Award Season

Acosta, Adekuoroye and Amri Named 2017 History Makers

Tuesday, December 26, 2017 - 17:49 By Eric Olanowski

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Odunayo ADEKUOROYE (NGR), Marwa AMRI (TUN) and Yasmani ACOSTA (CHI) have been named United World Wrestling’s History Makers for 2017.

Earlier this year Marwa Amri and Odunayo Adekuoroye became the first women from Africa to reach the gold medal bout of a senior world championship.

Amri, the Olympic bronze medalist, was the first woman from Africa to reach the world finals by besting two-time Asia champion Aisuluu TYNYBEKOVA (KGZ) 8-7 in the semifinals. Amri would finish the day with the silver medal at 58kg after being defeated by 2016 Olympic champion Helen MAROULIS (USA) in the finals.

In the 55kg semifinals, it was 2015 world bronze medalist Adekuoroye who picked up the technical superiority victory over Irina KURACHKINA (BLR), becoming the second African woman to reach the gold medal finals. Like Amri, Adekuoroye would also bring home the silver medal after dropping her finals match.

It was Yasmani Acosta, formerly of Cuba, who came to Paris with hopes of giving Chile their first-ever world medal in wrestling. Prior to the 2017 World Championships, Chile had never medaled in any style at any age level.

Acosta won three matches before falling to Heiki NABI (EST) in the semifinals. He grabbed Chile’s first ever world medal with a victory over Mykola KUCHMI (UKR) in the bronze medal bout.

2026 World Championships

Astana Announced as Replacement Host for 2026 World Championships

Friday, May 22, 2026 - 13:06 By United World Wrestling Press

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (May 22) -- Astana, Kazakhstan will host the 2026 World Championships from October 24 to November 1.

United World Wrestling Bureau met on Friday and after careful consideration of the current geopolitical situation, particularly the ongoing uncertainty and impact on international travel, it decided to change the host for the 2026 World Championships.

Manama, Bahrain was scheduled to host the World Championships as it was awarded the tournament in Zagreb last year. UWW and Bahrain released a joint statement on Friday, announcing the postponement of the same.

After successful site visits and inspections, the Kazakhstan Wrestling Federation was chosen as a replacement host and Barys Arena was selected as the venue.

World Championships 2026

The announcement marks the return of the World Championships to Astana, a city which successfully hosted the 2019 World Championships. Close to 1000 wrestlers participated in 2019 edition, making it one of the most attended tournaments.

As seen in 2019, full attendance is expected at the the Barys Arena for the nine-day event.

UWW remains committed to assisting National Federations and the schedule for the 2026 World Championships in Astana will be communicated soon. For details of events, visit uww.org/events.