Refugee Day

Olympic Feature: Amir Al-Awad

By United World Wrestling Press

United World Wrestling recently caught up with Olympic hopeful and Syrain refugee Amir Al-Awad. Until recently he used to train at the Olympic Club in Alexandria, but since the suspension of all sports activities due to COVID-19, all clubs in Egypt are closed since mid-March 2020. He is hopeful to resume some activities by the start of July, but throughout the lockdown period as of mid-March, Al-Awad has been training at home with a private coach to keep fit and not lose his momentum.

Right now Al-Awad says his main goal remains to prepare for the 2021 Olympic Games and the relevant qualification competitions. As such he will keep on training privately and cope with the challenging situation we are all facing until things return back to normal. 

To read more on Al-Awad's life check out this snippet from June 1st feature on Olympic.org

Amir Al-Awad, an 18-time Syrian champion, had consigned wrestling to the past when he and his family were forced to flee their country in fear in 2011. But, after being inspired by the chance to show his fellow refugees that anything is possible, he returned to the mats.

Syrian Amir Al-Awad is grateful to wrestling. Even at his lowest moments, when grappling on a mat was far from his thoughts, the sport has remained ingrained inside.

Wrestling makes you face challenges and as a wrestler I was taught to be resilient and confront life, no matter what, explained Al-Awad, whose life was sent spinning by the outbreak of civil war in Syria in 2011. “If I am thrown to the ground or hit the bottom I have to come up and start afresh.”

Wrestling-obsessed since he was nine years old, the former Asian and Arab champion has come to embody this ethos. After his house was destroyed, Al-Awad and his family became internally displaced as war raged around them. The former professional sportsman was routinely arrested. Both warring sides were suspicious of his determination not to declare an allegiance. Finally, when once again in jail and unable to look after his then-pregnant wife, Al-Awad decided they had to leave.

His wife made it to Egypt and eventually so too did Al-Awad. Abandoning a plan to try to reach Europe, the couple began the arduous task of building a new life as legal refugees. But, despite three years spent focusing on finding a job and caring for his young family, wrestling found its way back in.

“It became a win-win situation,” said the 18-time national champion.

...

To read more on Amir Al-Awad's journey back to the mat please click here: Olympic.org)

#WrestleZagreb

World Championships 2025 Women's Wrestling Entries, Seeds

By United World Wrestling Press

ZAGREB, Croatia (August 16) -- The Women's Wrestling entry list for the World Championships sees 230 wrestlers participating in the September 13-21 event in Zagreb.

Women's Wrestling will be held on September 15, 16, 17 and 18. For full schedule of the World Championships, click here.

Out of the 24, 11 Paris Olympic medalists are competing in Zagreb with one gold medalist - Sakura MOTOKI (JPN).

FREESTYLE ENTRIES | GRECO-ROMAN ENTRIES

Zagreb

Note: The entries are subject to change. Please refer to UWW for latest entries

50kg

Seeded
No. 1 -- Oksana LIVACH (UKR)
No. 2 -- Evin DEMIRHAN (TUR)
No. 3 -- Gabija DILYTE (LTU)
No. 4 -- Madison PARKS (CAN)
No. 5 -- Svetlana ANKICHEVA (KAZ)
No. 6 -- Munkhnar BYAMBASUREN (MGL)
No. 7 -- Audrey JIMENEZ (USA)
No. 8 -- Remina YOSHIMOTO (JPN)

Unseeded
Cheima CHEBILA (ALG)
Kamila BARBOSA (BRA)
Yu ZHANG (CHN)
Jacqueline MOLLOCANA (ECU)
Aintzane GORRIA GONI (ESP)
ANKUSH (IND)
Emanuela LIUZZI (ITA)
Jinhee KIM (KOR)
Miesinnei GENESIS (NGR)
Myonggyong WON (PRK)
Chahrazed AYACHI (TUN)
Elizaveta SMIRNOVA (UWW)
Natallia VARAKINA (UWW)
Aktenge KEUNIMJAEVA (UZB)
Nohalis LOYO JIMENEZ (VEN)

53kg

Seeded
No. 1 -- Lucia YEPEZ (ECU)
No. 2 -- Hyogyong CHOE (PRK)
No. 3 -- Zeynep YETGIL (TUR)
No. 4 -- ANTIM (IND)
No. 5 -- Natalia MALYSHEVA (UWW)
No. 6 -- Annika WENDLE (GER)
No. 7 -- Maria PREVOLARAKI (GRE)
No. 8 -- Jonna MALMGREN (SWE)

