The Beach Wrestling World Series got underway in Argentina last month in only its second visit to South America, where records were broken for the number of competitors and first-time competing nations. The Series makes its way to Asia for the first time since its inception for the second leg and it promises to be a sensational showdown in Singapore.

The stunning Singapore Sports Hub is a world class facility and will make the perfect backdrop to the second leg of the 2023 World Series. The facilities combined with party music and special beach wrestling vibe will help sprinkle a little flying sand magic as the Series welcomes more debutant athletes and countries to the roster.

The Singapore stop is also the last chance to gain ranking points for the ANOC World Beach Games, which take place in Bali in August. Only one Athlete per country will qualify for the World Beach Games in their weight division so every ranking point gained could prove vital for the wrestlers as the bid to make the list.

There has been a lot of interest in this stop as over 110 athletes (47 women and 67 men) from 30 countries, including for the first time Australia, Bangladesh, Cameroon, China, Indonesia, Kenya, Mongolia, Palau, Singapore, South Africa, Senegal and Thailand, have signed up to take part as Beach Wrestling’s popularity continues to grow around the globe.

The opening leg of this year’s edition of the Beach Wrestling World Series saw some great results for debuting athletes and countries. They collected not only vital experience in the sandy circle, but some great wins, ANOC Beach World Games ranking points and some even took home gold, silver or bronze medals.

Our newest competitors can take great confidence from this as they will be looking to impress on their own debuts in the greatest sport on sand.

The Princess of Power Stefania PRICEPUTU (ROU, 50kg) will want to keep her stunning Series form on track as she aims for a second gold in two events. The Ukrainian pair of Daria MEDVESTSKA and Anastasiya KRAVCHENKO (60kg) are playing catchup having missed the first leg and will hope a strong showing will bring them right back into Series Championship contention.

Reigning 70kg World Series Champion Adina Ionela IRIMIA (ROU) took silver in Argentina to start her season and she will be hoping to upgrade that to a gold in the Singaporean sands and compatriot Catalina AXENTE (+70kg) will be hoping on an improved showing after failing to make the semi finals in Argentina.

The glorious Georgians returned from Argentina as the dominant male team with Levan KELEKSASHVILI (70kg) picking up silver and Nika KENTCHADZE (80kg), Dato PIRUZASHVILI (90kg) and Mamuka KORDZAIA (+90kg) all taking home gold. They will be Singapore bound with more golden ambition shining through, but they won’t have it easy as Oyan NAZARIANI’s Azerbaijanian team of Rubail IBRAHIMLI (70kg) Ibrahim YUSUBOV (90kg) and the big gun Nazariani himself (+90kg) will want to improve on their own opening leg performances.

The Ukrainian men’s team will also be looking to get their series off to a good start having missed the first leg in Argentina and their hopes of gold in Singapore have been boosted by the return of 2021 Beach Wrestling World Series 80kg Champion Vasyl MYKHAILOV who makes his first appearance in the Sandy circle since his win in September 2021.

It promises to be an intriguing second leg of the Beach Wrestling World Series as newcomers with different styles, ideas and tactics showcase their talents against some of the greats of the Sandy Circle on Asian sands for the first time ever. Keep up to date with all the action as the sand starts to fly over on the Beach Wrestling World Series Youtube channel which has all of the thrills and spills as they happen live on the official Beach Wrestling YouTube channel.