COVID-19

Stars of the Mat Encourage Wrestling Community to "Stay Strong, Stay at Home"

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (April 7) -- The stars of United World Wrestling took to social media in massive numbers this week to encourage fellow wrestlers and their fans to "Stay Strong and Stay at Home!"

More than 70 of the world's most successful wrestlers, including Olympic champions Jordan BURROUGHS (USA), Hassan YAZDANICHARATI (IRI), Saori YOSHIDA (JPN), and Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM) sent in their messages to United World Wrestling, who has shared their video via Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

"We have seen an outpouring of support from our stars," said United World Wrestling president Nenad Lalovic. "I'm very humbled to know that we have such strong and responsive leadership from our athletes. They are the core of who we are and I'm encouraged by their passion to help in this difficult time."

Lalovic also shared a short video message of his own asking the community to understand that "courage today means wisdom and responsibility" and that we will all get through this soon.

Offline, the wrestling community has also included several athletes who've been on the front lines fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. In Iran, Olympic champions Rasoul KHADEM and Komeil GHASEMI helped deliver medical equipment to highly affected areas of their home nation, while several doctors associated with the sport have been supporting their city's responses. 

#WrestleBaku

WATCH: Chamizo training session in Tokyo

By United World Wrestling Press

TOKYO (March 26) -- Frank CHAMIZO (ITA) is preparing for the European OG Qualifiers scheduled to be held in Baku, Azerbaijan from April 5 to 7.

Chamizo, who finished fifth at the Tokyo Olympics, is looking to earn a spot for the Paris Olympics in the 74kg weight class after he failed to win the quota at the World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia last year.

As part of his preparation, Chamizo travelled to Japan to train at the NSSU campus in Tokyo. Watch his training session from Tokyo using UWW+ exclusively on uww.org and the UWW App.