One of the oldest sports on the World University Championship programme, Wrestling debuted in 1968 in Turkey and also has been an optional sport a few times at the Summer Universiade. It's a popular sport in FISU, being organized on several continents. In 2022 Wrestling was part of the FISU University World Cup Combat Sports in Samsun (TUR). Combat Sports (with Wrestling as a discipline) now return to a FISU World University Championship format.

The History of Wrestling in FISU


Today, there are many discussions concerning appropriate sports programmes for major events. There are sports that are automatically included into the programme for one simple reason: they have been practised for centuries. Wrestling is one of those. Like Athletics, Wrestling dates back to Greek and Roman antiquity and things haven't evolved according to materials or fashion. There is one rule engraved on a stone: "Take your opponent down and glue him to the mat".

Although this noble discipline was included in the programme of the Bucharest (ROM) Universiade in 1981, it has not been part of the World University Championship programme since the 1968 edition in Istanbul (TUR). This shows its considerable drop in popularity owing to the massive arrival of so-called "fun" sports. The current return to more traditional values is giving Wrestling a new lease of life. It was Iran which put the sport back in the limelight and included it into the FISU agenda by organising the second Wrestling WUC in Teheran in 1996. It was a magnificent success with 171 wrestlers from 18 countries, among whom were such great champions as Serguey Liehtrvan and Alexander Zanko from Belarus. In 1998 Turkey organised the third edition, echoing the first one that it had organised 30 years earlier in 1968. Obviously, the sport was definitely back, because many member associations had expressed a lively interest in hosting a Wrestling championship. In the year 2000, the championship was held in Japan and that was a great delight for all university wrestlers. Women participated for the first time in the World University Wrestling Championship in Edmonton in 2002.

At the Summer Universiade 2005 in Izmir, Turkey, the Wrestling competition for both men and women took place. It was a great success with the participation of 40 countries and more than 340 wrestlers. With an increasing number of participants, Wrestling became one of the FISU star championships. In 2010, 273 wrestlers from 32 countries took part in the championship, showing a worldwide interest in the discipline.