Guide Poland

 

Poland (Polish: Polska), officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. Poland is the 9th largest Country in Europe with a population of over 38.5 million people.Poland is the 34th most populous country in the world, the sixth most populous member of the European Union, and the most populous post-communist member of the European Union. Poland is a unitary state divided into 16 administrative subdivisions.

Tourism

Poland experienced an increase in the number of tourists after joining the European Union. Tourism in Poland contributes to the country's overall economy and makes up a relatively large proportion of the country's service market.

Kraków was the former capital and a relic of Poland's Golden Age of Renaissance. It contains the place of coronation of most Polish kings. The city of Wrocław, designated as a European Capital of Culture in 2016, is one of the oldest in Poland and attracts several million tourists every year. The Poland's capital, Warsaw went through Old Town reconstruction after its wartime destruction and it offers a variety of attractions. Other cities include Gdańsk, Poznań, Lublin, and Toruń. There is the historic site of the Auschwitz German concentration camp near Oświęcim.

Poland's main tourist offerings are based around city-sightseeing and extra-urban expanses, qualified tourism, agrotourism, mountain hiking and climbing as well as business trips. Other tourist destinations include Poland's Baltic Sea coast in the north, Masurian Lake District and Białowieża Forest in the east, the southern Karkonosze, Table Mountains, Tatra Mountains, in which has the highest peak of Polish (Rysy) and the famous Orla Perć; Pieniny as well as Bieszczady Mountains in the extreme south-east.

Sport in Poland

Football (soccer) is the country's most popular sport, with a rich history of international competition. Basketball, volleyball, handball, boxing, MMA, speedway, ski jumping, cross-country skiing, ice hockey, tennis, fencing, swimming, wrestling and weightlifting are other popular sports.

The golden era of football in Poland occurred throughout the 1970s and went on until the early 1980s when the Polish national football team achieved their best results in any FIFA World Cup competitions finishing 3rd place in the 1974 and 1982 editions.

The Polish men's national volleyball team is ranked 4th in the world and the women's volleyball team is ranked 15th. Mariusz Pudzianowski is a highly successful strongman competitor and has won more World's Strongest Man titles than any other competitor in the world, winning the event in 2008 for the fifth time. The first Polish Formula One driver, Robert Kubica, has brought awareness of Formula One Racing to Poland. Poland has made a distinctive mark in motorcycle speedway racing thanks to Tomasz Gollob, a highly successful Polish rider. Cross country skiing and ski jumping are popular TV sports, gathering 4–5 million viewers each competition, with Justyna Kowalczyk and Kamil Stoch as the main attractions. The  ski jumper Adam Malysz won four Olympic medals (3 silver, 1 bronze).

Poles have significant achievements in mountaineering, in particular, in the Himalayas, especially in the winter gathering Eight-thousander.

The Polish mountains are an ideal venue for hiking, climbing, skiing and mountain biking and attract millions of tourists every year from all over the world. Baltic beaches and resorts are popular locations for fishing, canoeing, kayaking and a broad-range of other water-themed sports.

Wrestling in Poland

Wrestling in Polish (as in Slovak) is called  "zapasy"  (greco/roman:„Styl Klasycny“ and Freestyle: „Styl Wolny“). The National Wrestling Federation has its headquarter in the capital Warsaw and is called "Polski Zwiazek Zapasniczy". As the first president of the federation Wladyslaw Pytlasiński was chosen in 1922 and a well-known international Wrestling tournament is named in honour of this idol. Since 2008, Mr. Krzysztof Klosek acts as President of the Polish Wrestling federation. Wrestling is traditionally anchored in Poland and in the past, Polish wrestlers won numerous Olympic medals. The National Federation is divided into 16 provincial associations which belong to about 190 Wrestling clubs. In Poland, both styles are equally popular with many more international success has been achieved in the greco/roman style. The female wrestling is also applied successfully.
Since November 2016 there is a team league in Poland: Krajowa Liga Zapaśnicza

