Arab C'Ships

United World Wrestling Supports Iraq as Nation Hosts First Wrestling Event in Decades

By Tim Foley

BAGHDAD (April 26) -- The nation of Iraq hosted the Cadet Arab Wrestling Championships last week in Baghdad -- the first event sanctioned in Iraq by United World Wrestling since the 1987 Arab Wrestling Championships.

In order to qualify to host the event, United World Wrestling required the Wrestling Federation of Iraq to meet exceptional safety standard for all athletes, delegations and fans.

Wrestlers from eight Arab nations competed the championships (Iraq, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen), with four (Iraq, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen) earning gold medal finishes in either Greco-Roman or freestyle wrestling.  The teams competed under championship conditions on two mats inside of a 2500-person arena.

The opening ceremony was attended by the head of the Iraqi National Olympic Committee Raad HAMOUDI, President of the Arab Union Zamel SHAHARANI, and United World Wrestling bureau member Fouad MESKOUT. In opening the competition, the pair outlined the importance of sport in creating good will among nations, and the vital role sports like wrestling play in helping countries promote peace and safety.

Meskout also gave special thanks to all the volunteers and workers responsible for delivering a safe and productive championship event.

#WrestleParis

Eight more Paris 2024 quotas reallocated by UWW

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (July 9) -- A week after 16 Paris 2024 quotas were reallocated in wrestling, United World Wrestling has further reallocated eight quotas on Monday. This comes after eight Individual Neutral Athletes decided to withdraw their names before the July 8 entry deadline for the Games.

Only one kept the quota -- at 65kg in Freestyle. This takes the number of AINs participating in Paris 2024 to two.

PARIS 2024 SCHEDULE | READ PARIS 2024 NEWS

Last week, UWW had reallocated 16 quotas, a decision taken after the International Olympic Committee released a list of eligible athletes in the first group of sports that have finished their qualifying process for the Olympic Games Paris 2024. The IOC had approved 16 out of the 26 Individual Neutral Athletes who won the Paris Olympic spots in various qualifying tournaments of UWW. However, six wrestlers did not accept the invitation to Paris 2024 despite being deemed eligible by the IOC.

The 16 reallocations were carried out by UWW to the next highest-ranked eligible NOC, not yet qualified, at the event at which the quota place was obtained, respecting the maximum quota per gender and per NOC. The same process was followed for the new reallocation of eight quotas.

List of second reallocation of Paris 2024 quotas

Freestyle
57kg - Kazakhstan (Belgrade)
86kg - Ukraine (Baku)
125kg - Ukraine (Belgrade)

Greco-Roman
87kg - Denmark (Baku)
97kg - Germany (Istanbul)

Women's Wrestling
53kg - Germany (Baku)
62kg - France (Baku)
68kg - Ukraine (Baku)

United World Wrestling will release the entries for Paris 2024 beginning Tuesday, July 9, 2024.