#WrestleAlexandria

African & Oceania OG Qualifier 2024 Entry List

By United World Wrestling Press

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt (March 17) -- The second continental qualifier for the Paris Olympic Games will be held in Alexandria, Egypt. The African and Oceania OG Qualifiers will see 192 wrestlers from 33 countries competing to earn the 36 quotas for the Paris Games.

Beginning on March 22 with Greco-Roman, the tournament will offer the quotas to the winners of the semifinals in each of the six Olympic weight classes. Women's Wrestling will be held on March 23 and Freestyle on March 24.

The African and Oceania OG Qualifiers can be watched live on uww.org or the UWW App. Subscribe to UWW+ to get unlimited access.

Freestyle

57kg
Abdelhak KHERBACHE (ALG)
Roland TAMBI NFORSONG (CMR)
Alexander BUCKMAN (CPV)
Gamal MOHAMED (EGY)
Diamantino IUNA FAFE (GBS)
Thomas SANTIAGO (GUM)
Ben TARIK (MAR)
Younes LACHGAR (MAR)
Enozunimi SIMEON (NGR)
Daroa OLSSON (NRU)
Suraj SINGH (NZL)
Mika LEHMKUEHL (RSA)
Omar FAYE (SEN)
Ibrahim BUNDUKA (SLE)
KHALIL BARKOUTI (TUN)

65kg
Chouaib SAHRAOUI (ALG)
Manaceu NGONDA (ANG)
Georgii OKOROKOV (AUS)
Samuel DOHYA KALE (CMR)
Anthony WESLEY (CPV)
Omar MOURAD (EGY)
Junjun ASEBIAS (FSM)
Gibriel CHOW (GAM)
Wotna NDOC (GBS)
Thierno DIALLO (GUI)
Ethan AGUIGUI (GUM)
Otmane EL BAHJA (MAR)
Stephen IZOLO (NGR)
Lowe BINGHAM (NRU)
Cole HAWKINS (NZL)
Cristian NICOLESCU (PLW)
Gaku AKAZAWA (SAM)
Sylvio DIATTA (SEN)
Sahid KARGBO (SLE)
Farouk JELASSI (TUN)

74kg
Abdelkader IKKAL (ALG)
Francisco KADIMA (ANG)
Ethan THOMAS (AUS)
Israel NIYONKURU (BDI)
Baki TCHANI (BEN)
Jacques MONTY MBOUGOU (CMR)
Joao  BARBOSA VICENTE (CPV)
Amr REDA (EGY)
Bacar NDUM (GBS)
John ROJAS (GUM)
Mathayo MAHABILA (KEN)
Aime RAKOTONIAINA (MAD)
Rayanne ESSAIDI (MAR)
Oyeinkeperemo BRAVEMAN (NGR)
Linus VAN RENSBURG (RSA)
Mamadou DIOUF (SEN)
Khairiddine BEN TLILI (TUN)

86kg
Fateh BENFERDJALLAH (ALG)
Jayden Alexander LAWRENCE (AUS)
Cedric ABOSSOLO (CMR)
Matteo MONTEIRO FURTADO TRESSE (CPV)
Ahmed MAHMOUD (EGY)
Mohamed CAMARA (GUI)
Mark ONGUYESI (KEN)
Youssef AIT BOULAHRI (MAR)
Jean STE MARIE (MRI)
Harrison ONOVWIOMOGBOHWO (NGR)
Edward LESSING (RSA)
Siny SEMBENE (SEN)
Imed KADDIDI (TUN)

97kg
Wali KEBIR (ALG)
Thomas BARNS (AUS)
Franck ANABA (CMR)
Mostafa ELDERS (EGY)
Babacarr MBOGE (GAM)
Emmanuel OSEI SARFO (GHA)
Anas SAMIR (MAR)
Nicolaas DE LANGE (RSA)
Maulalo ALOFIPO (SAM)
Pape NDIAYE (SEN)
Mohamed SAADAOUI (TUN)

125kg
Hemza HALOUI (ALG)
Amoussou CAKPO (BEN)
Georges TCHADIE (CMR)
Diaaeldin ABDELMOTTALEB (EGY)
Issah FUSEINI (GHA)
Oussama ASSAD (MAR)
Ashton MUTUWA (NGR)
Marcus CARNEY (NZL)
Justin VAN ZYL (RSA)
Modou FAYE (SEN)
Hamza RAHMANI (TUN)