Unseeded
Serena DI BENEDETTO (CAN)
Jin ZHANG (CHN)
Laura HERIN AVILA (CUB)
Carla JAUME SOLER (ESP)
Haruna MURAYAMA OKUNO (JPN)
Zeinep BAYANOVA (KAZ)
Seoyoung PARK (KOR)
Laura STANELYTE (LTU)
Namuuntsetseg TSOGT OCHIR (MGL)
Christianah OGUNSANYA (NGR)
Roksana ZASINA (POL)
Beatrice FERENT (ROU)
Liliia MALANCHUK (UKR)
Felicity TAYLOR (USA)
Kseniya STANKEVICH (UWW)
Shokhida AKHMEDOVA (UZB)

55kg

Seeded
No. 1 -- Tatiana DEBIEN (FRA)
No. 2 -- Oleksandra KHOMENETS (UKR)
No. 3 -- Karla GODINEZ (CAN)
No. 4 -- Ekaterina VERBINA (UWW)
No. 5 -- Elvira KAMALOGLU (TUR)
No. 6 -- Kyong Ryong OH (PRK)
No. 7 -- Amory ANDRICH (GER)
No. 8 -- Cristelle RODRIGUEZ (USA)

Unseeded
Oleksandra KOGUT (AUT)
Xuejing LIANG (CHN)
Yaynelis SANZ VERDECIA (CUB)
Maria BAEZ (ESP)
NISHU (IND)
Sowaka UCHIDA (JPN)
Zulfiya YAKHYAROVA (KAZ)
Hyerim LEE (KOR)
Mihaela SAMOIL (MDA)
Khulan BATKHUYAG (MGL)
Andreea ANA (ROU)

57kg

Seeded
No. 1 -- Helen MAROULIS (USA)
No. 2 -- Kexin HONG (CHN)
No. 3 -- Luisa VALVERDE (ECU)
No. 4 -- Olga KHOROSHAVTSEVA (UWW)
No. 5 -- Tamara DOLLAK (HUN)
No. 6 -- Bolortuya KHURELKHUU (MGL)
No. 7 -- Youngjin KWON (KOR)
No. 8 -- Zhala ALIYEVA (AZE)

Unseeded
Samantha STEWART (CAN)
Graciela SANCHEZ DIAZ (ESP)
Jenna HEMIAE (FIN)
TAPSYA (IND)
Himeka TOKUHARA (JPN)
Laura ALMAGANBETOVA (KAZ)
Bertha ROJAS (MEX)
Magdalena GLODEK (POL)
Il Sim SON (PRK)
Nethmi PORUTHOTAGE (SRI)
Evelina HULTHEN (SWE)
Pei Ying LIAO (TPE)
Chahd JELJELI (TUN)
Emine CAKMAK (TUR)
Solomiia VYNNYK (UKR)
Iryna KURACHKINA (UWW)

59kg

Seeded
No. 1 -- Elena BRUGGER (GER)
No. 2 -- Erika BOGNAR (HUN)
No. 3 -- Laurence BEAUREGARD (CAN)
No. 4 -- Anastasiia SIDELNIKOVA (UWW)
No. 5 -- Sakura ONISHI (JPN)
No. 6 -- Bediha GUN (TUR)
No. 7 -- Jumoke ADEKOYE (NGR)
No. 8 -- Altjin TOGTOKH (MGL)

Unseeded
Victoria CHHEN (AUS)
Hiunai HURBANOVA (AZE)
Hong LIANG (CHN)
Lydia PEREZ (ESP)
SARIKA (IND)
Viktoriia KHUSAINOVA (KAZ)
Zeltzin HERNANDEZ (MEX)
Othelie HOEIE (NOR)
Arian CARPIO (PHI)
Pyol HONG (PRK)
Mariia VYNNYK (UKR)
Jacarra WINCHESTER (USA)
Nadzeya BULANAYA (UWW)
Laylokhon SOBIROVA (UZB)

62kg

Seeded
No. 1 -- Sakura MOTOKI (JPN)
No. 2 -- Ana GODINEZ (CAN)
No. 3 -- Bilyana DUDOVA (BUL)
No. 4 -- Orkhon PUREVDORJ (MGL)
No. 5 -- Johanna LINDBORG (SWE)
No. 6 -- MANISHA (IND)
No. 7 -- Amina TANDELOVA (UWW)
No. 8 -- Esther KOLAWOLE (NGR)

