National Championship Research Articles

What Determines the Competitive Success of Young Croatian Wrestlers: Anthropometric Indices, Generic or Specific Fitness Performance?

Identifying factors influencing wrestling performance is important for determining which capacities should be developed the most. This research aimed to investigate whether anthropometric indices, generic fitness, and specific fitness performance determine the competitive success of young wrestlers. This research included 49 Croatian Greco-Roman male wrestlers aged 17.75 ± 1.51 years. Variables included training and competing experience, anthropometric indices, generic fitness (countermovement jump and handgrip strength), and specific wrestling fitness test (SWFT). Wrestlers were separated into medallists and non-medallists (i.e., wrestlers who won a medal at the previous National Championship and wrestlers who did not win a medal, respectively). The t-test for independent samples was used to determine the differences between the two categories in all variables. Moreover, discriminant analysis was performed to identify differences in a multivariate manner. Medallists and non-medallists did not differ in anthropometric indices and wrestling experience. Medallists had better results in the countermovement jump (t = 2.55, p < 0.01), handgrip strength (t = 2.77, p < 0.01), and SWFT performance (t = 2.29, p < 0.05) than non-medallists. The discriminant analysis confirmed that performance categories differed in generic and specific fitness tests (Wilks' Lambda = 0.73, p < 0.05). It could be suggested that coaches should develop both the generic and specific fitness of their wrestlers to become more successful at competitions.

A-71 Olympic team rowers and team swimmers show altered functional brain activation during working memory and action inhibition

Abstract Purpose High-level expertise in team-sports has been found to be associated with superior performance on executive functions (EFs) such as working memory (WM) and action inhibition, and with altered activation of brain areas related to these EFs. In most such studies, athletes were sampled from the domain of dynamic (i.e., open-skill) team-sports (e.g., soccer players). Whether static (i.e., closed-skill) team-sports athletes (e.g., rowers and synchronized swimmers) show superior EFs performance and differential EF-related functional brain activation as well remains unknown. Methods We recruited 14 elite closed-skill athletes, all national champions, and internationally competitive in various rowing disciplines, as well as 14 controls matched on gender, age, and education, and had them perform working memory and action inhibition (stop-signal) tasks during functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanning. Results Group differences in performance in either task failed to obtain statistical significance, although athletes showed a numerical trend toward higher WM capacity than controls. Importantly, task-related BOLD responses suggested that Olympic closed-skill team athletes show stronger recruitment of brain areas that emphasize relatively stable task demands and weaker engagement of brain areas that emphasize rapidly changing demands imposed by extraneous stimulation. Conclusions Functional brain imaging data suggest that elite closed-skill athletes may employ different cognitive strategies.

Investigation of Hip Extension and Flexion Muscle Strength in Female Weightlifting Athletes

Objective: It was aimed to investigate hip flexion and extension muscle strength of female weightlifters athletes participating in national and international weightlifting championships.&#x0D; Methods: Hip extension, hip flexion strength measurements, weightlifting performances and demographic data of female athletes participating in international weightlifting championships (n= 15) and female athletes participating in national weightlifting championships (n= 15) included in our study were determined. Hip flexion/extension muscle strength measurements of the athletes were performed with a Lafayette hand-held dynamometer.&#x0D; Results: It was observed that hip flexion and extension muscle strength values of female weightlifters who do weightlifting at international level values were higher than the values of female weightlifters who do weightlifting at the national level (p &lt; .05). There was a statistically significant difference between right-left hip-flexion values in female weightlifting athletes who do elite weightlifting sports (p &lt; .05).&#x0D; Conclusion: It was determined that hip extension-flexion muscle strength of athletes participating in international championships were higher than hip extension-flexion muscle strength values of athletes participating in national championships. Considering that asymmetrical developments may cause sports injuries, it is thought that it is important to evaluate the asymmetrical development of hip muscle groups in certain periods.

