COVID-19

IOC Refugee Scholarship Holders Oboadi, Alwad in Training Videos

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY (May 1) -- IOC Refugee Scholarship recipient and Greco-Roman wrestler Aker Al OBOADI shared a video of himself training during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Oboadi who left his home in Iraq for Austria, is preparing for the opportunity to qualify for the Olympic Games in Tokyo set to start July 23, 2021.


AL OBOADI and Ali ALAWAD, originally from Syria, are the first two wrestlers in the history of our sport to wear the UWW flag at the continental and world competitions. Thanks to the initiative of the IOC and National Olympic Committees of  Austria and Egypt, wrestling refugees are entitled to take part in the sport and pursue their Olympic dream. Both athletes plan to compete in their respective continental qualifiers in 2021, and if necessary, the "Last Chance" Olympic qualifier.

Stay tuned to United World Wrestling for more news, highlights, and updates.

#WrestleAlexandria

WATCH: 10 women's wrestling from Egypt

By Vinay Siwach

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt (March 2) -- In the absence of Japan, Ukraine and China dominated the competition at the Ibrahim Moustafa Ranking Series event. Ukraine outplaced China with ease and will continue to battle for the second spot below Japan this year.

With more and more wrestlers moving into the Olympic weight classes, a few weight classes saw surprising results but some other stalwarts returned to form before the long season which also includes the World Championships.

GOLD: 50kg - Meng FAN (CHN) vs. Ziqi FENG (CHN)

GOLD: 53kg - Lucia YEPEZ (ECU) vs. Li DENG (CHN)

Semifinal: 57kg - Evelina NIKOLOVA (BUL) vs. Alexandria TOWN (CAN) [The gold medal bout between Town and Alina AKOBIIA (UKR) did not take place after the later pulled out injured]