Saudi Arabia staged its largest-ever wrestling competition, with more than 1,000 athletes participating in a 10-day National Championships event held from February 8 to 17.
Organised by the Saudi Wrestling Federation, the tournament featured Freestyle, Greco-Roman and Women’s Wrestling across U12, U17, U23 and senior categories. The event was open to both government and private clubs, significantly boosting participation and attracting wrestlers of multiple nationalities. According to the federation, a total of 1,173 wrestlers competed — 1,034 men and 139 women.
Across the 10 days, 1,491 matches were conducted using the official United World Wrestling (UWW) Arena competition management system to ensure professional organisation, transparency and technical accuracy.
Sherif Halawa, UWW Certified Educator and Head of Sports Performance at the federation, said the number of registered wrestlers in the Kingdom has doubled in recent years. He noted that the progress has already translated into milestones, including Saudi Arabia’s first-ever Asian silver medal at the U20 Asian Championships.
Saudi authorities said the event reflects sustained efforts to grow wrestling at the grassroots level, expand women’s participation, develop referees and strengthen high-performance pathways. Yusup Abdulsalamov, Senior Manager of High Performance at the Saudi Olympic Training Center, said the technical level of Saudi wrestlers has improved significantly, adding that the country is well positioned for stronger international results.
