Games”.
China and India, the world’s two most populous nations, were announced as hosts for the next two senior Asian Championships, and Kuwait was awarded its first major international competition, the 2025 Youth and Junior Championships.
Jiangshan, home city of the double Olympic champion Zhan Xugang, will stage the 2025 Asian Championships at its impressive 4,000-seat arena, and the 2026 Championships will be in Gandhinagar, which is known as the “grassroots capital of Indian sport”. Specific dates are yet to be decided.
The AWF will work in tandem with the IWF on a coaching licence scheme. While the IWF, which will finalise the scheme this year, will be responsible for licensing coaches at the highest levels, the AWF will focus on providing information – without the need for exams – for national coaches. Details will be announced in due course on the new website.
“This is a very important project for clean sport,” Jalood said. “We will take the licence away from coaches if we find they are responsible for doping their athletes.”
China will host one of the IWF’s global educational centres for coaches, as will Cuba and Bulgaria, with more to follow. Chen Wenbin, one of the sport’s all-time greats who coached six Olympic champions and whose athletes had no anti-doping violations, will head the China-based coaching course. Coaches must pass examinations to gain a licence.
The new AWF website will also carry details about new initiatives in refereeing, which must be approved by the IWF boardn and Congress. A minimum of four independent referees – those not nominated by their own federation – will be selected by the AWF and will be eligible for selection for international competitions. The IWF is also planning to name a minimum of six independent ITOs, Jalood said.
Olga Solovyeva, the AWF technical committee chair, announced that the AWF would also propose to the IWF that the technical rules be clarified regarding the weigh-in procedure. The technical committee proposal is that it should be made clear to athletes that to claim the 250g costume allowance, they must weigh-in in the competition uniform they will wear on the platform.
