#development

UAE aims for wrestling boost

By United World Wrestling Press

ABU DHABI, UAE (March 10) -- The United Arab Emirates Wrestling Federation has launched a new development program to promote the sport of wrestling in the country, with the help of United World Wrestling.

The initiative kicked off with the hosting of the 'Maritime Heritage Festival 2023' in Abu Dhabi, which featured the traditional wrestling form known as Mutaraha.

The UAE Wrestling Federation has outlined a long-term strategy to develop the sport of wrestling in the country, which includes increasing participation in the sport among young people, promoting training and education programs for coaches and athletes, and organizing international competitions.

UAE
The winners of the Maritime Festival 2023.

With a rich history of traditional wrestling, the UAE wants to engage the youth in Mutaraha in which the two wrestlers face each other in a circular ring on sand that is approximately six meters in diameter. The objective of the game is to force the opponent to touch the ground with any part of their body other than their feet, without using any striking or kicking techniques.

The partnership with UWW is a major step towards achieving these goals, as it will provide the necessary resources, expertise, and support to help the UAE Wrestling Federation implement its development program. With the 'Maritime Heritage Festival 2023', the UAE has taken a significant step towards promoting the sport of wrestling and raising its profile in the region.

#WrestleParis

Greco-Roman: Full List of Countries Qualified for 2024 Paris Olympics

By United World Wrestling Press

PARIS, France -- The World Championships offered 90 quotas for the Paris Olympics with Freestyle, Women's Wrestling and Greco-Roman receiving 30 spots each.

After nine days of intense action, 30 wrestlers qualified their National Olympic Committees in Greco-Roman for the 2024 Olympic Games in six weight classes. 

The qualification is a three-stage process beginning with the World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia. The World Championships offers five quotas for each of the 18 Olympic categories. Wrestlers who earn gold, silver or bronze will earn a spot for their countries. Additionally, the losers of the bronze-medal matches will wrestle in a playoff to determine the fifth allocation in Belgrade.

The second step was the continental qualifiers which included the Pan-Am, African & Oceania, European and the Asian OG Qualifier. Each qualifier offered 12 spots for the Paris Olympics in each style.

The final step was the World OG Qualifier which offered 18 Paris Olympic quotas in each style. Each Olympic weight class offered three quotas -- gold and silver medalists plus the winner of the playoff between the bronze medal winners.

Here are the countries qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games in Greco-Roman:

60kg

From World Championships
Kyrgyzstan (Zholaman SHARSHENBEKOV)
Japan (Kenichiro FUMITA)
China (Liguo CAO)
Uzbekistan (Islomjon BAKHRAMOV)
Iran (Mehdi MOHSEN NEJAD)

From Pan-Am OG Qualifier
Venezuela (Raiber RODRIGUEZ)
Cuba (Kevin DE ARMAS)

From African & Oceania OG Qualifier
Algeria (Abdelkarim FERGAT)
Egypt (Moamen MOHAMED)

From European OG Qualifier
Moldova (Victor CIOBANU)
Turkiye (Enes BASAR)

From Asian OG Qualifier
Kazakhstan (Aidos SULTANGALI)
DPR Korea (Se Ung RI)

67kg

From World Championships
Cuba (Luis ORTA)
Azerbaijan (Hasrat JAFAROV)
Iran (Mohammadreza GERAEI)
Serbia (Mate NEMES)
Armenia (Slavik GALSTYAN)

From Pan-Am OG Qualifier
Chile (Nestor ALMANZA)
Ecuador (Andres MONTANO)

From African & Oceania OG Qualifier
Tunisia (Souleymen NASR)
Algeria (Ishak GHAIOU)

From European OG Qualifier
Ukraine (Parviz NASIBOV)
France (Mamadassa SYLLA)

From Asian OG Qualifier
Japan (Kyotaro SOGABE)
Kyrgyzstan (Amantur ISMAILOV)

77kg

From World Championships
Kyrgyzstan (Akzhol MAKHMUDOV)
Azerbaijan (Sanan SULEYMANOV)
Armenia (Malkhas AMOYAN)
Japan (Nao KUSAKA)
Uzbekistan (Aram VARDANYAN)

From Pan-Am OG Qualifier
Cuba (Yosvanys PENA)
Colombia (Jair CUERO)

From African & Oceania OG Qualifier
Algeria (Abd Elkrim OUAKALI)
Egypt (Mahmoud ABDELRAHMAN)

From European OG Qualifier
Turkiye (Burhan AKBUDAK)
Finland (Jonni SARKKINEN)

From Asian OG Qualifier
Kazakhstan (Demeu ZHADRAYEV)
Iran (Amin KAVIYANI)

87kg

From World Championships
Turkiye (Ali CENGIZ)
Hungary (David LOSONCZI)
Ukraine (Zhan BELENIUK)
Bulgaria (Semen NOVIKOV)
Kazakhstan (Nursultan TURSYNOV)

From Pan-Am OG Qualifier
United States (Spencer WOODS)
Colombia (Carlos MUNOZ)

From African & Oceania OG Qualifier
Algeria (Bachir SID AZARA)
Egypt (Mohamed METWALLY)

From European OG Qualifier
Serbia (Aleksandr KOMAROV)
Milad ALIRZAEV as Individual Neutral Athlete

From Asian OG Qualifier
Iran (Alireza MOHAMDIPIANI)
China (Haitao QIAN)

97kg

From World Championships
Cuba (Gabriel ROSILLO)
Armenia (Artur ALEKSANYAN)
Iran (Mohammadhadi SARAVI)
Czech Republic (Artur OMAROV)
Abubakar KHASLAKHANAU as Individual Neutral Athlete

From Pan-Am OG Qualifier
Honduras (Kevin MEJIA)
United States (Alan VERA GARCIA)

From African & Oceania OG Qualifier
Algeria (Fadi ROUABAH)
Egypt (Mohamed GABR)

From European OG Qualifier
Georgia (Roberti KOBLIASHVILI)
Lithuania (Mindaugas VENCKAITIS)

From Asian OG Qualifier
Uzbekistan (Rustam ASSAKALOV)
Korea (Seungjun KIM)

130kg

From World Championships
Iran (Amin MIRZAZADEH)
Turkiye (Riza KAYAALP)
Cuba (Oscar PINO)
Egypt (Adellatif MOHAMED)
China (Lingzhe MENG)

From Pan-Am OG Qualifier
United States (Cohlton SCHULTZ)
Chile (Yasmani ACOSTA)

From African & Oceania OG Qualifier
Tunisia (Amine GUENNICHI)
Morocco (Oussama ASSAD)

From European OG Qualifier
Germany (Jello KRAHMER)
Sergei SEMENOV as Individual Neutral Athlete

From Asian OG Qualifier
Kazakhstan (Alimkhan SYZDYKOV)
Korea (Seungchan LEE)