Abdelkarim FERGAT (ALG)Abdelkarim FERGAT (ALG) will be looking to earn a Paris spot for Algeria in GR 60kg. (Photo: UWW / Bayrem Ben Mrad)

Greco-Roman

60kg
Abdelkarim FERGAT (ALG)
Latuf MADI (COM)
Moamen MOHAMED (EGY)
Ismail ETTALIBI (MAR)
Romio GOLIATH (NAM)
Daroa OLSSON (NRU)
Given SIKHOSANA (RSA)
Ibrahim BUNDUKA (SLE)
Mohamed HKIRI (TUN)

67kg
Ishak GHAIOU (ALG)
Ando LEHTMETS (AUS)
Anthony WESLEY (CPV)
Mohamed ELSAYED (EGY)
Bilal EL BAHJA (MAR)
Lowe BINGHAM (NRU)
Cristian NICOLESCU (PLW)
Barend BADENHORST (RSA)
Gaku AKAZAWA (SAM)
Sahid KARGBO (SLE)
Souleymen NASR (TUN)

77kg
Abd OUAKALI (ALG)
Francisco KADIMA (ANG)
Sheng ZHANG (AUS)
Mahmoud ABDELRAHMAN (EGY)
Yassine CHEKLY (MAR)
Shafaihuuna BENHARD (NAM)
Dean VAN ZYL (RSA)
Sami SLAMA (TUN)

87kg
Bachir SID AZARA (ALG)
Roberto NSANGUA (ANG)
Mohamed METWALLY (EGY)
Wadii OUALAL (MAR)
Richard FERREIRA (RSA)
Hakim TRABELSI (TUN)

97kg
Fadi ROUABAH (ALG)
Mohamed GABR (EGY)
Wissam KOUAINSO (MAR)
Christiaan BURGER (RSA)
Maulalo ALOFIPO (SAM)
Mohamed MISSAOUI (TUN)

130kg
Hemza HALOUI (ALG)
Oussama ASSAD (MAR)
Marcus CARNEY (NZL)
Amine GUENNICHI (TUN)

Blessing OBORUDUDU (NGR)Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Blessing OBORUDUDU (NGR) will lead a strong Nigerian team for the qualifiers. (Photo: UWW / Amirreza Aliasgari)

Women’s Wrestling

50kg
Ibtissem DOUDOU (ALG)
Juliana VALENCIA VELEZ (AUS)
Rosine NTSA ASSOUGA (CMR)
Nada MOHAMED (EGY)
Debora TURE (GBS)
Paulina DUENAS (GUM)
Emma WANGILA (KEN)
Victorine RASOARIMALALA (MAD)
Mercy GENESIS (NGR)
Matilda KOKERA (RSA)
Nourhene HEDHLI (TUN)

53kg
Chahinez RABAH (ALG)
Mbuka CAROLINA (ANG)
Jessica LAVERS MCBAIN (AUS)
Nogona BAKAYOKO (CIV)
Miriam NGOE WASE (CMR)
Shaimaa MOHAMED (EGY)
Mia AQUINO (GUM)
Elisa RASOANANTENAINA NOMENJANAHARY (MAD)
Zineb ECH CHABKI (MAR)
Christianah OGUNSANYA (NGR)
Lobna ICHAOUI (TUN)

57kg
Chaimaa AOUISSI (ALG)
Irene SYMEONIDIS (AUS)
Natacha NABAINA (CMR)
Louji YASSIN (EGY)
Rckaela AQUINO (GUM)
Malala SOLONIAINA (MAD)
Zineb HASSOUNE (MAR)
Ester ABRAHAM (NAM)
Kara LE ROUX (RSA)
Faten HAMMAMI (TUN)

62kg
Mastoura SOUDANI (ALG)
Nachi MASUDA (AUS)
Gloria NIYONKURU (BDI)
Lec ANDE (CAF)
Grace ABONA NKOUMOUDIE (CMR)
Angelina RODRIGUES MIRANDA (CPV)
Gharam ASKAR (EGY)
Fatoumata CAMARA (GUI)
Laralei GANDAOLI (GUM)
Eunice MBURU (KEN)
Esther KOLAWOLE (NGR)
Minette KRUGER (RSA)
Siwar BOUSETA (TUN)

