#UWWAwards

Top Five Team Performances of '21

By Eric Olanowski

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (December 14) -- What a year 2021 will go down as. A year of uncertainty turned out to be a year full of remarkable performances. After the conclusion of the anthems and the team trophies where hoisted, five memorable performances stood out as this year’s most impressive collective showings of the season.

5. Iran’s ?? #WrestleOslo GR Team:
Despite falling six points shy of winning the team title in Oslo, Iran’s Greco-Roman unit, headed by world and Olympic champ MohammadReza Geraei, captured six medals – including four podium-topping finishes.

4. Kyrgyzstan’s ?? #WrestleOslo WW Team:
Kyrgyzstan’s women’s wrestling team has been on a meteoric rise to the top of wrestling's world stage since Aisuluu TYNYBEKOVA’s emergence in ’17. This year, their team continue to defy odds, having a trio of medalists at the World Championships – including two gold-medal winners.

3. Ukraine’s ?? #WrestleBelgrade WW Team:
Alina AKOBIIA led the Ukraine’s women’s squad to their first-ever team world title at the U23 World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia. They had five finalists and three champs.

2. The Russian ?? Olympic Committee’s #WrestleTokyo FS Team:​​​​​​​
Led by five-time world champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist Abdulrashid SADULAEV, The Russian Wrestling Federation went 5-5 in medal matches and had three wrestlers claim Olympic golds.

1. Japan’s ?? #WrestleTokyo WW Team:
The top team performance of ’21 goes to Japan’s women’s wrestling team at the Tokyo Olympic Games. Sisters Risako and Yukako KAWAI were two of the host nations quartet of Olympic champs.

#RankingSeries

UWW confirms Ranking Series, World Championships hosts for 2025

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (September 25) -- United World Wrestling has announced the World Championships and Ranking Series schedule for 2025.

UWW had earlier announced that the Senior World Championships will be held in Zagreb, Croatia from September 13-21. Here are the dates for the age-group World Championships.

U17 World Championships - Athens, Greece (July 28-3)
U20 World Championships - Bulgaria, Sofia (August 18-24)
U23 World Championships - Novi Sad, Serbia (October 20-26)
Veterans World Championships - Budapest, Hungary (October 7-12)

The calendar for the four Ranking Series tournaments for 2025 was also stamped by the Bureau which decided that the same cities will host the Ranking Series till 2027 in an attempt to further simplify the calendar.

Here are the four stops of the Ranking Series for seasons 2025:

1st Ranking Series - Zagreb, Croatia (February 5-9)
2nd Ranking Series - Tirana, Albania (February 26-March 2)
3rd Ranking Series - Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (May 29-June 1)
4th Ranking Series - Budapest, Hungary (July 17-20)

In the Olympic year 2028, only two Ranking Series will be held. The two hosts will be Zagreb, Croatia and Budapest, Hungary.

The host for the Asian Championships was also approved with Amman, Jordan confirmed to host the tournament from March 25 to 30.

The U17, U20 and Senior African Championships was already allotted to Casablanca, Morocco. However, the dates of the tournament have been changed to April 29 to May 4. The Senior Pan-Am Championships will now be held from May 6 to 9.

For a detailed 2025 calendar, visit uww.org/events.