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World C'ships 2026 to be held in October; U20 Worlds in Bratislava

Monday, December 8, 2025 - 07:56 By United World Wrestling Press

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (December 8) -- United World Wrestling has officially confirmed the host city for the 2026 U20 World Championships and finalized the competition dates for the 2026 Senior World Championships.

In addition, the host for 2026 Asian Championships has also been shifted from Amman, Jordan to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

Bratislava, Slovakia, has been selected to host the 2026 U20 World Championships. Bratislava had successfully hosted the 2025 European Championships in April with sellout stadium. The U20 World Championships in 2026 are scheduled to take place from August 17 to 23 and a similar crowd is expected for the competition.

UWW also confirmed the competition window for the 2026 Senior World Championships to be hosted in Manama, Bahrain, which was announced as hosts during a ceremony held in Zagreb in September.

The World Championships are set to run from October 24 to November 1, providing nine days of action featuring the world’s top wrestlers.

No Arab country has ever hosted a World Championships but Bahrain will etch its name in history with the 2026 edition.

"Bahrain has a superstar in wrestling," UWW President Nenad LALOVIC had said. "They probably want to use this opportunity to promote the sport through this superstar [Akhmed] TAZHUDINOV (BRN). But he's not the only one.

"They also want to develop the local Bahrain born athletes to compete because they have the role model of the top achievement in wrestling. This is something that we considered and that is why we made this decision."

The Asian Championships, originally scheduled in Amman will now be hosted by Bishkek from April 6 to 12.

The 2026 U15 & U20 Asian Championships have been moved from Bangkok to Pattaya.

The U17, U20 and senior African Championships will be held in Alexandria, Egypt from April 28 to May 3. In addition, the dates for the 2026 Pan-American Championships were also modified. The competition will now be held from May 7 to 10 in Coralville, Iowa, United States.

For the full 2026 calendar, visit uww.org/events.

UWW Playlist: Best of World and Olympic Champion Susaki

Monday, February 9, 2026 - 09:31 By United World Wrestling Press

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JAPAN (February 9) -- Yui SUSAKI (JPN) is on path to greatness. The Japanese wrestler managed to showed up on the wrestling when won three back-to-back U17 world titles from 2014 to 2016.

While many would take time to jump to senior level, Susaki wrestled at the 2017 Paris World Championships aged 17 years and won gold medal at 48kg. She would seen beat Mariya STADNIK (AZE) at the Klippan Lady Open before winning gold at 2018 World Championships. Two U20 world titles further strengthened Susaki's resume as she remained unbeaten in international wrestling.

At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Susaki claimed her first Olympic gold, without giving up a point and etched her name in history.

WATCH THE BEST OF YUI SUSAKI (JPN) HERE

And it had to be Susaki to complete the Golden Grand Slam of wrestling. After winning U17, U20 and senior world titles, and Olympic gold, she needed to win the U23 world title to complete the Slam. In October of 2022 in Pontevedra, Spain, Susaki would go on to become the first wrestler in history to achieve the feat.

At the 2024 Paris Olympics, four-time world champion Susaki suffered her first international loss to Vinesh PHOGAT (IND), which remains her only loss in international career.