Analysis of goal-scoring in an elite European women’s football teams

Football is one of the sports with more audience and women’s football has undergone a notable evolution at all levels. Scoring goals is the most relevant indicator of success in football. The aims of this study were to analyse, looking for patterns and/or differences in how gools are obtained through European elite women's teams. The goals were analysed through: way of obtaining the goal, type of finishing, type of assistance, time interval in which the goal was scored, assistance zone and finishing zone. A frequency analyses was performed through total number of actions of 174 goals from French and English teams in the respective national championships. The highest percentage of goals was obtained through offensive organization, also giving importance to the number of goals through tactical schemes (set balls). The zone where most goal submissions occur was in the penalty area, and the time interval of the games where the most goals were scored was defined between the 31 and 61 minutes. Differently from men’s, elite women’s football teams obtain the highest percentage of goals through the offensive organization, with a substantial number of goals also being scored through tactical schemes.

Moderating Globalization: Is There a Role for Antitrust Law? A Comparison of the Relevance of Entry, Expansion and Imports in US and EU Merger Proceedings

This paper attempts to locate the issue of innovation and foreign entry, in particular new entrants from China, in recent US and EU merger decisions. In the first part, the paper examines to what extend US and EU authorities considered foreign entry in recent major merger decisions such as Bayer/Monsanto, Dow/DuPont and ChemChina/Syngenta. The outcome of this short analysis shows that the EU Commission has in recent years begun to accept the argument of foreign entry, in particular from China, as long as the market shares of the merging parties are not too high. The US has not explicitly discussed the question of foreign entry in the above-named decisions. However, in the case Whirlpool/Maytag the US authorities accepted, despite high market shares of the parties, the argument of foreign entry and approved the merger. With regards to innovation, entry into future product markets is not considered favourable to the merging parties by the EU Commission. ‘Innovation competition’ or early ‘pipeline products’ is rather used as an argument to demonstrate that the merging parties hold market power in product markets in the future. Based on the selected case law, the US authorities, by contrast, did recognize entry into future product markets as an argument in favour of the merging parties. In its second part, the paper looks at the pros and cons of forming ‘national champions’ and discusses competition law enforcement in light of the numerous and politically powerful Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Global competition/antitrust law and policy, foreign entry in merger decisions and China, innovation competition, entry criteria in US/EU mergers, climate change

Olivaw: Mastering Othello Without Human Knowledge, nor a Fortune

We introduce OLIVAW, an AI Othello player adopting the design principles of the famous AlphaGo programs. The main motivation behind OLIVAW was to attain exceptional competence in a non-trivial board game at a tiny fraction of the cost of its illustrious predecessors. In this paper, we show how the AlphaGo Zero's paradigm can be successfully applied to the popular game of Othello using only commodity hardware and free cloud services. While being simpler than Chess or Go, Othello maintains a considerable search space and difficulty in evaluating board positions. To achieve this result, OLIVAW implements some improvements inspired by recent works to accelerate the standard AlphaGo Zero learning process. The main modification implies doubling the positions collected per game during the training phase, by including also positions not played but largely explored by the agent. We tested the strength of OLIVAW in three different ways: by pitting it against Edax, the strongest open-source Othello engine, by playing anonymous games on the web platform OthelloQuest, and finally in two in-person matches against top-notch human players: a national champion and a former world champion.

Competition Law Enforcement vs. The Policy Goal of an International Aviation Hub: Case Studies in East Asia

To what extent does the policy goal of an international aviation hub affect the enforcement of competition law? This article examines the dynamics between competition law enforcement and the policy goal of an international aviation hub in three East Asian competition jurisdictions: Singapore, Korea, and Hong Kong. Broadly speaking, industrial policy is one of the goals identified by some competition jurisdictions and plays an important role in enforcing competition law both explicitly and implicitly. While making an international aviation hub is a legitimate policy goal that competition law agencies can consider in their enforcement, competition law enforcers should be aware of the difference between making an international aviation hub and making a national champion airline. Although there is overlap between the two (i.e., having a competitive airline with a good network is helpful for making an aviation hub), the two are not identical and not always complementary. In keeping with the principle of competitive neutrality, this article argues that competition law enforcers should not selectively favour flag carriers when pursuing the policy goal of an international aviation hub. aviation hub, competition law, industrial policy, competitive neutrality, national champion airline, state-owned airline

Motivation and confidence of East Java indoor hockey athletes in facing the U-21 National Championship

