Regulations

Bureau Tightens Tournament Regulations, 'Pushout' Interpretation

Friday, August 24, 2018 - 18:30 By United World Wrestling Press

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY (August 24) -- United World Wrestling held a meeting of its bureau last month during the Junior European Championships in Rome. 

The bureau discussed several topics around the operation of United World Wrestling including participation in championships, late registrations, obligations of team leaders, obligations of inspectors and updated World Cup regulations. The members also passed a stricter enforcement of the ‘pushout’ rule to promote the use of technical actions on the edge of the competition surface. 

Below is a summary of what was discussed around each topic. 

•    Participation in championships: No title or medal can be given if less than five athletes are registered in a weight category. This new rule will be applied in the United World Wrestling Championships but not in the international tournaments.

•    Late registrations: Countries will not be allowed to register for United World Wrestling events late (after registration deadlines) in 2019. 

•    Obligations of team leaders:  The team leader (or his substitute) shall draw a number for his athlete to be used for pairing. If the team leader (or his substitute) can't attend the draw because of exceptional reason, he must inform the organizer. The organizer will have the responsibility to communicate it to the UWW results' team and the number of his wrestler will be drawn by the technical delegate or the responsible person of the draw. If the technical delegate does not get information from the organizer that your representative cannot attend the draw, he will not pick a number for your athlete. 

•    Obligations of inspectors: During the inspection visit, all the hotels and meals must be controlled by the inspectors. Based on their evaluation, they have the power to propose a reduction of the accommodation fee if the level of services is below the proposed price by the organizers.

•    Updated World Cup regulations: An athlete may opt for the next higher category than their body weight, except for the heavyweight category, for which contestants must weigh over 97kg for freestyle and Greco Roman, and over 72kg for women's wrestling. The intent is to allow a substitute in a lighter weight category to replace an injured athlete in the heavier weight category.

•    Rule changes: Two scoring adjustments were made for the push out and the ordered par terre position (Articles 39 and 45). If a wrestler pushes his/her opponent out of bounds with no meaningful action, no point will be awarded, and the attacking wrestler will not be penalized with a caution anymore. If the top wrestler commits a foul during the ordering of the par terre position, the bout will resume in the standing position without the top wrestler receiving a caution. These rules will be implemented on Sept. 1, 2018.
 

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Bahrain to host 2026 World Championships

Tuesday, September 16, 2025 - 12:02 By United World Wrestling Press

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ZAGREB, Croatia (September 16) -- For the first time in history, the World Championships are headed to Bahrain.

The 2026 World Championships will be held in Manama, Bahrain from October 24 November 1, United World Wrestling announced on Tuesday, during the ongoing World Championships in Zagreb.

No Arab country has ever hosted a World Championships but Bahrain will etch its name in history with the 2026 edition.

Secretary General of the Bahrain Olympic Committee Faris AL-KOOHEJI attended the press conference at the Arena Zagreb for the historic announcement. UWW President Nenad LALOVIC and Al-Kooheji announced the host together and signed the agreement.

"Bahrain has a superstar in wrestling," UWW President Lalovic said. "They probably want to use this opportunity to promote the sport through this superstar [Akhmed] TAZHUDINOV (BRN). But he's not the only one.

"They also want to develop the local Bahrain born athletes to compete because they have the role model of the top achievement in wrestling. This is something that we considered and that is why we made this decision.

Bahrain won its first-ever gold medal in Olympics in Paris when Tahzudinov ran-through the 97kg weight class and captured the gold medal. A year before that, he won the world title in the same weight class.

Tazhudinov is also an Asian champion, Asian Games champion and winner of other Ranking Series events.

Lalovic on the fact that wrestling wants to change the host continent of the World Championships more regularly.

 "We also want to change the continent regularly," he said. "A state that can organize the Asian [Youth] Games like they will do now in October, they will not face any problem with the championships, especially that we give all the assistance possible for the execution"

Manama, Bahrain will host the Asian Youth Games in which wrestling will be held from October 28 to 30.

Expressing its gratitude to UWW and readiness to host the mega event, Al-Kooheji said that the tournament will help Bahrain take wrestling to the grassroot levels in the country.

"For us, wrestling is a long term project," Al-Kooheji said. "Wrestling is a growing sport. It's a strategic sport for us. We got a gold medal in Paris, and we're looking to getting more medals. That gold medal started to inspire a lot of people, locally, to pursue wrestling, which is why part of the discussions with United World Wrestling is to even help us add wrestling in schools."

The Bahrain Olympic Committee expects that the World Championships will have a positive impact in growing the sport in the country.

"Strong economic impact [from the event]," he said. "We're going to get lots of travel spectators from Iran, the United States, and other countries as well. It's going to encourage the local community. They will understand more wrestling."