Press releases

Over 200 athletes will take part in the event at the Minsk Sport Center. Many teams will comprise the countries’ leading wrestlers, including world champions Taha Akgul of Turkey, Frank Chamizo of Italy and Vladimer Khinchegashvili of Georgia.

Three-time Olympic champion Alexander Medved visited the Olympic sport center Staiki on 16 February to meet with coaches and athletes of the teams preparing for the Grand Prix event. The prominent Belarusian athlete expressed gratitude to the coaches of the national teams that had accepted the invitation to take part in the tournament. At the forthcoming competitions Belarus will be presented in all weight categories (eight in the men’s and women’s events each). Among the most famous athletes is winner of the First European Games in Baku Vasilisa Marzalyuk (75kg), bronze medalist of the 2013 World Wrestling Championships Ali Shabanov (74kg), winner of the 2015 U23 European Championship Alexander Gushtyn (86kg), bronze medalist of the 2014 European Wrestling Championship Ivan Yankovsky (97kg).

The international Grand Prix freestyle wrestling tournament will be held in its 46th time in the Belarusian capital on 18-19 February.

The traditional Iranian martial arts competitions (Pahlavani) will be held as part of the big sport event on 19 February.

The traditional children’s freestyle wrestling tournament Medvezhonok will take place alongside the adult tournament. More than 300 young wrestlers from Belarus and abroad will take part in the competitions at the Minsk Alexander Medved Olympic Freestyle Wrestling Center.