Wrestlers insist on Kurtanidze’s resignation
By Tatia Megeneishvili
Tuesday, October 7
The Georgian National Wrestling Team refused to attend their training sessions under their new coach. Instead they demanded the resignation of the President of the Georgian Wrestling Federation, Luka Kurtanidze.
New chief trainer of the team Nugzar Skhirtladze, who was appointed on the position by Kurtanidze on October 1, said that he has no information about this issue.
“I have not met with wrestlers yet, accordingly I have no information what they plan to do and when they will continue working with me,” said Skhirtladze, adding that if any sportsman is against him, he will not make them work with him.
Wrestlers claim that they have a problem with Kurtanidze and not with the new coaches.
“We have nothing against the new coaches. We have already worked with some of them and we had good results, our demand is that Kurtanidze quit his position,” stated the wrestlers.
The wrestlers state that Kurtanidze is not professional and fails to deal with the federation issues.
They have been protesting Kutranidze’s leadership in the federation since the mid of September.
However, Kurtanidze is not going to resign. He admits that the Georgian wrestling team has done nothing tangible during the last two years. He stresses that changes are required within the federation.
“The fact is that the team has a zero outcome. We should do our best together to change the current situation and achieve success in 2015-2016, that’s why many changes are needed,” stated Kurtanidze.
A special meeting was held in the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs on September 22, which stressed that the issue would be discussed closely in a month’s time and the body will make a decision regarding Kurtanidze’s fate.
