In a powerful display of leadership continuity and international cooperation, IJF President Marius Vizer has welcomed Dr. Astrit Hasani, newly elected president of the European Weightlifting Federation and reportedly the youngest continental federation leader in Europe, to the prestige-filled Abu Dhabi Grand Slam 2025. The invitation granted Dr. Hasani full access to the operational backbone of a world-class sporting event.
During the Grand Slam, IJF President provided Dr. Hasani with entry to every facet of the event’s organisation, including logistics, athlete movement and flow, international protocol, governance procedures and broadcasting systems. As part of the visit, Dr. Hasani was shown the IJF Athlete Database and the federation’s global streaming platform, JudoTV, tools which underpin performance tracking and outreach across the judo world.
For Dr. Hasani, the experience offered deep insight into top-level sports administration and institutional management. He described Vizer’s mentoring as exceptionally instructive, saying “Marius Vizer is not just a school, he is a university,” adding that the exposure had strengthened his understanding of how to lead and govern a major sports federation.
Vizer’s decision to personally mentor Dr. Hasani points to a deliberate effort to cultivate a new generation of internationally minded sports leaders. As an established figure in global sport, Vizer seems committed to promoting broader standards of professionalism, fairness, and excellence beyond judo, extending his influence into the wider sporting world.
Dr. Hasani took office in April at age 39. Since his election, he has sought to lead the European Weightlifting Federation with a modern, athlete-focused agenda grounded in neutrality, fairness, and high governance standards. The president of the European Weightlifting has launched “Sport Above Politics”, a movement aimed at ensuring that sporting events remain independent of government interference. One of the policy proposals under his leadership stipulates that if any host country refuses visas to eligible athletes, the organisers must cover full travel costs and risk losing future hosting rights.
In further moves to modernise the federation, Dr. Hasani has urged the International Olympic Committee to abolish the “Individual Neutral Athlete” status. He argues that no athlete should be penalised for the actions of their government and that all athletes deserve equal treatment based solely on their performance.
Dr. Hasani’s reforms also include a significant shift toward gender balance in leadership. Since his appointment, female representation on the EWF Executive Board has increased by 150%. Women now hold one-third of the board’s seats (5 out of 15), marking a meaningful step toward aligning European weightlifting with contemporary standards of inclusion and governance.
By combining the mentorship of Marius Vizer with his own reformist vision, Dr. Astrit Hasani appears poised to lead European weightlifting into a new era defined by neutrality, inclusion and international cooperation. The lessons drawn from the Grand Slam in Abu Dhabi may well serve as a blueprint for the future of sport across the continent.