68kg
Kawiyatou ISSIFOU (BEN)
Blandine NGIRI (CMR)
Samah ABDELLATIF (EGY)
Blessing OBORUDUDU (NGR)
Tayla FORD (NZL)
Uilau TARKONG (PLW)
Bea MEIRING (RSA)
Patricia ELNOUR (SUD)
Khadija JLASSI (TUN)

76kg
Amy YOUIN (CIV)
Pelagie WILITA (CMR)
Arianna XAVIER (CPV)
Samar HAMZA (EGY)
Jemima NYARKO OFORI (GHA)
Hannah RUEBEN (NGR)
Patricia ELNOUR (SUD)
Zaineb SGHAIER (TUN)

#development

Development in 2024: UWW's rapid strides off and on mat activities

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (December 10) -- Launching education programs that laid the foundation for future generations of sports administrators, a historic step taken towards gender parity, adding the first online beach wrestling course, providing unfettered access to coaches, wrestlers and spectators to an interactive site that analyses data from all major United World Wrestling tournaments and conducting workshops on the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in coaching.

The year 2024 will go down as a watershed year in wrestling not just because of the spectacular action on the biggest stage of all, the Olympics. The year will also be seen as critical because, through various developmental initiatives, the UWW did important groundwork to support the future generations of wrestlers.

One of the landmark moments of the year was the election of seven women to the UWW Bureau, the sport’s supreme body, during the Congress in Tirana, Albania, on October 27. This marked a big step in women’s wrestling leadership and made it the highest registered female candidate for the Bureau in UWW’s history.

“From Tokyo to Paris, we made great strides to promote gender equality within our wrestling community. We have to pave the way for our future generations for equal opportunities, no matter the gender, the religious beliefs, ethnicity, etc.,” UWW President Nenad LALOVIC said.

This was also the year when wrestling took another step in opening its platforms to wrestlers, coaches and fans from the world over. By making the site accessible to all, the data and metrics for each style at every major competition from 2020 to the present can be on the UWW Academy page under the ‘Analytics’ tab. This is a great way to see how points are being scored for each style, weight category, medal matches, teams, among other things.

One of the benefits of making all the data available is it could help improve training decisions (technical and tactical) and overall general knowledge of the sport.

Another great addition to the UWW Academy portal was the first-ever online beach wrestling course. This course is designed to provide an overview of beach wrestling, the fastest-growing style. Topics include the benefits of beach wrestling, basic rules and scoring, differences between beach wrestling and the Olympic styles, how competitions are organized, how bouts are organized and conducted, and the Beach Wrestling World Series.

Soon, there will be new referee and rules courses coming to the UWW Academy.

Apart from the wide array of online courses, the UWW also held on-ground sessions in different parts of the world.T

he More than Medals camps grew stronger this year, with sessions in Jordan, the Dominican Republic and for U17 wrestlers in Serbia.

A significant milestone was achieved by conducting the South-East Asia & Oceania Education Week in Perth from September 30 to October 4.

Representatives from seven Oceania nations — Australia, New Zealand, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Nauru, Tahiti, and the Marshall Islands — and a participant from Singapore gathered with the hope of enhancing wrestling expertise across the region. For many, the session was their first UWW certification in years, adding even more impact to the event and underlining the UWW’s efforts to grow the sport.

Argentina became the first country in the Americas to host a Level 3 Coaches Course. This was also the first-ever Level 3 course conducted in Spanish globally. Bulgaria successfully hosted a Level 2 Coaches Course while India was the destination for the Level 1 course.

A total of approximately 150 coaches benefitted from these sessions, marking a significant step in their education.

Tunisia, Senegal, Guatemala, Croatia, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia are some other countries where crucial UWW developmental programs were hosted.

Cambodia marked a significant milestone in terms of growth of wrestling in the country by conducting the Development of the National Sports System from July 18 to November 30, 2024.

Another important program was on using AI and other new technologies in coaching during the ASOIF Sports Development and Education Group (ASDEG) Workshop in Lausanne.

UWW Development Director and ASDEG Chair Deqa NIAMKEY, who was also elected as a Board Member of the International Council for Coaching Excellence (ICCE) in February 2024, underlined the transformative potential of AI.

The annual meeting, which attracted 60 experts representing over 30 International Federations (IFs), agreed to implement a range of initiatives over the next 12 months. It included supporting the IFs in increasing the representation of Women Technical Officials and Coaches to meet International Olympic Committee targets, establishing regular communication to facilitate cross-sport collaboration and knowledge-sharing and equipping IFs with incorporating technology in development programs and resources for education.