About Association

The International Belt Wrestling Acossiation (International Belt Wrestling Association, abbr. IBWA) is an international organization that develops and popularizes belt wrestling around the world and consolidates all kinds of belt wrestling based on the principles of friendship and unity.

The International Belt Wrestling Federation was established in 2003. Its founder and first president - Rif Gaynanov.

Since 2016, the president of IBWA is Rafik Valiev.

Headquarters: Kazakhstan, Astana

Type of organization: Sport Federation

Official languages: English, Russian

History

Belt wrestling as a sport appeared in Russia in 2003 by the creation of the All-Russian Belt Wrestling Federation initiated by Rif Gaynanov and introduction wrestling into the Unified All-Russian Sports Qualification of the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation. The active development of belt wrestling in Russia and other countries led to the creation in 2003 of the International Belt Wrestling Association (IBWA) headquartered in Moscow.

The first president of IBWA was its founder Rif Gaynanov.

On December 5, 2010, at the  joint meeting of individual and collective members of the International Belt Wrestling Association (IBWA) and representatives of the executive committee of the All-Russian Belt Wrestling Federation (RBWF), held in the town of Oktyabrskiy of the Republic of Bashkortostan, it was decided to create an initiative group to address the core issues on the creation of the International Belt Wrestling Federation.

On February 9, 2011 the Association of physical culture and sports public associations “International Belt Acossiation” Lyudmila Gaynanova was elected as the President. The founding congress adopted the Charter of the Association of physical culture and sports public organizations "International Belt Wrestling Association".

The first Congress of the International Belt Wrestling Association was held on October 13, 2011.

On February 19, 2016 at the Extraordinary IBWA Congress the President and governing bodies of the International Belt Wrestling Federation were elected:

The president: Rafik Valiev - Kazakhstan

General secretary: Khabir Khabibullin - Russia

Vice president: Maksat Nasyrov-Turkmenistan

Vice president: Maurice Yusupov - Russia

Sport director: Vener Gainullin  - Russia

Today IBWA is developing the following basic belt wrestling types: freestyle, classic style, women's belt wrestling. Due to the successful activities of IBWA, wrestling is officially included in the global network of non-Olympic sports, this type of wrestling is also supported by the UNESCO. In this sport, championships and world championships of Eurasia and Europe are held annually. Belt wrestling was included in the program of the 2013 Summer Universiade in Kazan as well as in the program of the Asian Indoor Games and Martial Arts, which was held in 2017 in the capital of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat.

Member of IBWA

Currently, belt wrestling is established in 59 countries of the world, namely on 4 continents.

Permanent members of the IBWA are the belt wrestling federations of the following countries:

Azerbaijan          Ghana

Armenia              Israel

Belorussia

Belgium

Cyprus

Denmark

Estonia

Georgia

Greece

India

Kazakhstan

Latvia

Lithuania

Moldavia

Mongolia

Norway

Russia

Sweden

Turkmenistan

Tajikistan

Turkey

Uzbekistan

Ukraine