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Beach Wrestling World Series sees 30 percent rise in participation

Monday, October 16, 2023 - 23:59 By United World Wrestling Press

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(Left to right): Rui MARTA (POR), Mohamed MAHMOUD ALY (EGY), Ed DUNCAN (USA), Pedro SILVA, Jean-Daniel REY, Marian BERBEC (ROU), Jian WANY (CHN), Erol KARACA (UKR), Papakonstantinou KONSTANTINOS (GRE).

SARIGERME, Turkiye (October 16) --- After four stops on three continents, the Beach Wrestling World Series came to an end in Sarigerme, Turkiye this weekend.

The World Series began in Buenos Aires (ARG) before travelling to Singapore (SGP), returning to Saint-Laurent-du-Var (FRA) and Constanta (ROU) and the final stop in Sarigerme.

The 2023 edition of the series saw both the number of participating countries and wrestlers grow exponentially. The number of participating nations doubled from last year with more than 50 nations participating from five continents. There was a growth of 30 percent in the number of wrestlers, both men and women, on the beach.

The Beach Wrestling Committee organized its yearly meeting on the sidelines of the final stop in Turkiye with committee President and United World Wrestling Bureau member Pedro SILVA headed the meet.

Silva presented the report to the committee members, underlining the continuous growth of Beach Wrestling. The report noted the participation of additional countries like Venezuela, Columbia, Argentina, Bangladesh, Singapore, Senegal, Australia, among others, highlighting that Beach Wrestling being on the right path.

“We are very happy with the progress, growth and development that we are witnessing worldwide regarding Beach Wrestling,” said Silva, Beach Wrestling Committee President. "This must leave us all proud of our achievements and also very confident about our future.”

The meeting reviewed the current rules and regulations of Beach Wrestling and Committee members agreed that a few minor adjustments need to be made.

From the next season of Beach Wrestling will see an activity period being added to avoid any subjective decision by the refereeing body in case of negative wrestling with a 0–0 score.

It was also noted that wrestlers should be paired better in a situation with three groups. Bleeding time in Beach Wrestling was also increased to four minutes.

The Beach Wrestling calendar for 2024 was also discussed in the meeting as UWW received many proposals. UWW will do its best to publish the 2024 calendar by the end of this year.

The Committee also spoke about the potential collaborations that can be finalized for next season (producers of rings, wrestlers’ apparel).

Members also brought up the topic of sustainability and climate change and it was unanimously approved that Beach Wrestling should spearhead these projects.

The World Series in 2023, especially the final stop, showed that the discipline has the dedication of people associated with it. With the support of each National Federation, the future is full of hope and bright.

Follow Beach Wrestling on Instagram: @uwwbeachwrestling or on Youtube: @BeachWrestlingWorldSeries.

Esmaeili survives Jafarov shock to win ISG 2025 gold

Tuesday, November 18, 2025 - 18:51 By Vinay Siwach

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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (November 18) -- He needed some strong defense to win the world title and on Tuesday, Saeid ESMAEILI (IRI) needed some clutch offense to beat Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE) for the second time in two one month.

Esmaeili and Jafarov clashed in the final of the 67kg weight class at the Islamic Solidarity Games 2025 in Riyad, Saudi Arabi and it seemed that the latter was on his way to upset the Olympic champion and avenge his loss from the World Championships final.

Down 3-3 on criteria, all seemed to be over for Esmaeili as the clock ticked down. In the last 10 seconds, Esmaeili worked on a double-arm lock and then managed to throw Jafarov in danger from standing for four points which changed the result and gave him the win.

Azerbaijan challenged the call but there was no change in the result and Esmaeili defeated Jafarov 8-3, to capture yet another gold medal this year after Asian and World Championships.

Saeid ESMAEILI (IRI)Saeid ESMAEILI (IRI) throws Aytjan KHALMAKHANOV (UZB) during their 67kg bout. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

In Zagreb, Esmaeili was put in par terre for third passivity call. Jafarov, down 2-1, needed a point to turn the result but he failed to score any points as Esmaeili defended the par terre position and captured his first world title.

