#Grappling

UWW Announces Grappling U23, Senior World Championships Hosts

Tuesday, March 1, 2022 - 12:20 By United World Wrestling Press

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (March 1) -- United World Wrestling announced the host cities for its top two Grappling events in 2022.

Grappling is one of UWW's fastest-growing styles, with events and participation numbers growing each year.

The Grappling World Championships will be held September 5-8 in Belgrade, Serbia. As is the norm, it will be before the Olympic-style World Championships which are also scheduled in Belgrade.

In 2021, the event was held in Belgrade prior to the U23 World Championships. This year, it only gets better with the Championships to be held at the Stark Arena. This will be one of the biggest organizations of the Championships to date for grapplers to exhibit their talents of submission.

A month later, the U23 Grappling World Championships will be organized in Pontevedra, Spain. The beach city will be the host as Grappling and its stars close out the year on a high in Spain, a country that continues to emerge as a big nation for sports talents. 

“We have grand plans for Grappling and it will be UWW's priority moving forward,” Nenad LALOVIC, President of UWW, said. “This sport has enormous potential and we look forward to working with grappling experts and combining our knowledge from the Olympic styles.”

The first Grappling competition for the year will be the Senior European Championships that begin in Budapest, Hungary from March 26-27.

Grappling, formerly organized by UWW’s Associated Styles office in Istanbul, Turkey, has been brought back to UWW Headquarters in Switzerland with hopes of progressing the sport to the next level.

For the full list of events on the Grappling calendar and all other styles can be accessed at uww.org/events.

UWW updates competition guidelines for Russia, Belarus wrestlers

Tuesday, January 27, 2026 - 09:06 By United World Wrestling Press

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (January 27) -- United World Wrestling will allow wrestlers from Russia and Belarus to compete under their respective national flags up to the U23 age level.

The decision follows a recommendation from the International Olympic Committee that youth athletes with Russian or Belarusian passports should no longer face restrictions on participation in sports events, both individual and team.

The UWW Bureau met last week to discuss the same and decided to implement the IOC recommendation at the U15, U17, U20 and U23 levels.

Russian and Belarusian wrestlers will now compete under their national flags and country initials, “RUS” and “BLR,” respectively. National anthems of both countries will be played at medal ceremonies at UWW events if their wrestlers win gold medals or if a team wins the team championship.

All other standard UWW protocols will be followed at competitions in accordance with international wrestling rules.

Russia

Last year, UWW had updated its criteria for eligible wrestlers and staff from the two countries, allowing them to participate under UWW flag at all competitions.

Despite the updated recommendations, both the IOC and UWW stress that all athletes and their support staff must continue to uphold the Olympic Movement’s mission of promoting unity and peace.

The latest IOC guidance means the March 2023 recommendations regarding Russia and Belarus are no longer mandatory for youth events.

However, the IOC maintains that no government officials from Russia or Belarus should be accredited or invited to international sports events or meetings for either senior or youth competitions.

It also said that International Federations should refrain from organizing or supporting international sports events in Russia, while this recommendation no longer applies to Belarus.