Achieving results in an honest way: International Kurash Association delegates entire clean sport program to the ITA

Kurash is an ancient folk style of wrestling practiced in Central Asia; the sport emerged on the territory of modern Uzbekistan at least 3.500 years ago. In Uzbek, “Kurash” means “achieving a goal in an honest way”. For a long time, Kurash was not institutionalised, but rather passed down from one generation to another. It was not until the early 1990s that the first attempts to unify the different Kurash techniques, rules, disciplines and categories were undertaken, preparing the traditional sport for today’s competition requirements. The International Kurash Association was then established in 1998 as the world governing body for the sport, uniting today 120 national Kurash federations.

In line with these efforts to professionalise Kurash, the IKA has decided to collaborate with the ITA to offer its international-level athletes a professional and expert-led clean sport program. As of the beginning 2023, the IKA has delegated all its anti-doping activities for independent handling to the ITA. The ITA is henceforth conducting the entire testing program for IKA, both for in- and out-of-competition doping controls. These controls are based on a bespoke risk assessment considering all relevant factors, including the physiological profile and sports specificities of Kurash.

The administration of the Athlete Biological Passports (ABPs) of Kurash athletes and the handling of Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUEs) are also managed by the ITA. It furthermore enhances the anti-doping efforts of the IKA with a long-term sample storage strategy that enables the storage and re-analysis of selected samples for up to ten years after the collection date.

To provide Kurash athletes with the most comprehensive anti-doping program possible, the ITA is collecting intelligence for the IKA, and acting upon any information shared confidentially through ITA’s secured reporting platform REVEAL.

All clean sport activities on behalf of the IKA are carried out by the ITA in strict compliance with the World Anti-Doping Code and its International Standards, with ITA’s dedicated Regulatory Compliance Unit ensuring full alignment with all mandatory rules. Any potential anti-doping rule violations stemming from its anti-doping efforts are subject to independent results management by the ITA.

The ITA is also raising awareness about doping, supporting clean sport values and contributing to doping prevention among Kurash athletes with the establishment of a four-year education plan starting in 2023 in compliance with the WADA International Standard for Education. To support the implementation of this plan, the ITA will introduce dedicated online and event-based education opportunities specifically aimed at Kurash athletes.

“I welcome the IKA’s decision to entrust the ITA with the protection of its athletes,” says ITA Director General Benjamin Cohen. “In addition to our wide-ranging anti-doping expertise, we have extensive experience in running clean sport activities for combat sports, which Kurash athletes can benefit from. We take our mission to keep Kurash real very seriously and are fully committed to upholding its significance of achieving a goal honestly.”

“’Kurash’ means ‘achieving a goal in an honest way’, and to do this, we need a clean sport,” says IKA President and Director General of the Asian Games Mr Haidar Farman. “That is why we joined the ITA to make sure that our members get the full benefit of education and understanding of anti-doping programs and we are delighted that we managed to sign this contract.”