ASTW NEWS 11.01.11
Hello All Again welcome to the e-newsletter for the Australian Society of Traditional Wrestlers, a united group focusing on the promotion of all the non-aligned grappling combat sports played in this country & indeed any style of wrestling. Check out more info at the Face book site for the Coreeda Association of Australia. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=393164422541
The ASTW currently consists of the following organisations;
1. Coreeda Association of Australia http://www.coreedaoz.com/main/page_home.html (Affiliated with the World Martial Arts Union < http://www.womau.com/ >) Contact Gavin Dickson at
2. Australian Sumo Federation http://sumoaustralia.com.au/ (Affiliated with Oceania Sumo Union & International Sumo Federation
3. Australian Ssireum Association http://www.coreedaoz.com/main/page_ssireum_federation_of_australia.html (Affiliated with World Ssireum Federation
4. Association of Australian Celtic Wrestlers http://www.coreedaoz.com/main/page_panceltic_wrestling.html (Affiliated with Fédération Internationale des Luttes Celtique < http://www.filc-ifcw.com/ >) Contact Mardo Gray at
5. Turk Wrestling Australia http://www.coreedaoz.com/main/page_turk_wrestling_australia.html (Affiliated with Türkiye Geleneksel Spor Dalları Federasyonu < http://www.gelenekselfed.gov.tr/tur/default.asp >) Contact Latif Sagol at
6. Australian Kurash Federation http://www.kurash-oceania.com/ (Affiliated with Oceania Kurash Confederation & International Kurash Federation < http://kurash-ika.org/en/main >) Contact David Stone at
7. Australian Kabaddi Federation http://ozkabaddi.com/ (Affiliated with International Kabaddi Federation < http://www.kabaddiikf.com/ >) Contact Bobby Mangat at
8. Australian Zurkhane (House of Power) Sports Federation http://www.zurkhaneh.com.au/ (Affiliated with International Zurkhane Sports Federation < http://izsf.org/beta/ >) Contact Khashayar Heidari at
9. Australian Shuai Jiao Union http://www.jirongzhangmartialarts.com.au/ (Affiliated with International Chinese Kuoshu Federation < http://www.ickf-kuoshu.org/ >) Contact Dr Jirong Zhang at
10. Australian Belt Wrestling Association (Affiliated with the Oceania Belt Wrestling Association & the International Belt Wrestling Association < http://www.beltwrestling.org/ >) Contact Carlo Knoester at
11. Australian Pankration & Grappling Committee http://auspankration.com/about/grappling/ (Affiliated with Fédération Internationale des Luttes Associées < http://www.fila- grappling.com/ >) Contact Terry Williams at 12. Australian Sambo Federation http://www.coreedaoz.com/main/page_australian_sambo_federation.html (Affiliated with the Oceania Sambo Federation & Federation International Amateur Sambo < http://www.sambo.com/index-en.html >) Contact Victor Serga at < [email protected] > 13. Australian Chin Lai Paih Association (Affiliated with the International Chin Lai Paih Association < http://vocrnews.blogspot.com/2010/02/62nd-chin-national-day-celebration-in.html >) Contact James Mang Hram at 14. Australian Swiss Wrestling Club (Affiliated with the Eidgenössischer Schwingerverband < http://www.esv.ch/news.php >) Contact John Jaeggi at 15. Mongol Bukh Australia http://mglaus.com/2007/11/16/mongolian-australian-society/ (Affiliated with the Pan Mongol Bukh Association < http://www.mongolbukh.mn/ >) Contact Bayar Tsagdaa at < [email protected] > 16. African Wrestling & Sports Federation of Australia http://www.awsfaustralia.org/ (Affiliated with Traditional Sports Federation of Nigeria In this edition 1. New member of the ASTW representing the African continent 2. UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage program accepts three traditional wrestling events 3. New website for Indo-Pakistani wrestling 4. First Australian Sambo Tournament 5. Media coverage of events 6. Celtic Australia Day Pan-Celtic Wrestling World Championship 7. Calendar of Events 2011 If you have taken time to check the updated list of members above you’ll notice there is another new addition to the ASTW family bringing us now to 16 organisations & I’d like to take this moment to warmly welcome Mr. John Nze Bertram the president of the African Wrestling & Sports Federation of Australia to the group. John is based in Adelaide & has some very good connections in the African Diaspora, which he feels will make AWSFA a successful enterprise. Naturally we support such a movement, especially if it brings more people into our fold, which can only happen as traditional wrestling is the cultural norm of so many ethnic groups on the African continent from Nigeria, Ghana, Gambia & Senegal in West Africa to the Nuba people of Northern Sudan & the Dinka people of Southern Sudan. The United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organisation UNESCO has come to acknowledge the importance of traditional sport through its Intangible Cultural Heritage program & three traditional sporting events have been added to their list at the end of 2010, as you can see at their website http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/index.php?lg=en&pg=00011 I’ve managed to obtain video footage of these three events that helps to clarify what this is about as can be seen on YouTube 1. The annual Kirkpinar Oil Wrestling Festival of the city of Edirne in Turkey that attracts 1,000 wrestlers, 80,000 spectators & a television viewing audience in the millions http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muljd2y3t-4 2. The Pahlivani & Zurkhane Rituals of