&lt;p&gt;Atlet hockey memiliki empat aspek penting yang harus dipersiapkan dalam menghadapi sebuah kejuaraan diataranya teknik, taktik, fisik dan mental (psikologis). Psikologis seorang atlet yang harus diperhatikan yaitu motivasi dan kepercayaan diri. Tujuan dalam penelitian ini untuk mengetahui tingkat motivasi dan kepercayaan diri atlet hockey indoor (hoki ruangan) Jawa Timur dalam menghadapi kejuaraan nasional U-21 tahun 2022 serta mengetahui hasil perbandingan tingkat motivasi dan kepercayaan diri antara tim putra dan tim putri. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode deskriptif kuantitatif. Subjek penelitian adalah 12 atlet putra dan 12 atlet putri hockey indoor Jawa Timur yang akan menghadapi kejuaraan nasional dengan pengambilan sampel menggunakan teknik total sampling. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa tingkat motivasi putra (58,3%) dan tingkat motivasi putri (41.7%). Sedangkan, tingkat kepercayaan diri putra (58,3%) dan tingkat kepercayaan diri putri (50%). Hasil perbandingan yang dihitung menggunakan independent samples test yaitu motivasi antara putra dan putri dalam menghadapi kejuaraan nasional U-21 Tahun 2022 adalah tidak terdapat perbandingan yang signifikan dikarenakan nilai p-value ≥ 0,05. Sedangkan, kepercayaan diri antara putra dan putri dalam menghadapi kejuaraan nasional U-21 Tahun adalah terdapat perbandingan yang signifikan dikarenakan hasil nilai p-value ≥ 0,05.&lt;/p&gt;

Organ Donation in Croatia: The Importance of a National Champion, a Comprehensive Plan, and International Collaborations.

The Republic of Croatia is a global leader in organ donation and transplantation despite having fewer resources and more modest healthcare expenditures than other countries in the European Union. The results of an extensive literature review were combined with expert input in an iterative multi-step data collection and evaluation process designed to assess trends in Croatian organ donation and transplantation and identify key elements, policy changes, and drivers of the system that have contributed to its success. Multiple sources of evidence were used in this study, including primary documents, national and international transplantation reports, and insights from critical informants and content experts. The results highlight several key organizational reforms that have substantially improved the performance of the Croatian transplant program. Our findings emphasize the importance of strong central governance led by an empowered national clinical leader acting under the direct auspices of the Ministry of Health and a comprehensive and progressive national plan. The Croatian transplant system is notable for its integrated approach and efficient manner of managing scarce health resources. Collectively, the results suggest that Croatia has become nearly self-sufficient due to its systematic implementation of the guiding principles for organ donation and transplantation.

The glorious era of interventional cardiology.

This fluoroscopy image shows the sensational angiography of an 86-year-old man, a former national marathon champion, affected by heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (EF 38%) and multiple comorbidities, including permanent atrial fibrillation, chronic coronary syndrome, severe aortic stenosis, and secondary mitral regurgitation. In the last decades, several percutaneous procedures were performed, such as coronary angioplasty with implantation of drug-eluting stents (DES) in the left anterior descending artery and right coronary artery (A), transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) with CoreValve™ Evolut 34 mm (B) because of severe aortic stenosis, and CRT-P Medtronic™ Percepta Quad implantation (C) because of left bundle branch block and systolic ventricular dysfunction. Furthermore, he underwent percutaneous left atrial appendage closure (LAAC) with Amplatzer™ Amulet™ 28 mm (D) due to an ischaemic stroke that occurred during anticoagulant therapy with vitamin K antagonist (VKA), and mitral transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (TEER) with implantation of two MitraClip™ G4 NTW (E) because of functional severe mitral valve regurgitation. Finally, the severe left ventricular dysfunction and the elevated number of hospitalizations despite the optimal medical therapy made it necessary to implant the CardioMEMS™ (F) in the left pulmonary artery to optimize clinical management. This has made it possible to reduce hospitalizations from 13 to 4 per year. The patient is now being evaluated for tricuspid valve intervention due to massive and clinically relevant tricuspid regurgitation.