International Situation

Because of the intensive promotion of sport during the communist period, Poland has also become a strong nation in wrestling. The first World Cup title in 1973 reached the brothers Josef and Kazimierz Lipień in Tehran in the greco /roman style. Overall Polish wrestler could win 12 World Cup titles in greco. In female wrestling they came up with two titles but the male freestyle wrestlers got only 6 Vice World Titles. Since the seventies to the mid-nineties, the Polish wrestlers among the world leaders. The absolute highlight was in Atlanta 1996 where the Polish greco/roman wrestlers won three gold medals and also received a silver and a bronze medal at the Olympic Games. After this triumph, the Polish Wrestling Federation had to wait 12 years until Agniescza Wiesczek was able to reach an Olympic medal (Bronce) 2008 in Beijing. Also the last World Cup title, won in 2003 by Darius Jablonski, is now back more than a decade. As for all Central European countries, it is increasingly difficult to keep up for Poland in wrestling with the world's best. The Top wrestlers are mainly from Russia, Iran, Caucasus or East Asia. For the Olympic Games in London, only four Polish wrestlers could qualify. Damian Janikowski (middleweight-greco) could win a bronze medal for Poland.
At the Olympic Games 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Monika Michalik won the first Olympic medal at female Wrestling.
 

 
The most succesful polish wrestlers in the moment: Damian Janikowski and Agniescza Wiesczek (blue).

Most succeful wrestlers of Poland

Andrzey Wronski (2xOlympic Champion, 1xWorldchampion,3xEuropean Champion) greco
Kazimierz Lipien  (1xOlympic Champion, 2xWorldchampion,3xEuropean Champion) greco
Andrzey Supron (1xWorldchampion,2xEuropean Champion) greco
Bogdan Daras (1xOlympic Champion, 2xWorldchampion,3xEuropean Champion) greco

The best freestyle wrestler in Poland was Adam Sandurski (2,14m)  in Superheavyweight with two world runner-up titles, and Olympic bronze in 1980 in Moscow. World Champion titles in female Wrestling got Edyta Witkowska and Johanna Piasecka for Poland. As currently the best Polish wrestler applies Damian Janikowski from Wroclaw. He won the bronze medal in London, 2012 he was world runner-up and won at European Championships already silver and bronze.

Gold Medals at Olympic Games - Poland

1976                Kazimierz Lipien                    62Kg               greco
1988                Andrzey Wronski                   100Kg             greco
1996                Andrzey Wronski                   100Kg             greco
1996                Ryszard Wolny                      68Kg               greco
1996                Wlodzimierz Zawadsky           62Kg               greco

National situation
The National Federation is divided into 16 provincial associations which includes about 190 wrestling clubs.

The best wrestling clubs in Poland:

Club                   Town

Slavia                  Ruda Slaska
Suples                 Krasnik
DAB                    Brzeznica
Grunwald             Poznan
Slask                  Wroclaw
Zaglebie              Walbrzych
AKS                    Bialogard
Cartusia               Kartusy
Olimpijcyk             Radom
AKS                     Piotrkow Trybunalski
Unia                    Raciborz
Ceramik                Krotoszyn

Team competitions in Poland

Since November 2016 there is a team league in Poland: Krajowa Liga Zapaśnicza. The Convention on the Establishment of a Professional Wrestling League in Poland was signed in Warsaw on 12 March 2015. The German “Ringer Bundesliga” served as a model. In one team there are 9 Wrestlers (3 athletes in free-style, Greco-Roman style and female wrestling)- they compete against each other. With following six teams, the league started in November 2016: AKS Białogard, AKS Wrestling-Team Piotrkow Trybunalski, AZ Supra Brokers Wroclaw, AZS-AWF Warschau, Union Racibórz und WKS Grunwald Poznan.

 
Jan Falandys (48Kg) and Adam Sandurski 2,14m and 130Kg  (right).

Polish Wrestlers in Germanys Bundesliga

After the political changes, countless Polish wrestlers, lured came through the salaries of the Bundesliga, to Germany. The first of them were at KSV Witten of 2.14 large Superschwergewichtler Adam Sadurski and flyweight Jan Falandys yet during the eighties. Both Olympic champions Wronski and Zawadsky fought for years in the Bundesliga. Since the nineties there was hardly a Polish national wrestler who did not compete in the Bundesliga.

Polish Wrestling Federation

Polski Zwiazek Zapasniczy

ul. Żelazna 67 m. 73
00-871 Warszawa
Polska

tel./fax.
+48 (22) 624 81 11
+48 (22) 624 01 69
+48 (22) 652 19 03

Homepage: Polish Wrestling Federation

http://www.zapasy.org.pl/

Wrestling Clubs in Poland: http://www.zapasy.org.pl/strefa_zwiazku/kluby_zapasnicze.html

 11  /  2016