Beach wrestling, beach, World Championships, Pakistan, gold medal, oil wrestling

Beach Wrestling World Champ’s Delivers High-Flying, Fan-Friendly Action

Monday, October 30, 2017 - 12:33 By Tim Foley

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DALYAN, Turkey (October 24) – Muscular bodies and postcard sunsets met with top-level international wrestling and sprays of sand last week on the beaches of Dalyan, Turkey as United World Wrestling hosted the 2017 Beach Wrestling World Championships.

The championships were a celebration of the sport’s reemergence around the globe and the kickoff event for what the wrestling body believes will be the next big global sports phenomenon.

“Beach wrestling is an exciting area of development for our organization,” boasted United World Wrestling president Nenad Lalovic. “The appeal is right there for everyone to see. We are in the sun, and wrestlers are very fit people so when they compete everything is pleasing to the spectators no matter how much they know about wrestling.”

Wrestlers in the Cadet, Junior and Senior age groups competed in a total of 20 weight categories across the three-day event. Iran, Ukraine and Pakistan all took home gold medals in men’s beach wrestling, while Norway and Italy proved to be the dominant powers on the women’s side.

Beach wrestling is an especially appealing competition style for wrestlers from nations like Pakistan, India, Vietnam and dozens in Africa since their local styles are very similar. With constant growth Mr. Lalovic and others believe that the sport will help wrestling reach millions more young wrestlers and continue growing interest in the Olympic styles as well.

“Beach wrestling has a lot of potential. We want to see it in more countries in 2018 and are planning for a new event series to make sure that we inspire our young athletes to get out and be active in our sport,” said Lalovic.

The Beach Wrestling World Championships latched on to local excitement for oil wrestling and held a joint event on the final day of wrestling, combining the men’s freestyle 90kg and +90kg finals with a Turkish Oil Wrestling competition. Known as “yagli gures” the sport dates back more than a thousand years and holds an annual championship known as “Kirkpinar” which attracts more than 100,000 fans and is considered the longest continually running athletic event in history.

With big eyes for the future, beach wrestling will expand its offerings in 2018 with a tentatively approved global tour of five cities capped by an annual prize event.

For more information on beach wrestling and more follow United World Wrestling on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and on our homepage.

Men’s Senior Beach Wrestling

Men’s 70kg

GOLD:  RADULOV SEMEN (UKR) df. Mohammad NADERI (IRI), 3-2 
BRONZE:  Veli YANTIR (TUR) df. Michael PETERS (USA), 4-2 
BRONZE:  Aimar ANDRUSE (EST) df. Arouzmanidis NIKO (GRE), 2-1 

Men’s 80kg

GOLD: Sayed Jafar GHASEMI (IRI) df. Omid Hassan TABAR JELODAR (IRI), 3-0 
BRONZE: Serkan CAVUSOGLU (TUR) df. VELIKSAR SERGII (UKR), 1-0 

Men’s 90kg

GOLD:  Muahammad Inam (PAK) df. Pejman Fazlollah TABAR NAGHRACHI (IRI), 2-1 
BRONZE:  Pavlidis THEODOSIOS (GRE) df. Petridis CHRISTOS (GRE), 3-0 
BRONZE:  Savvinov PLATON (RUS) df. Kerimkulov CHYNGYZ (KGZ), 3-0 

Men’s 90kg+

GOLD:  Pouga RAHMANI (IRI) df. Hakan AYDOGAN (TUR), 3-0 
BRONZE:  Ivanov FEDOR (RUS) df. Kargiotakis IOANNIS (GRE), 2-2 
BRONZE:  Engin DAGLI (TUR) df. GABRIEL ARMAND (USA), 2-0 

Senior Women’s Beach Wrestling

Women’s 60kg

GOLD: Francesca INDELICATO (ITA) df. CHRISTINA DEMIRKAN (GRE), 4-0 
BRONZE: Florine SCHEDLER (AUT) df. Nadir UGURUN PERCIN (TUR), 2-0 

Women’s 70kg

GOLD: Charlotte SKAVNER (NOR)
SILVER: Cesilie MAGNUSEN (NOR)
BRONZE: Meral KAYA (TUR)

Women’s 70kg+

GOLD: Cathrine FRILSETH (NOR) df. Pesnille ROJAR (NOR), 4-0 
BRONZE: Pistiava AIKATERINI EIRIR (GRE) df. F Zehra KANLIADA (TUR), 3-0  
Gallery
Beach Wrestling World Championships Dalyan

#WrestleBudapest

Grace Bullen Move: Outside Trip That Defines European Champ

Thursday, July 9, 2026 - 10:31 By Vinay Siwach

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BUDAPEST, Hungary (July 9) -- Grace BULLEN (NOR) lost the most important match of her career while attempting her trademark outside trip, trying to finish the bout with a fall. It came in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games semifinal against Sakura MOTOKI (JPN), who countered with a neck bridge, tossing Bullen over for the fall.

UWW+

Despite the mixed results the move has produced over the years, Bullen did not hesitate to use it in the 2026 European Championships final against Amina TANDELOVA (RUS). Trailing 9-0, Bullen hooked her left foot behind Tandelova's heel and brought her down for the fall.

Three months after their epic European 62kg final, Bullen and Tandelova will be at the Budapest Ranking Series from July 15 to 19, the last stop to gain ranking points before the World Championships.

They will be joined by a strong field that includes former world champion Qi ZHANG (CHN), world bronze medalist Esther KOLAWOLE (NGR), and European medalists Johanna LINDBORG (SWE) and Solomiia VYNNYK (UKR).

The field also includes Ana GODINEZ (CAN) and former U20 world champion Eniko ELEKES (HUN), who will have the backing of the home crowd. Two Indians, MANSI (IND) and SAVITA (IND), are also entered among others.

Grace BULLEN (NOR)Grace BULLEN (NOR) performs the outside trip against Amina TANDELOVA (RUS) during the 62kg final at the European Championships. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

The same move also rescued Bullen at the Tirana Ranking Series, where she trailed Mansi before winning 6-5.

Speaking after winning European gold, Bullen acknowledged both the risk and the reward of the move.

"I know it's my go-to when I'm down, but I also lost in that situation, the same place," Bullen said. "I know how it is being on the receiving end, also being an attacker in that situation. But glad it worked out for me.

"It's more risky that way and just locking the leg and going forward it's much less risky, especially for me."

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Grace Bullen (@gracebullen7)

 

A pivotal career decision saw Bullen relocate her training base to Georgia under coach Zurabi IAKOBISHVILI. Since moving to 62kg, she has won world and Olympic medals and established herself as one of the division's most dangerous wrestlers. The demanding training in Georgia and the move up in weight have transformed her wrestling and her mindset, even if the results have occasionally fluctuated.

"I'm also getting older," she said. "I have to be wise with how I train and so I keep my shape."

That experience has also made Bullen more patient than she was five years ago.

"I've years of experience in wrestling," she said. "I take losses with a greater smile than I ever did before. Just knowing that this year I was in two ranking series competitions and only won one match, I am more patient with everything. I know that even though I lose, I can win in the future."