Nurturing national champions? Local content in solar auctions and firm innovation

Rather than by an invisible hand, many industries are kick-started by a government policy. Despite little robust evidence, local content requirements are increasingly used to incentivize domestic manufacturing if imports are cheaper. To examine the effect of local content, we explore an unintended quasi-policy-experiment. Starting in 2013, the Indian government simultaneously held solar auctions with and without local content, providing an otherwise unobserved counterfactual. We digitize the results from the 41 auctions worth 8.65 billion $ in solar module demand and collect annual revenue and solar patents of the 113 participating firms between 2004–2020. For causal identification, we compare winners of local content with similar open auction winners in a staggered difference-in-difference estimation. While we observe an insignificant increase in the same and the following year after firms win LCR auctions, overall, we find winning local content auctions does not significantly increase firms’ solar patents or sales. We identify three reasons why the policy did not create stronger, lasting effects. First, local content did not create sufficient production to enable learning by doing. Second, local content did not generate enough revenue for re-investment into R&D. Third, local content reduced competition in auctions. The analysis underlines the predicament countries face as open auction winners, despite having won 9 times as much capacity, do not patent much (more).

Clinical and ultrasound findings of ‘swimmer’s shoulder’ and its association with training history in elite Portuguese swimmers: a cross-sectional study

ABSTRACT Objectives To assess the prevalence of shoulder injuries and ultrasound findings in elite Portuguese swimmers and their association with symptoms and personal or training-related factors. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted at the Portuguese Open and Youth Swimming National Championships between 27 and 30th July 2022. Each athlete entered details regarding personal and training history into a questionnaire and underwent a physical and ultrasound shoulder examination. Results A total of 102 swimmers out of 662 Portuguese athletes were included in the study. Shoulder pain experienced during the previous season was reported by 42% of the athletes. A high prevalence of shoulder structural abnormalities was noted, specifically supraspinatus tendinosis (91%), tears (29%), and subacromial bursitis (29%). Specific training for injury prevention was associated with higher rates of infraspinatus tendinosis (p = 0.047), and supraspinatus tears were linked to greater swimming distances per week (p < 0.001) and practice (p < 0.001), more years of practice (p = 0.018), shoulder pain at the time of evaluation (p = 0.023), a higher number of missed competitions (p = 0.041), and shoulder injections (p = 0.009). Subacromial bursitis was associated with shoulder pain at the time of evaluation (p = 0.002) and during the previous season (p < 0.001), missed competitions (p < 0.001), and requirement for physical therapy (p = 0.006). Conclusions A high prevalence of shoulder morphological changes was found in surveyed swimmers and there were several associations with training load, regardless of individual characteristics of each athlete. It is essential to understand the true impact of current injury prevention programs and to develop effective measures to protect swimmers’ health.

Socio-Professional Implications of Sports Events: A Perspective from Dual-Career Students

Background: The organization of a sports event can be analyzed from the perspective of its impact on the participants, organizers and community. University championships have a sustainable character, with several tournaments being planned over time, receiving increased interest from all stakeholders. Methods: This research aimed to describe aspects regarding the organization and planning of sports events, the academic and professional profiles of student-athletes and the implications of their participation in championships. We used two research methods: one based on geography, and another based on a sociological survey of 139 dual-career students participating in the national university championship of men’s football and women’s volleyball organized by the University of Oradea (Romania). Results: The research results show that academic studies provide professional competencies, while participation in sports events contributes to students’ personal and professional development. The results highlight that dual-career students are more prone to develop their sports careers; therefore, participation in these types of events represents a milestone in their careers. Conclusions: Our study can be considered when organizing these types of sports events and can provide directions for the development of sustainable strategies and programs to support students with dual careers.

Multivariate analysis of goalkeeper actions in youth football

There is a lack of studies investigating youth goalkeepers that implement variables that can allow researchers and coaches to better understand the performances of the goalkeepers. For this reason, the aim of the present study was to identify key performance indicators of youth football goalkeepers both defense and attack. The sample was composed of 902 defensive and 896 offensive actions from a convenience sample of 32 matches of 19 teams from the Spanish National Championship of Regional Teams U12. A notational analysis was carried out using an ad hoc instrument to register the technical-tactical actions. Validity was higher than .84. In addition, intra-observer reliability was higher than .90. Classification tree analysis was used to investigate which variables were best predictors of technical actions in defense and precision in attack actions of the goalkeepers. Results showed that in the attacking phase the actions that achieve higher values of precision were those when the ball was played to zone A length and both right and left sides (X26 = 542.034; p = .000). In defense, when the goalkeeper achieve higher values of saves were those when the shot was taken from out of the penalty area and no jump or drop was performed. The present findings contribute to evidence-based practice in fostering young goalkeepers.

