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 September 5 to 13, 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."
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