Refugee Day

With Support of Community, Al Obaidi is Painting a Bright Future

By United World Wrestling Press

INZING, Austria (June 20) -- Aker Al Obaidi had been working as a painter for two years before Benedikt "Mo" Ernst finally convinced the young Iraqi refugee to move to the small town of Inzing, Austria.

The small town, population 4000, intimidated the former Baghdad resident. He'd always known bigger cities, and found comfort in wrestling. 

To help, Coach "Mo" furnished an apartment for Al Obaidi and set up the young Greco-Roman grappler with a series of training opportunities. After a few weeks of acclimating to the new city, Al Obaidi invited Mo over for dinner and showed him the job he'd done painting the apartment.

It was not what Coach was expecting. Greeting him in the living room was the large five-ring logo of the Olympic Games.

"I painted the Rings on this wall because I want to see them every day," said Al Obaidi. "This is my motivation to work as hard as I can and reach my goal!“

Shortly after painting the Rings on his wall AL Obaidi and Coach Mo received word from the IOC that they had chosen Al Obaidi for the IOC Refugee Athletic Scholarship and would be supporting his Olympic journey.

Members of the Austrian national team who live in Inzing have helped provide Al Obaidi the training he needs to prepare for the Olympic Games, as he also attends every camp and tournament of the Austrian wrestling federation.

Al Obaidi's training during COVID has been difficult since he's not allowed to train in the training hall. Instead his coach has organized a special program for him to maintain his shape.

"He is one of the motivated guys I have," said Mo. "He has developed his strength and endurance very well during this hard time."

Like most of the wrestling world Al Obaidi isn't quite sure what will happen with COVID-19, but for now he plans to start wrestling training once cleared by the Austrian government - maybe as early as July.

The plans then include training camps and possibly trips to the U23 Europeans in Bucharest at the beginning of October and the U23 World Championship in Finland. If he's very lucky with travel arrangements, maybe some international training camps in Hungary, Germany and Ukraine between tournaments.

"He works hard and I know if Aker qualifies for the Olympics in Tokyo 2021," said Mo. "His dream will come true."

#WrestleBudapest

#WrestleBudapest Ranking Series women’s wrestling entries

By Eric Olanowski & Vinay Siwach

BUDAPEST, Hungary (June 26) — Like the previous three Ranking Series events, the fourth and final event in Budapest, Hungary promises to be a thrilling affair as close to 600 wrestlers are registered for the July 13-16 tournament.

Women’s wrestling too has received entries that include full-strength squads from the USA, China, Canada, Mongolia, Ukraine, France and Turkiye.

Wrestlers are also shifting to the Olympic weight classes as the Paris Olympic qualifying World Championships are just two months away. The Ranking Series allows two-kilogram weight tolerance and awards prize money to all the medal winners.

For Budapest, a host of nations have entered three wrestlers in the Olympic weights with the hope of getting their final entry to the Belgrade World Championships.

At all of the Olympic weight classes — 50kg, 53kg, 57kg, 62kg, 68kg and 76kg — fans can expect a preview to how competitive the World Championships are going to be as the wrestlers battle for five Paris Olympic spots at each weight.

All the action from Budapest can be followed live on uww.org and the UWW App from July 13.

50kg
Kamila BARBOSA (BRA)
Madison  PARKS (CAN)
Katie  DUTCHAK (CAN)
Ziqi FENG (CHN)
Jacqueline MOLLOCANA ELENO (ECU)
Nada MOHAMED (EGY)
Emma LUTTENAUER (FRA)
Julie SABATIE (FRA)
Szimonetta SZEKER (HUN)
Bianka FATH (HUN)
Miran CHEON (KOR)
Gabija DILYTE (LTU)
Vestina DANISEVICIUTE (LTU)
Otgonjargal DOLGORJAV (MGL)
Miesinnei GENESIS (NGR)
Anna LUKASIAK (POL)
Agata WALERZAK (POL)
Emilia VUC (ROU)
Evin DEMIRHAN (TUR)
Oksana LIVACH (UKR)
Erin GOLSTON (USA)
Sarah HILDEBRANDT (USA)

53kg
Karla GODINEZ (CAN)
Diana WEICKER (CAN)
Samantha STEWART (CAN)
Min ZHANG (CHN)
Qianyu PANG (CHN)
Lucia YEPEZ (ECU)
Tatiana DEBIEN (FRA)
Tetiana PROFATILOVA (FRA)
Anastasia BLAYVAS (GER)
Annika WENDLE (GER)
Stalvira ORSHUSH (HUN)
Vivien MATYI (HUN)
Hyunyoung OH (KOR)
Iulia LEORDA (MDA)
Bolortuya BAT OCHIR (MGL)
Thalia MALLQUI PECHE (PER)
Katarzyna KRAWCZYK (POL)
Roksana ZASINA (POL)
Andreea ANA (ROU)
Ahinsa FERNANDO (SRI)
Jonna MALMGREN (SWE)
Tuba DEMIR (TUR)
Liliya HORISHNA (UKR)
Liliia MALANCHUK (UKR)
Dominique PARRISH (USA)

