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Sadulaev ruled ineligible to compete by UWW panel

Thursday, April 4, 2024 - 08:38 By United World Wrestling Press

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (April 4) -- Abdulrashid SADULAEV has been ruled out of the European OG Qualifiers in Baku after he failed to meet the eligibility criteria set by the International Olympic Committee for Individual Neutral Athletes.

The two-time Olympic champion was ruled ineligible by the United World Wrestling Eligibility panel. This third-party panel continuously monitors the eligibility of wrestlers based on the criteria defined by the IOC.

Sadulaev was declared ineligible after the panel found new information about his support of the Ukraine-Russia war and that he is still officially declared a member of the Dynamo club.

Each Individual Neutral Athlete goes through a rigorous vetting process by UWW in preparation for any tournament and is examined based on the criteria set by the IOC which rules thorough background and social media checks of individuals from Russia and Belarus.

The decisions regarding eligibility were made by a panel, relying on comprehensive vetting reports provided by an independent and private intelligence service provider.

The wrestlers who were deemed eligible will compete as Individual Neutral Athletes, without any flags or references to their respective countries. Additionally, the national anthems of Russia and Belarus will not be played in the event of medals being awarded to these athletes.

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World C'ships 2026 to be held in October; U20 Worlds in Bratislava

Monday, December 8, 2025 - 07:56 By United World Wrestling Press

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (December 8) -- United World Wrestling has officially confirmed the host city for the 2026 U20 World Championships and finalized the competition dates for the 2026 Senior World Championships.

In addition, the host for 2026 Asian Championships has also been shifted from Amman, Jordan to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

Bratislava, Slovakia, has been selected to host the 2026 U20 World Championships. Bratislava had successfully hosted the 2025 European Championships in April with sellout stadium. The U20 World Championships in 2026 are scheduled to take place from August 17 to 23 and a similar crowd is expected for the competition.

UWW also confirmed the competition window for the 2026 Senior World Championships to be hosted in Manama, Bahrain, which was announced as hosts during a ceremony held in Zagreb in September.

The World Championships are set to run from October 24 to November 1, providing nine days of action featuring the world’s top wrestlers.

No Arab country has ever hosted a World Championships but Bahrain will etch its name in history with the 2026 edition.

"Bahrain has a superstar in wrestling," UWW President Nenad LALOVIC had said. "They probably want to use this opportunity to promote the sport through this superstar [Akhmed] TAZHUDINOV (BRN). But he's not the only one.

"They also want to develop the local Bahrain born athletes to compete because they have the role model of the top achievement in wrestling. This is something that we considered and that is why we made this decision."

The Asian Championships, originally scheduled in Amman will now be hosted by Bishkek from April 6 to 12.

The 2026 U15 & U20 Asian Championships have been moved from Bangkok to Pattaya.

The U17, U20 and senior African Championships will be held in Alexandria, Egypt from April 28 to May 3. In addition, the dates for the 2026 Pan-American Championships were also modified. The competition will now be held from May 7 to 10 in Coralville, Iowa, United States.

For the full 2026 calendar, visit uww.org/events.