UWW Eliminates Forced Par Terre

UWW has eliminated forced par terre in Greco-Roman wrestling and will now go with more of a folkstyle-like stalling penalty set up. 

Ordered parterre for passivity is cancelled, and the following procedure will be enforced :
• first time issue a verbal warning to the passive wrestler by using UWW vocabulary without stopping the bout
• second time same wrestler is passive, referee will give 1st passivity warning, again without stopping the bout
• Third time when the same wrestler is passive, referee will give 2nd passivity warning and 1 technical point to his opponent, again without stopping the bout.
• Every further passivity will result in 1 technical point to the opponent, all without stopping the bout

This change is an interesting one bringing about mixed feelings from myself. I do credit UWW for attempting to solve the issue of guys who "specialize" at par terre essentially not interested in going takedowns. Many wrestlers were just pushing to maintain the center of the mat just biding time until they got an opportunity on top. Hopefully, this does help this problem. 

However, are top senior guys good enough to get takedowns? Throwing other proficient wrestlers is not an easy thing to do. You don't see many throws when it comes to high level wrestling because mostly the throws aren't there. I worry watching passivity points light up the scoreboard with last point scored criteria could make greco less watchable. 

I do like bringing about fewer whistles though. International refs stopped the action way too much in the last cycle. You have to let wrestlers wrestle to set up different attacks and get a feel for what may be opening. Also, that many whistles can be frustrating from a fan standpoint. 

I do hope these changes help and at least UWW is trying in this aspect.