Beach wrestling

The heat is on for the titles after a first day on the sand

Saturday, September 7, 2019 - 18:37 By United World Wrestling Press

Share this article

Zagreb, Croatia, Turkey (September 7) - With the first two rounds for each weight class in the books, frequent throws and plenty of action in the wrestling circle in Zagreb’s Jarun Center, the stage is set for thrilling matches on sand tomorrow as many of the favourites proved to be in prime shape.

 On an overcast first day, it was the overall leaders in all men’s categories who won both their matches in dominant style. 

A close fight for the final can be expected in the 70kg category as Levan Kelekhsashvili (GEO), as well as overall runner-up Semen Radulov (UKR), didn’t disappoint and won both of today’s matches without conceding a point. 

 

 

Georgia’s Davit Khutsishvili came to Zagreb as the leader at 80kg and he won both matches in impressive fashion; the first one by superiority against his direct opponent for the Kings of the Beach title, Georgios Koulouchidis from Greece. The Greek won his second battle against Slovenia’s Timotej Trbulin in the same manner.

 

Dato Marsagishvili (GEO) also went undefeated today in the 90kg class and is eying his first Beach Wrestling World Championships title on Sunday.

 Odessa winner Oyan Nazariani from Azerbaijan picked up where he left off in the Ukraine and cruised past both his opponents in the heavyweights to earn the applause from the spectators on the stands.

 In the women’s 60kg category Camila Fama Tristao from Brazil is a star in the making at 60kg, and she’ll be looking to take home her first Beach Wrestling world title after winning both her fights on day 1 without being scored against. 

 All eyes will be on Ukraine’s Anna Mazurkevych in the final as she dominated at 70kg with two fast wins while the current Series leader in this category, Sonia Maria Pereira Brazio from Brazil, lost twice. 

 

 

The fastest win of the day in this weight class went to Diana Mary Betanzo from the United States when she defeated Sara Trbulin (SLO) in eight seconds.

 In the 50kg class Kristal Kimberly Betanzo was a force like her mother at 70kg, winning her fight in the first attack. Tomorrow she’ll face Ukraine’s Kateryna Mashkevych for the individual win on Croatian soil.

 Expect intense competitions with the action coming thicker and faster on day 2. Action will start 1pm GMT on Sunday, don’t miss the live stream on FloWrestling.org when the Kings and Queens of the beach will receive their world championship honours.

 Fans and athletes can also follow the Beach Wrestling World Series on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.

 Match by match results can be found here.

 

#UnitedWorldWrestling

UWW finalizes 2026 World, Continental Championships

Saturday, September 13, 2025 - 11:08 By United World Wrestling Press

Share this article

ZAGREB, Croatia (September 13) -- United World Wrestling has announced the host cities for all the continental and age-group World Championships for 2026.

The three age-group World Championships will be held in three different continents in 2026. Baku, Azerbaijan will kick off the World Championships season next year with the U17 World Championships from July 27 to August 2.

Baku hosted the Greco-Roman World Cup in 2022 and the European Olympic Games Qualifiers in 2024.

Las Vegas, United States will be hosting the U23 World Championships from October 12 to 18, the first time the country will host a World Championships since 2015.

Tirana gets Euros

The UWW Bureau held a meeting on Friday, a day prior to the World Championships, which begins Saturday in Zagreb. It allocated all the tournaments for 2026, barring the 2026 World Championships, to be announced on September 16, Wednesday.

The European Championships will be headed to Tirana, Albania and will be held from April 20 to 26. Tirana will also host the second stop for Ranking Series from February 25 to March 1.

For a second year in a row, Amman, Jordan will host the Asian Championships from April 7 to 12.

Iowa, United States managed to claim the Pan-American Championships for 2026. It will host the senior event in Iowa from May 6 to 9 after getting the rights over Lima, Peru. 

The U17, U20 and Senior Oceania Championships foe 2026 were awarded to Apia, Samoa.

Age-group continentals

Zrenjanin, Serbia will play host to the 2026 U23 European Championships from March 9 to 15. The U20 European Championships will be in Skopje, North Macedonia from July 6 to 12 while the U15 & U17 European Championships were awarded to Samokov, Bulgaria. The U17 event and will be held from May 11 to 17 and the U15 event from May 20 to 24.

For Asia, the 2026 U17 & U23 Asian Championships will once again travel to Da Nang, Vietnam from May 23 to 31. The country hosted the same tournament in 2025 as well. The U15 & U20 Asian Championships will be hosted by Bangkok, Thailand from June 27 to July 5.

The U23 Pan-American Championships will be moving to Miranda, Venezuela . The U20 Pan-American Championships will be held from July 9 to 11 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Panama City, Panama will be hosting the U17 Pan-American Championships from May 28 to 30. The U15 Pan-American Championships will be in Santiago de Chile, Chile.

As announced earlier, the Ranking Series stops are decided till 2028. For all details about events, refer to uww.org/events.

Note: An earlier version of the article read that the 2026 U20 World Championships will be held in Manama, Bahrain. That has been removed as the host is not confirmed.