#BeachWrestling

Kerradel Beach Games wrap up in Palau

By United World Wrestling Press

NGARAAD STATE, Palau (April 5) --- On March 26, 2022, the Ngaraard State Government, in partnership with the Palau National Olympic Committee and the Australian Embassy in Palau, hosted its first Kerradel Beach Games at Kuabes Park. Each of the five counties of Ngaraard were well represented by a total number of 59 youth participants competing in the following sports: Archery, Beach Volleyball and Beach Wrestling. 

To commence the Games Governor Sharp Sakuma and Delegate Gibson Kanai each gave brief motivation messages to the youth and further challenged them to take advantage of the opportunity of the 1st Kerradel Beach Games. It is through these events our youth get to build better and stronger relationship amongst themselves, raise awareness to fight obesity in our youth population and encourage motivation and good competition in the sport community of our state. 

PalauA wrestler finishes a double leg takedown at Kuabes Park during the Kerradel Beach Games.

The Beach Wrestling competition includes youths in boys and girls categories from ages 9 and up take part in the Games. There were about nineteen (19) athletes that competed in their respective pools. Each athlete competed in a double elimination bracket on Saturday where medals were earned as each athlete competed for their county. The overall points were tallied for the winning trophy and Elab County claimed victory as it placed 1st, Ngkeklau came in 2nd and Choll came 3rd respectively, followed by Ngebuked County and Ulimang County. 

This event was made possible by the following sponsors and partners:
1. Office of the Governor
2. Ngaraard State Government
3. Palau National Olympic Committee
4. Pacific AUS Sports
5. Australian Embassy, Palau
6. Dilngebuked Inc., Ngaraard State
7. Legislator Leon Debengek 8. Hana Ingais.

Congratulations to all participants and their youth representatives!

#UnitedWorldWrestling

UWW finalizes 2026 World, Continental Championships

By United World Wrestling Press

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.