55kg
Li DENG (CHN)
Roza SZENTTAMASI (HUN)
Gerda TEREK (HUN)
VINESH (IND)
Marina SEDNEVA (KAZ)
Laura STANELYTE (LTU)
Mariana DRAGUTAN (MDA)
Mariia VYNNYK (UKR)
Jacarra WINCHESTER (USA)
Alisha HOWK (USA)
Areana VILLAESCUSA (USA)

57kg
Engracia PANDA (ANG)
Ana PELENDA (ANG)
Giullia PENALBER (BRA)
Alexandria TOWN (CAN)
Hannah TAYLOR (CAN)
Qi ZHANG (CHN)
Kexin HONG (CHN)
Anna MICHALCOVA (CZE)
Luisa VALVERDE (ECU)
Mathilde RIVIERE (FRA)
Elena BRUGGER (GER)
Sandra PARUSZEWSKI (GER)
Gerda TEREK (HUN)
Anna SZEL (HUN)
Ramona GALAMBOS (HUN)
Jeongae BARK (KOR)
Anastasia NICHITA (MDA)
Davaachimeg ERKHEMBAYAR (MGL)
Anhelina LYSAK (POL)
Patrycja GIL (POL)
Jowita WRZESIEN (POL)
Evelina HULTHEN (SWE)
Nova BERGMAN (SWE)
Elvira KAMALOGLU (TUR)
Alina HRUSHYNA (UKR)
Xochitl MOTA PETTIS (USA)
Amanda MARTINEZ (USA)
Alexandra HEDRICK (USA)
Betzabeth SARCO COLMENAREZ (VEN)

59kg
Nikolett SZABO (HUN)
Viktoria BORSOS (HUN)
SARITA (IND)
Magdalena GLODEK (POL)
Solomiia VYNNYK (UKR)
Olena NASIBOVA KREMZER (UKR)
Jennifer PAGE (USA)
Brenda REYNA (USA)

62kg
Angelina LELO (ANG)
Lais NUNES DE OLIVEIRA (BRA)
Bilyana DUDOVA (BUL)
Ana GODINEZ (CAN)
Xiaojuan LUO (CHN)
Lydia PEREZ (ESP)
Viktoria VESSO (EST)
Ameline DOUARRE (FRA)
Luisa NIEMESCH (GER)
Yasmine SOLIMAN (HUN)
Eniko ELEKES (HUN)
Irina KUZNETSOVA (KAZ)
Aisuluu TYNYBEKOVA (KGZ)
Hanbit LEE (KOR)
Mariana CHERDIVARA ESANU (MDA)
Esther KOLAWOLE (NGR)
Natalia KUBATY (POL)
Zuzanna WOLCZYNSKA (POL)
Kriszta INCZE (ROU)
Amina CAPEZAN (ROU)
Selvi ILYASOGLU (TUR)
Iryna KOLIADENKO (UKR)
Ilona PROKOPEVNIUK (UKR)
Kayla MIRACLE (USA)
Bridgette DUTY (USA)

65kg
Anne NUERNBERGER (GER)
Irina RINGACI (MDA)
Kadriye AKSOY (TUR)
Emma BRUNTIL (USA)

68kg
Sara LANDO (ANG)
Olivia DI BACCO (CAN)
Feng ZHOU (CHN)
Adela HANZLICKOVA (CZE)
Pauline LECARPENTIER (FRA)
Kendra DACHER (FRA)
Koumba LARROQUE (FRA)
Eyleen SEWINA (GER)
Noémi SZABADOS (HUN)
Karolina POK (HUN)
Yelena SHALYGINA (KAZ)
Hyeonyeong PARK (KOR)
Delgermaa ENKHSAIKHAN (MGL)
Blessing OBORUDUDU (NGR)
Tayla FORD (NZL)
Yanet SOVERO NINO (PER)
Natalia STRZALKA (POL)
Wiktoria CHOLUJ (POL)
Alexandra ANGHEL (ROU)
Tindra SJOEBERG (SWE)
Nesrin BAS (TUR)
Buse TOSUN (TUR)
Alla BELINSKA (UKR)
Alexandria GLAUDE (USA)
Forrest MOLINARI (USA)

72kg
Shauna KUEBECK (CAN)
Noemi OSVATH NAGY (HUN)
Dalma CANEVA (ITA)
Zhamila BAKBERGENOVA (KAZ)
Davaanasan ENKH AMAR (MGL)
Catalina AXENTE (ROU)
Alina RUDNYTSKA LEVYTSKA (UKR)

76kg
Justina DI STASIO (CAN)
Yuanyuan HUANG (CHN)
Juan WANG (CHN)
Genesis REASCO VALDEZ (ECU)
Samar HAMZA (EGY)
Epp MAE (EST)
Cynthia VESCAN (FRA)
Francy RAEDELT (GER)
Veronika NYIKOS (HUN)
Gulmaral YERKEBAYEVA (KAZ)
Aiperi MEDET KYZY (KGZ)
Seoyeon JEONG (KOR)
Kamile GAUCAITE (LTU)
Patrycja SPERKA (POL)
Fanni NAGY (SRB)
Yasemin ADAR (TUR)
Anastasiia SHUSTOVA (UKR)
Anastasiya ALPYEYEVA (UKR)
Dymond GUILFORD (USA)
Yelena MAKOYED (USA)