Unseeded
Birgul SOLTANOVA (AZE)
LILI (CHN)
Nikolett SZABO (HUN)
Aurora CAMPAGNA (ITA)
Tynys DUBEK (KAZ)
Neevis RODRIGUEZ (MEX)
Alicja NOWOSAD (POL)
Ok Ju KIM (PRK)
Amina CAPEZAN (ROU)
Selvi ILYASOGLU (TUR)
Iryna BONDAR (UKR)
Adaugo NWACHUKWU (USA)
Veranika IVANOVA (UWW)
Astrid MONTERO (VEN)

65kg

Seeded
No. 1 -- Miwa MORIKAWA (JPN)
No. 2 -- Macey KILTY (USA)
No. 3 -- Enkhjin TUVSHINJARGAL (MGL)
No. 4 -- Kadriye KOCAK AKSOY (TUR)
No. 5 -- Irina RINGACI (MDA)
No. 6 -- Elma ZEIDLERE (LAT)
No. 7 -- Grace BULLEN (NOR)
No. 8 -- Iryna KOLIADENKO (UKR)

Unseeded
Miki ROWBOTTOM (CAN)
Virginia JIMENEZ (CHI)
Qi ZHANG (CHN)
Vaishnavi PATIL (IND)
Subeen JO (KOR)
Alexis GOMEZ (MEX)
Aylah MAYALI (PLE)
Natalia KUBATY (POL)
Alina KASABIEVA (UWW)

68kg

Seeded
No. 1 -- Buse TOSUN (TUR)
No. 2 -- Meerim ZHUMANAZAROVA (KGZ)
No. 3 -- Sol Gum PAK (PRK)
No. 4 -- Kennedy BLADES (USA)
No. 5 -- Noemi SZABADOS (HUN)
No. 6 -- Kateryna ZELENYKH (ROU)
No. 7 -- Delgermaa ENKHSAIKHAN (MGL)
No. 8 -- Adela HANZLICKOVA (CZE)

Unseeded
Albina DRAZHI (ALB)
Aniseta ACOSTA (ASA)
Grabriela PEDRO (BRA)
Yuliana YANEVA (BUL)
Jia LONG (CHN)
Sophia SCHAEFLE (GER)
RADHIKA (IND)
Laura GODINO (ITA)
Ami ISHII (JPN)
Beibit SEIDUALY (KAZ)
Hyeonyeong PARK (KOR)
Hannah RUEBEN (NGR)
Tindra SJOEBERG (SWE)
Manola SKOBELSKA (UKR)
Khanum VELIEVA (UWW)
Nabira ESENBAEVA (UZB)

72kg

Seeded
No. 1 -- Zhamila BAKBERGENOVA (KAZ)
No. 2 -- Bolortungalag ZORIGT (MGL)
No. 3 -- Alexandra ANGHEL (ROU)
No. 4 -- Pauline LECARPENTIER (FRA)
No. 5 -- Alla BELINSKA (UKR)
No. 6 -- Nesrin BAS (TUR)
No. 7 -- Kseniia BURAKOVA (UWW)
No. 8 -- Masako FURUICHI (JPN)

Unseeded
Zelu LI (CHN)
Rosie TABORA (COD)
Veronika VILK (CRO)
Jyoti BERWAL (IND)
Nurzat NURTAEVA (KGZ)
Jiseon LEE (KOR)
Auguste GENDVILAITE (LTU)
Zsuzsanna MOLNAR (SVK)
Alexandria GLAUDE (USA)
Svetlana OKNAZAROVA (UZB)

76kg

Seeded
No. 1 -- Aiperi MEDET KYZY (KGZ)
No. 2 -- Milaimy MARIN (CUB)
No. 3 -- Genesis REASCO (ECU)
No. 4 -- Davaanasan ENKH AMAR (MGL)
No. 5 -- Anastasiya ALPYEYEVA (UKR)
No. 6 -- Elmira SYZDYKOVA (KAZ)
No. 7 -- Nodoka YAMAMOTO (JPN)
No. 8 -- Kylie WELKER (USA)

Unseeded
Vanesa GEORGIEVA (BUL)
Brianna FRASER (CAN)
QIANDEGENCHAGAN (CHN)
PRIYA (IND)
Enrica RINALDI (ITA)
Seoyeon JEONG (KOR)
Kamile GAUCAITE (LTU)
Damola OJO (NGR)
Elmira YASIN (TUR)
Kristina SHUMOVA (UWW)
Anastasiya ZIMIANKOVA (UWW)
Ozoda ZARIPBOEVA (UZB)