Coaching athletes with an intellectual disability at a national championship tournament

Coaching at a national championship tournament is different to coaching across a competitive season. The team and coaches are away from their regular environment and their normal support mechanisms are distant. While much is known about stressors for coaches in high-performance sport, the current study explored how these were manifested during the intensity of a championship tournament and the coping strategies employed by one coach of a selected, intellectually disabled basketball team. This social phenomenological analysis identified four primary stressors, creating unity and development of trust, management of parents, management of inexperienced coaching/support staff, and crisis management of a critical incident. Coping strategies employed during the tournament included planning, time alone for stress-recovery management and working with a qualified expert to manage a critical incident. The temporariness of the tournament brings unique stressors for the coach and a need to manage these quickly and efficiently, especially for athletes with an intellectual disability. The coach identified that it is unlike any other type of competition, as there is absolute consumption on the tournament and a need to create a rhythm to function effectively. The need for all team members to understand their role and responsibility suggests that a collaborative approach to leadership is essential. Failure to adapt to the tournament circumstances can inhibit chances of success.

Experienced vs Inexperienced Disabled Swimmers: Training Load and Recovery in Preparation Period

The study purpose was to analyse the training load and recovery of experienced and inexperienced swimmers with disabilities. Materials and methods. The study subjects consisted of seven swimming athletes with disabilities at the provincial level who underwent training camps in preparation for the Indonesia Paralympics Games. The groups of athletes were divided based on their level of training and experience in national championships. For thirteen weeks, the athletes monitored their training load and recovery rate. Borg CR-10 was used to measure the internal training load, while the athlete’s recovery rate was measured using Total Quality Recovery (TQR). IBM SPSS Statistics version 22 was used to analyse normality and test differences between the two groups. The Mann-Whitney test was used to test the significance of the RPE Borg CR-10, while the unpaired T-test was used to test the significance of the TQR. Results. The Borg CR-10 mean for the experienced athlete group was 7.78±0.47, while it was 8.28±0.56 (p&lt;0.05) for the inexperienced athlete group. The RPE mean for the experienced athlete group was 18.24±1.47, while it was 18.52±1.57 (p&gt;0.05) for the inexperienced athlete group. Furthermore, the Borg RPE shows the training load of experienced athletes of 17.12±1.03, which is lower than the average RPE of inexperienced athletes of 18.21±1.24, and also the TQR average of experienced athletes was of 18.24±1.47, while it was of 18.52 ±1.55 (p&lt;0.05) in case of inexperienced athletes. Conclusions. Experienced para-swimmers had a significantly different training load than inexperienced para-athletes. In addition, the training load of experienced para athletes was also significantly different compared to the recovery rates of experienced and inexperienced para swimmers.

Dynamics of strength training of qualified wrestlers during weight loss: case study

Purpose: to investigate the dynamics of strength training of qualified wrestlers under the influence of an experimental strength training program during the period of weight loss. Material and Methods. A member of the national freestyle wrestling team. took part in the research. The athlete is 20 years old, and has been practicing wrestling for 9 years. The study was conducted during the preparation for the national championship. A training program was developed for qualified wrestlers, which is advisable to use when preparing for competitions in special conditions of weight loss. The experimental program consisted of a strength training program and a body weight loss program with the use of a specially developed diet and drinking regime, and additional use of ergogenic means was also foreseen. In addition, the experimental training program included special training work. Research methods: analysis of scientific and methodological sources; summarizing the practical experience of specialists; pedagogical observations; pedagogical experiment; pedagogical testing; methods of mathematical statistics. Results. During the study period, the tested athlete, despite a significant decrease in his own weight by 6.5 kg (7.4%), managed to maintain the absolute power index in the bench press (100%), increase the result in the squat with a barbell by 2.8%, by 10% in the dead lift and by 10.5% in the standing long jump. Significant positive changes were observed in the study of relative strength indicators. The subject improved by 8.1% in the bench press, 18.8% in the barbell squat, 11.6% in the dead lift, and 19.3% in the long jump. A significant positive dynamic of the special speed strength indicator is observed when the athlete performs a double leg shot during training bouts (t = 9.4; p ˂ 0.01). The study of general and special speed-power endurance also revealed significant positive changes in the tested athlete. The time for performing a set of Cross Fit exercises decreased by 17.6%. Special Endurance coefficientt improved by 10.7%. Conclusions The results of the study showed that the use of an experimental program for training qualified wrestlers for competitions, in the conditions of reducing body weight, during eight weeks, contributed to a significant positive dynamic of the strength general and special preparedness of the athletes.

