#WrestleParis

UWW announces hosts for 2024 Paris Olympic qualifiers

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (June 27) -- United World Wrestling on Tuesday announced the hosts for the 2024 Paris Olympic qualifiers.

After a UWW Bureau meeting, the dates for the four Continental Olympic Qualifiers and the World Olympic Qualifier for the 2024 Games were unveiled.

The Pan-American Olympic Games Qualifier will kick off the qualifying cycle next year. The first continental qualifier will be hosted in Acapulco, Mexico. The tournament will be preceded by the Pan-American Championships which will be held at the same venue.

Next, the African & Oceania Olympic Games Qualifier will be held in Alexandria, Egypt followed by the European Olympic Games Qualifier which will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan will witness the Asian Olympic Games Qualifier preceded by the Asian Championships at the same venue.

The final tournament that offers quotas for the Paris Games, known as the World Olympic Qualifier, will take place in Istanbul, Turkiye.

The qualifying events for the Paris Games begin with the 2023 World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, scheduled for September and it will offer 90 quotas, five in each Olympic weight class.

Each of the four continental qualifiers will offer 36 quotas, totaling 144 quotas. The World Olympic Qualifier, to be held in Istanbul, will have 54 places available for the 2024 Olympic Games.

The dates for the four continental Olympic Games qualifiers and the World Olympic Games Qualifier will be announced at a later stage.

#UWWAwards2022

Susaki, Abakarov, Makhmudov, Sharshenbekov named UWW's History Makers of the Year

By Eric Olanowski

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (December 21) -- After their history-making feats in 2022, Yui SUSAKI (JPN), Zelimhan ABAKAROV (ALB), Akzhol MAKHMUDOV (KGZ) and Zholaman SHARSHENBEKOV (KGZ). have been named UWW History Makers of the year.

Coming into the season, Susaki had already won Olympic gold and world titles at the U17, U20 and senior levels. In October, the Japanese superstar grabbed U23 world gold and became the first-ever wrestler to win wrestling’s Grand Slam.

Abakarov, at 29 years old, capitalized on his first opportunity to wrestle at the world championships with five dominant wins – highlighted by a 7-2 win over defending world champ Thomas GILMAN (USA) en route to becoming Albania’s first-ever world champ.

Heading into Belgrade, Kyrgyzstan was 0-3 in gold medal matches at the senior world championships. But Makhmudov only needed 2:06 to rewrite Kyrgyzstan’s history books with a one-sided 8-0 win over Zoltan LEVAI (HUN) in the 77kg finals.

48 hours later, Sharshenbekov followed in his countryman’s footsteps and used Makhmudov’s gold as motivation to win Kyrgyzstan’s second-ever world title. After falling twice in the world finals, there was no way he would to be denied a third shot to win world gold.

Your 2022 History Makers of the Year, Susaki, Abakarov, Makhmudov and Sharshenbekov.