GERMANY (AP) -- Wrestling needs to overhaul its often mystifying rules while the sport seeks to retain its Olympic status, according to the new interim president of the international wrestling federation.
Wrestling is partly to blame for the International Olympic Committee's decision to drop the sport from 2020, Nenad Lalovic told The Associated Press by phone on Saturday. Wrestling needs more user-friendly rules that would benefit spectators, television and athletes, Lalovic said.
"If an Olympic champion of 20 years ago were to attend a wrestling tournament now, he probably could not tell what is going on," Lalovic said from his headquarters in Vevey, Switzerland, the seat of FILA, the international governing body.
The overtime draw -- in which a wrestler draws a colored ball to determine his or her position -- and the clinch are among the chief complaints of spectators and broadcasters.
"Wrestling has become a sport purely for experts. We have to have seminars for referees before major events," he said. "The rules have to be clearer and the sport more attractive and spectacular. I would like a spectator to come into an area and know all the rules by the time he or she goes out."
He's also like to have a ranking and seeding system.
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