#WrestleZagreb

Olympic champ Jamalov to miss 2025 World Championships

By Eric Olanowski

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan (May 14) -- Paris Olympic champion Razambek JAMALOV (UZB) will miss the 2025 World Championships.

Jamalov told United World Wrestling that he will undergo knee surgery on May 19 in Moscow and will be sidelined for the rest of the 2025 season.

This is the second surgery for Jamalov in last eight months, and 10th of his career, as he also had a shoulder surgery shortly after his win in Paris in August 2024.

"This will be my fifth surgery on my knee," Jamalov told UWW. "I've also had three surgeries on both shoulders, one on my neck, and one for tonsils.

"This is very difficult news because I was hoping to be ready for the 2025 World Championships. It's an old injury that I suffered before the Ranking Series tournament in Hungary [last year]. It's a complete tear of the cruciate ligament."

Despite the physical and mental toll of ten surgeries, the 26-year-old is gearing up for the wrestling season in 2026.

"Even after 10 surgeries, I want to keep wrestling," he said. "I'm aiming to be back in action at the beginning of 2026. Without wrestling, life feels boring to me. Of course, there are doubts sometimes, but I try to work hard and keep believing."

#wrestlemanama

World C'ships 2026 to be held in October; U20 Worlds in Bratislava

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (December 8) -- United World Wrestling has officially confirmed the host city for the 2026 U20 World Championships and finalized the competition dates for the 2026 Senior World Championships.

In addition, the host for 2026 Asian Championships has also been shifted from Amman, Jordan to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

Bratislava, Slovakia, has been selected to host the 2026 U20 World Championships. Bratislava had successfully hosted the 2025 European Championships in April with sellout stadium. The U20 World Championships in 2026 are scheduled to take place from August 17 to 23 and a similar crowd is expected for the competition.

UWW also confirmed the competition window for the 2026 Senior World Championships to be hosted in Manama, Bahrain, which was announced as hosts during a ceremony held in Zagreb in September.

The World Championships are set to run from October 24 to November 1, providing nine days of action featuring the world’s top wrestlers.

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

"Bahrain has a superstar in wrestling," UWW President Nenad LALOVIC had 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."

The Asian Championships, originally scheduled in Amman will now be hosted by Bishkek from April 6 to 12.

The 2026 U15 & U20 Asian Championships have been moved from Bangkok to Pattaya.

The U17, U20 and senior African Championships will be held in Alexandria, Egypt from April 28 to May 3. In addition, the dates for the 2026 Pan-American Championships were also modified. The competition will now be held from May 7 to 10 in Coralville, Iowa, United States.

For the full 2026 calendar, visit uww.org/events.