#WrestlePlovdiv

Live Blog: U23 European Championships Day Six

By Vinay Siwach

PLOVDIV, Bulgaria (March 12) -- The sixth day of the competition and it's about freestyle. The five weight classes in action Saturday are 61kg, 74kg, 86kg, 92kg and 125kg. Azerbaijan has a strong field and it will look to win the team title with today's performance.

MATCH ORDER | WATCH LIVE

1315: Dzhabrail GADZHIEV (AZE) survives a scare against Simon MARCHL (AUT). After leading 2-1 at the break, he manages only two more points while Marchl also scores it. Gadzhiev wins 4-3

1300: Daviti KOGUASHVILI (GEO) reaches the semifinal at 92kg. He wins 13-2 against Abduljalil SHABANOV (AZE)

1230: Emre CIFTCI (TUR) with a strong defensive game to keep Cezary SADOWSKI (POL) away. The Turkey wrestlers managed to win 7-2 and into the semifinals

1215: Dzhabrail GADZHIEV (AZE) does not give many chances to Menua YARIBEKYAN (10)(ARM) and finishes his 74kg 12-2

1200: Former cadet world champion Bagrati GAGNIDZE (GEO) had some difficulty against Ivars SAMUSONOKS (LAT) but manages to win 9-4 in the end

1150: Abakarov begins with a 10-0 win over Hristo ILIEV (BUL). It looked like a warm-up for him.

1135: Don't take your eyes off Mat A. In one bout we will have World bronze medalist Abubakr ABAKAROV (AZE), former cadet world champion Bagrati GAGNIDZE (GEO), returning bronze medalist Vasile DIACON (MDA), European champion Dzhabrail GADZHIEV (AZE) in back to back bouts.

1130: Welcome to day six of the U23 European Championships. It's the final full day of competition and it's all about freestyle action

#UnitedWorldWrestling

UWW finalizes 2026 World, Continental Championships

By United World Wrestling Press

ZAGREB, Croatia (September 13) -- United World Wrestling has announced the host cities for all the continental and age-group World Championships for 2026.

The three age-group World Championships will be held in three different continents in 2026. Baku, Azerbaijan will kick off the World Championships season next year with the U17 World Championships from July 27 to August 2.

Baku hosted the Greco-Roman World Cup in 2022 and the European Olympic Games Qualifiers in 2024.

Las Vegas, United States will be hosting the U23 World Championships from October 12 to 18, the first time the country will host a World Championships since 2015.

Tirana gets Euros

The UWW Bureau held a meeting on Friday, a day prior to the World Championships, which begins Saturday in Zagreb. It allocated all the tournaments for 2026, barring the 2026 World Championships, to be announced on September 16, Wednesday.

The European Championships will be headed to Tirana, Albania and will be held from April 20 to 26. Tirana will also host the second stop for Ranking Series from February 25 to March 1.

For a second year in a row, Amman, Jordan will host the Asian Championships from April 7 to 12.

Iowa, United States managed to claim the Pan-American Championships for 2026. It will host the senior event in Iowa from May 6 to 9 after getting the rights over Lima, Peru. 

The U17, U20 and Senior Oceania Championships foe 2026 were awarded to Apia, Samoa.

Age-group continentals

Zrenjanin, Serbia will play host to the 2026 U23 European Championships from March 9 to 15. The U20 European Championships will be in Skopje, North Macedonia from July 6 to 12 while the U15 & U17 European Championships were awarded to Samokov, Bulgaria. The U17 event and will be held from May 11 to 17 and the U15 event from May 20 to 24.

For Asia, the 2026 U17 & U23 Asian Championships will once again travel to Da Nang, Vietnam from May 23 to 31. The country hosted the same tournament in 2025 as well. The U15 & U20 Asian Championships will be hosted by Bangkok, Thailand from June 27 to July 5.

The U23 Pan-American Championships will be moving to Miranda, Venezuela . The U20 Pan-American Championships will be held from July 9 to 11 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Panama City, Panama will be hosting the U17 Pan-American Championships from May 28 to 30. The U15 Pan-American Championships will be in Santiago de Chile, Chile.

As announced earlier, the Ranking Series stops are decided till 2028. For all details about events, refer to uww.org/events.

Note: An earlier version of the article read that the 2026 U20 World Championships will be held in Manama, Bahrain. That has been removed as the host is not confirmed.