2020 World Championships

Executive Committee Confirms Wrestling World Championships for Belgrade in December

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (October 12) - The United World Wrestling Executive Committee today approved existing plans to host the 2020 Senior Wrestling World Championships December 12-20 in Belgrade, Serbia.

The committee approved the championships after receiving commitments from more than 70-percent of National Federations, a participation hurdle it had set for itself last month. The bureau will meet November 6th to discuss any changes to the event due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and it’s impact on participation.

“We are cautiously optimistic about wrestling’s return in December,” said United World Wrestling president Nenad LALOVIC. “The safety of our athletes, coaches, and staff is our top priority and we will be taking every measure to ensure that happens in Belgrade.”

The Junior Wrestling World Championships, originally scheduled for the week prior, were cancelled after feedback from the national federations indicated concerns about the number of participants able to attend.

The Congress, originally scheduled for the same week, will be discussed in the coming weeks as more information is made available from national federations.

Four seeds, no finals: UWW approves new format for 2024 Olympic qualifiers

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (November 13) — United World Wrestling has approved a new format and seeds for the continental and world qualifiers for the Paris Olympics next year.

All five Paris Olympic Qualifiers next year will have four seeds in each of the weight classes and no gold-medal bouts.

The qualification cycle next year begins with the Pan-American Qualifiers in Acapulco, Mexico from February 28 to March 1. It will be followed by the African & Oceania Qualifiers in Alexandria, Egypt from March 22-24, European Qualifiers in Baku, Azerbaijan from April 4-7 and the Asian Qualifiers from April 19-21 in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. The World Olympic Qualifier will be held in Istanbul, Turkiye from May 9-12.
 
For the four Continental Qualifiers, the semifinal bouts will serve as the Paris Olympic qualification bouts. No repechage, bronze and gold-medal bouts will be held during these continental events. The finalists of each of the six Olympic weights will earn a spot for the Paris Games and no other quotas will be awarded at these competitions. The morning session will see bouts till the quarterfinals followed by a break and semifinals in the evening. Winners of these semifinals will earn their country a spot for the Paris Games.

Also Read: Paris 2024 Qualified Countries in Freestyle

For the World Qualifier, the semifinal bouts will serve as the Paris Olympic qualification bouts and the winners of these semifinals will earn a quota for the Olympic Games. The two winners of the bronze-medal bouts will compete for the third quota of each weight category. No gold-medal match will be held during this competition.

It will be held in a two-day format with the repechage scheduled on the second day. All competing wrestlers on day two will have to go through weigh-ins and wrestle in repechage to make it to the bronze-medal bout. The bronze medalists will then wrestle-off to win a Paris Olympic ticket.

Also Read: Nations Qualified for Paris 2024 in Greco-Roman

The UWW Bureau arrived at the decision keeping in mind the well being of the wrestlers and have a high level of competition at the Olympic qualifiers and the Paris Olympics next year.

144 wrestlers will look to qualify their countries for the Paris Olympics 2024 at the Pan-Am, African & Oceania, European and Asian Olympic Qualifiers while 54 more will earn the spot at the World Olympic Qualifier in Istanbul, Turkiye.

Also Read: Countries Qualified for Paris Olympics in Women’s Wrestling

The first qualification for the 2024 Olympics was achieved at the World Championships in September in Belgrade with 90 wrestlers receiving the quotas for the Games.

All the action from the Olympic Qualifiers will be live on UWW+. For more details of events, browse our events page.