Beach Wrestling
A United World Wrestling discipline contested on sand. Bouts are fought standing in a seven-metre circle for three minutes without a break.
Quick Facts
SwitzerlandCharacter & Origin
Training
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
Editorial rating on a 0–3 scale, based on how much room each area gets in ordinary training.
About Beach Wrestling
Beach wrestling is an official discipline of United World Wrestling, the international wrestling federation. Wrestling on sand is of course far older than any rulebook, but as a codified competitive discipline beach wrestling was only registered in 2004, with the first competitions held in 2005. Since 2019 it has run under a World Series format, and the discipline has also appeared at the ANOC World Beach Games, the Youth Olympic Games and the Asian and Mediterranean Games. The rules are deliberately simple, so that a bout can be judged without video and on any beach. Wrestlers compete in a sand circle seven metres across, marked with tape, with a sand depth of at least thirty centimetres. A bout lasts three minutes straight through, with no break. A point is awarded for making the opponent touch the ground with anything other than the soles of the feet, for pushing him out of the circle, and for rule infringements; three points go to a wrestler who completes a throw from standing. A failed attempt scores a point for the defender. The main difference from freestyle is that there is no ground wrestling. There is no par terre, no bridging and no accumulated points for turning, so the whole bout is fought upright, in the grip and in the struggle for balance on an unstable surface. Competitors wear swimsuits or stretch shorts instead of a singlet, and weight classes are listed across three age groups for both men and women.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.