COVID-19

Bureau Announces Change of Dates and Locations for 2021 Championships and Qualifiers

Tuesday, December 22, 2020 - 16:08 By United World Wrestling Press

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (December 22) – The United World Wrestling bureau held a virtual meeting Tuesday to discuss several topics, including an update to the dates and locations of competitions in 2021.

Citing limited interest in a January competition, the bureau voted to move the Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series tournament from mid-January to March 4-7.

To help with costs and coordination the bureau also voted to combine the Asian Championships and Olympic Qualifier to Almaty, Kazakhstan with the tournaments set to run back-to-back April 9-17. Similarly, the African & Oceania Qualifier and African Championships are scheduled to be held back-to-back in El Jadida, Morocco from April 2-11. Due to travel concerns surrounding COVID-19 the Oceania continental championships have been cancelled.

Given the large number of expected participants, the European Championships and European Olympic Qualifier will remain at separate locations with the Qualifier scheduled March 18-21 in Budapest and the Championships April 19-25 in Poland.

The World Olympic Qualifier will remain in Sofia but has been moved one week later to May 6-9. The Pan Am Championships in Rio de Janeiro and the Poland Ranking Series events will remain unchanged.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic all competition dates and locations will be subject to change based on the conditions in host countries as well as their ability to meet United World Wrestling’s strict sanitary guidelines for events


Ranking Series Matteo Pellicone
March 4-7 (Rome, ITA)

*European Olympic Games Qualifier
March 18-21 (Budapest, HUN)

*African & Oceania Olympic Games Qualifier
April 2-4 (El Jadida, MAR)

African Championships
April 6-11 (El Jadida, MAR)

*Asian Olympic Games Qualifier
April 9-11 (Almaty, KAZ)

Asian Championships
April 12-17 (Almaty, KAZ)

European Championships
April 19-25 (Warsaw, POL)

*World Olympic Games Qualifier
May 6-9 (Sofia, BUL)

Pan-American Championships
May 27-30 (Rio de Janeiro, BRA)

Ranking Series Poland Open
June 8-13 (Warsaw, POL)

* Denotes Olympic Games Qualifier

 

#BeachWrestling, #BeachWrestlingWorldSeries

With Dakar 2026 Approaching, UWW Ramps Up Beach Wrestling in Africa

Friday, July 25, 2025 - 09:38 By Vinay Siwach

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CASABLANCA, Morocco (July 25) -- With Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games less than 500 days away, United World Wrestling is committed to reinforcing wrestling's presence on the African continent.

As a result, for the first time an African city will host the Beach Wrestling World Series. Casablanca, Morocco will see the third leg of the Beach Wrestling World Series from September 6-7, 2025, at the picturesque Ain Diab beach.

There is more in store for Africa. The final of the Beach Wrestling World Series will be held in Alexandria, Egypt on October 18 and 19, 2025.

UWW is calling for participants. REGISTER HERE!

Blessing OBORUDUDU (NGR)

The World Series participants will be provided with top-class facilities including five-star hotel boarding, food in hotels and transportation to the competition venue. The conditions will therefore be exceptional for a Beach Wrestling event.

Prior to the World Series, the African Championships in U15, U17 and U20 age-groups will also be held in the same venue on September 4 and 5. All wrestlers who are 18 years or older from the African Championships can take part in the World Series as well.

This is not the first time UWW has stepped up its commitment to Beach Wrestling. Along with UWW Africa, UWW provided technical assistance to African wrestlers last year and has now decided to continue that for the U15 and U17 groups.

UWW reminds all countries that the participation in these tournaments is important as the same wrestlers can be considered with priority for the Youth Olympic Games while allotting the decided quotas for Dakar 2026.

UWW's vision is to develop the younger groups who will be part of the Youth Olympics in Dakar. And it was a step in that direction to start U15 competitions in Beach Wrestling from 2025.

Irina RINGACI (MDA)World champion Irina RINGACI (MDA) competes in Beach Wrestling in Porec, Croatia. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kostadin Andonov)

One of the outcomes of its continued efforts was the participation numbers in the U17 Pan-Am Beach Wrestling Championships in Rio de Janeiro and the U17 Asian Beach Wrestling Championships in Vietnam this year.

The local organizing committee in Rio had to add one more ring to accommodate the participants during the event. At the Asian Championships, India, China, Chinese Taipei, Vietnam and other nations participated with full teams.

Similarly, the wrestlers are encouraged to participate in the U17 and U20 World Beach Wrestling Championships in Katerini-Pieria, Greece on September 25 and 26.

Check out beachwrestling.org for all Beach Wrestling News!

UWW's decisions underscore its deep commitment to uplifting and expanding the sport of wrestling across Africa, particularly with the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar on the horizon.

For any queries, wrestlers, NFs or organizers can contact -- sports@uww.org.