The 20th Italian International Championship- 9-10-11 December 2016 – Bologna, Italy
The 20th Italian International Championships were organized this year in the beautiful city of Bologna, in the northern part of Italy. Although the weather was cold and foggy the Italian Armwrestling Federation ( S.B.F.I ) organized a great event.
Claudio Rizza their president with the help of Virna Nedrotti the vice-president prepared everything in detail so everybody will be satisfied with the level of competition organized inside the Palace of Congress located in a very nice area of Bologna. Unfortunately the Italian Head Referee Fulvio Menegazzo could not attend the event but he was replaced for the competition by the WAF Master Referee Katia Crucitti who prepared and did a very good referee training seminar before the competition, making sure the referees are prepared and ready to referee at a high level both days, also she was in charge of everything doing a great job on the stage during the competition. They had also two WAF Mater Referees invited, Ivan Gregoricka from Slovakia and myself.
The competition was held at 3 tables, each day Katia having 10 referees available. A very important thing is that in a competition with 155 competitors on the right hand and 67 on the left, the refereeing had a high standard and no protest were made so this is a very good example of how good the referee training works in Italy under the guidance of Fulvio and Katia.
The championships were livestream on the official WAF channel with the help and participation of Florin Lazar the WAF Director of Scoring helped and assisted by the Italian crew lead by Tomas De Marchi.
The Italian Federation also prepared an award ceremony for the achievements in 2016 of two competitors and one referee, Ermes Gasparini, Thomas Manghi and Katia Crucitti who received an award of excellence on stage, well deserved!
In the end Italian Federation showed a good example on how to achieve great things working together and having a united team, a leadership who trusts and supports the referees, Italy being a place worth returning every time with great pleasure for everybody.
EAF Assistant Director of Referees
Eduard Dimiean