Iran that are not only thousands of years old but are now also organised into an international sport http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZOt13_ic5w&feature=channel 3. The Naadam Festival of the Republic of Mongolia that is also the major national holiday http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RI67liJxJtQ You will notice of course that all three of these sports are represented in the ASTW & we hope many more are included in future lists but the Coreeda Association of Australia also belongs to an international organisation called the World Martial Arts Union WoMAU which has also been recognised by UNESCO for its efforts to protect the Intangible Cultural Heritage of the world as this You Tube footage of the World Martial Arts Festival shows http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E18rFxa7-mM A new British based website dedicated to traditional wrestling in Punjab Provinces of India/Pakistan has been found & it looks like they are serious about starting dangals or traditional tournament circuits in Europe http://www.pahelwani.com/# Another blog site has been going for a few years now that advertises any events around the world relating to Kushti, traditional Indian wrestling & can be seen at http://kushtiwrestling.blogspot.com/ The First Australian Sambo Competition was held in Mt Druitt in Western Sydney on December 12 2010 & even though the event was initially a little disorganised, by all accounts it was quite successful. Congratulations to all competitors who were given novice grading on the day, the first graded sambo wrestlers in Australia. We hope that future tournaments are just as successful & that Australian sambo wrestlers will be competing in international championships soon. Thank you to Stacy Thomas, reporter for the Mt Druitt-St Marys Standard, who has graciously covered the event in print media, as well as several others, http://stage.mt-druitt-standard.whereilive.com.au/sport/story/sambo-showdown-in-mt-druitt/ http://mt-druitt-standard.whereilive.com.au/sport/story/faces-of-wrestling/ http://mt-druitt-standard.whereilive.com.au/sport/story/blacketts-parker-learns-from-failure/ http://mt-druitt-standard.whereilive.com.au/sport/story/meet-ufc-fighters-at-star-city/ As part of the Cumberland Newspaper group, a subsidiary of News Limited, the Mt Druitt St Marys Standard reaches 64,000 readers weekly in the fastest growing part of the largest city in Australia, so having this support is essential to promote our events. If anyone else can find any other stories in local media relating to wrestling in any form please scan them & send them to us so we can collect them for future reference. Further media coverage was found for the Saturday Disney TV Program which did a story for wrestling http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8v-Ynet0_vY & will do another for sumo on Saturday 26 Feb 10:05am, for all the kids watching out there The Pan-Celtic Wrestling World Championships will be held on January 26 as part of the Celtic Australia Day Celebrations at Bradfield Park Milsons Point, right under the Harbour Bridge. Come along if you are in the area & enjoy a fun day out. If you want to learn more about the Celtic Council of Australia you can check out their website http://www.celticcouncil.org.au/ This leads directly to the Calendar of Events for 2011 & naturally we’ll try to keep abreast of things as they develop, reporting them via this e-newsletter but the following websites have leads for specific wrestling & grappling combat sport tournaments, seminars & championships http://www.coreedaoz.com/main/page_events_events_1.html Coreeda Association of Australia http://www.wrestling.com.au/ Wrestling Australia Inc http://www.ausjudo.com.au/jfa/global Judo Federation Australia http://www.judokodokanaustralia.org/ Australian Kodokan Judo Association http://www.jujitsu.com.au/welcome/page1.php Australian Jujitsu Federation http://www.afbjj.com/ Australian Federation of Brazilian Jujitsu http://www.ibf.com.au/index.html International Budo Federation Australia For now the only traditional wrestling events to report are the Tokyo Ozumo Honbasho that runs from January 9-13 & for anyone that gets NHK TV let us know what is happening for the next e- newsletter. The Pan-Celtic Wrestling World Championships on January 26 has already been reported Chinese New Year is February 3 & there may be a Shuai Jiao demonstration given in Brisbane please contact Jirong Zhang of the ASJU on the above details. Tsagaan Sar on February 14 is the Mongolian White Month National Holiday & for anyone interested in learning more about Mongolian bukh please contact Mongol Bukh Australia on the above details. Chin National Day is February 20 & there will be a Lai Paih tournament in Perth The Oceania Wrestling Championships will be in Apia Samoa from February 26-29 & will include beach wrestling The Osaka Ozumo Honbasho goes from March 13 -27 Persian New Year will be March 21 which should augur well for a Zurkhane demonstration in Sydney I leave you with a quote from an unknown wise man “Our greatest glory consists not in never failing, but in rising every time we do.” Hasta La Vista Gavin This newsletter has been mailed to 3236 subscribers. We would like to thank our volunteer editors: Holly Lee Dickson, Mehmet Latif Sagol, Stephan Jaeggi & Mardo Gray for all their assistance in preparing this e-newsletter If you ever want to remove yourself from this mailing list, you can send an email to