Injury characteristics of young elite inline speed skaters: A one season retrospective study

ABSTRACT Objectives Determining the rate of injuries related to a certain sport is accepted as the primary step toward designing, implementing and evaluating injury prevention programs. This observational and retrospective study was to examine the injuries sustained by elite young Spanish inline speed skaters during a season. Methods Athletes participating in the national championship (n = 80) were surveyed via an anonymous online questionnaire to screen for injury characteristics: incidence, location, and tissue affected; plus training information and demographics. Results A total of 52 injuries were recorded across 33,351 hours of exposure, which gives a rate of 1.65/1,000 h. The lower body comprised 79% of the total amount of injuries (1.3/1000 h), and the main areas affected were the thigh and foot, accounting for 25% and 19.2% of the recorded injuries, respectively. Musculotendinous injuries were the most frequent, with an incidence of 0.92/1000 h. No significant gender differences were observed for any of the variables studied. Conclusion Speed skating can be considered a low injury rate sport based on our findings. The risk of sustaining an injury was independent of gender, age, and BMI.

“It’s the average cost, mister!” – Explaining the recurrent dismissal of European soccer coaches

ABSTRACT The professional survival of a coach can be explained by the ability of the team that he or she trains to achieve a reasonable number of points in relation to the total team’s budget. In this work, we test the microeconomic indicator of average cost as an important (and so far unassessed) dimension in the survival of a professional football coach in the face of recurrent defeats. For this purpose, we use empirical methods associated with survival analysis considering recurrent events. We analyse 1077 contract durations between the 2009/2010 and 2019/2020 seasons of the professional leagues in Spain, England, Italy, Germany, France and Portugal. We conclude that the average cost (total budget divided by points achieved in the national championships) is an important dimension. We also discuss other dimensions – such as clubs’ financial characteristics, neighbouring teams’ competitiveness or coaches’ individual characteristics – which, in certain leagues, also prove to be determinant.

THE TECHNIQUE OF ELITE ATHLETES SPECIALIZED IN 50 KM RACE WALK

Purpose: to reveal trends of changing the technique of highly skilled 50 km race walkers along with the increase of sports results based on biomechanical characteristics analysis. Material and methods. Technique biomechanical analysis data of the best world and Ukrainian athletes, obtained in the course of studies at 2015–2018 national race walk championships in 50 km and 35 km distances are presented. Biomechanical characteristics of 22 highly skilled athletes (14 males and 8 females) specialized in 50 km race walk (total number of sports results 30) have been determined and analyzed. Results. Improvement of sports result in the men’s 50 km race walk to the world best level occurs mainly at the expense of stride length increase 1.10 m (p &lt; 0.05). Result improvement to the world level from 4:10:00 (S = 0:07:50) to 3:56:27 (S = 0:02:08) mainly occurs at the expense of stride frequency increase to 3.32 stride·s–1 (S = 0.10) at statistically significant differences with indices of the national level athletes (p &lt; 0.01). It has been revealed that in females of the high national level specialized in 50 km race walk (results close to 4:31:37), the indices of stride length and frequency constitute 0.95 m (S = 0.02) and 3.22 stride·s–1 (S = 0.12), respectively. Conclusions. Comparative analysis of race walk technique kinematic characteristics of athletes of different skill levels specialized in 50 km race walk has been conducted. Prospects and directions for improving sports results of potential national team members have been revealed on the basis of comparison with the indices of national team members and elite athletes. A sharp improvement of sports results of female athletes in 50 km race walk during the last few years is noteworthy. It was due to this discipline inclusion in the program of Track and Field World Championships.