FILA President Nenad Lalovic recently visited the wrestling stronghold of Kazakhstan. During his weeklong visit Lalovic toured a wrestling training center in Almaty the largest city in the country with a population of 1.4 million people, and saw many young wrestlers with great potential and possibly an Olympic future. In remarks the president discussed the possibility of opening a FILA Center in Astana -- Kazakhstan's capital city.
""This is one of the most passionate and talented wrestling countries in the world,"" he said. ""These young wrestlers are our future. It is easy to envision them on the Olympic podiums in 2016, 2020 and 2024 -- and FILA wants to make sure we give them every opportunity to achieve those honors.
To accomplish these Olympic dreams he announced that the organization was thinking of adding a FILA Center in Astana.
""It is now only a vision, but we're hoping it can one day become a reality.""
Lalovic met with Kazakhstan's FILA Bureau Daulet Turlykhanov to discuss the academy. Timur Kulibayev, president of the Kazakhstan Boxing Federation and an executive committee member of the National Olympic Council, was also present in the meeting.
Kazakhstan has a strong wrestling tradition, winning three bronze medals in the 2012 Olympic Games in London and two bronze medals at the recent World Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