Jafarov blamed a lapse in concentration in the final seconds that costed him the gold medal in Riyadh.

Gholamreza FAROKHI (IRI)Gholamreza FAROKHI (IRI) won his fourth gold medal this year. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Iran's other world champion from Zagreb, Gholamreza FAROKHI (IRI) made it seem a little easier as he defeated former world U20 champion Islam YEVLOYEV (KAZ), 6-0, winning his third gold in one month.

Farokhi, who won gold at 82kg at the World Championships, moved to 87kg for U23 World Championships and won gold without giving up a point in Novi Sad. Just two weeks later, he now gold at 87kg on Tuesday.

Against Yevloyev in the final, Farokhi was awarded both par terre position which gave him a 2-0 lead. From the second par terre, he managed to score a point as he threw Yevloyev for a stepout. The Kazakhstan wrestler was docked two points for defensive foul making it 5-0.

Kazakhstan challenged the foul call but Yevloyev had clearly blocked Farokhi using his elbow on the Iranian's face. The lost challenged made it 6-0 for Farokhi, giving him the win.

Farokhi had a tough match in semifinals against world bronze medalist Asan ZHANYSHOV (KGZ) and needed a takedown in the final minute to win 7-6, first time he has shown some difficulty winning bouts.

Akzhol MAKHMUDOV (KGZ)Akzhol MAKHMUDOV (KGZ) won the 77kg gold medal at the Islamic Solidarity Games. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Two other gold medals were awarded on Tuesday with former U23 world champion Alisher GANIEV (UZB) winning the 60kg one and two-time Olympic medalist Akzhol MAKHMUDOV (KGZ) marking his comeback with gold medal at 77kg.

Makhmudov, who has not wrestled in a full tournament since winning bronze in Paris, was in some form as he made no mistake in his run to the gold medal. In the final, he wrestled Amir ABDI (IRI) and performed a reverse lift throw for five points before securing the fall in the second period.

Abdi got the par terre position in the first period but Makhmudov defended the position, giving only a 1-0 lead to the Iranian. When he got the par terre position, he jumped to the front before performing the lift and holding Abdi on the mat for fall.

Ganiev, who defeated European champion Nihad MAMMADLI (AZE) in the quarterfinal, defeated Ali AHMADI VAFA (IRI) in the semifinal and humbled Ekrem OZTURK (TUR), 8-0, in the final.

RESULTS

60kg
GOLD: Alisher GANIEV (UZB) df. Ekrem OZTURK (TUR), 8-0

BRONZE: Ali AHMADI VAFA (IRI) df. Nihat MAMMADLI (AZE), 3-2
BRONZE: Sajjad ALBIDHAN (IRQ) df. Fergat ABDELKRIM (ALG), 5-1

67kg
GOLD: Saeid ESMAEILI LEIVESI (IRI) df. Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE), 8-3

BRONZE: Aytjan KHALMAKHANOV (UZB) df. Aref MOHAMMADI (QAT), 5-2
BRONZE: Razzak BEISHEKEEV (KGZ) df. Hassan ABDELREHIM (EGY), via fall (9-0)

77kg
GOLD: Akzhol MAKHMUDOV (KGZ) df. Amir ABDI (IRI), via fall (6-1)

BRONZE: Abdullo ALIEV (UZB) df. Ulvu GANIZADE (AZE), 2-2
BRONZE: Shahin BADAGHIMOFRAD (QAT) df. Sami SLAMA (TUN), via fall (8-1)

87kg
GOLD: Gholamreza FAROKHI (IRI) df. Islam YEVLOYEV (KAZ), 6-0

BRONZE: Sid BACHIR (ALG) df. Sukhrob ABDULKHAEV (TJK), 9-0
BRONZE: Asan ZHANYSHOV (KGZ) df. Islam ABBASOV (AZE), 5-1