Amateur Wrestling Styles

Amateur wrestling is the most widespread form of sport wrestling. There are two international wrestling styles performed in the Olympic Games under the supervision of FILA (Fédération Internationale des Luttes Associées or International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles): Greco-Roman and freestyle. Freestyle is possibly derived from the English Lancashire style.  A similar style, commonly called collegiate (also known as scholastic or folk-style), is practiced in colleges,  universities and schools in the United States.

Freestyle wrestling is a style of amateur wrestling that is popularly practiced throughout the world. Along with Greco-Roman, it is one of the two styles of wrestling contested in the Olympic games. It is, along with track and field, one of the oldest organized sports in history. In Freestyle Wrestling opponents are allowed to attack and use opponents whole body including legs, but not fingers, feet or face. Limbs are not bent unnaturally and normally points are scored without hurting the opponent by controlling the opponent, throws, or maneuvering the body so that the back is facing the mat.  If the more than half of the back touches the mat for at least one-second, a fall is given, that will end the match.

In the older Greco-Roman wrestling attacks below the waist is forbidden, which results in an emphasis on more dramatic throws, since a wrestler cannot use trips to take an opponent to the ground or avoid throws by hooking or grabbing their opponent's leg. This is the major difference between it and Freestyle wrestling, the other form of wrestling at the Olympics.

Pankration, from the Greek words "Pan" and "Kratos" meaning "the one who controls everything", is a world heritage martial art with the unique distinction of being the only martial sport in existence that can legitimately trace its roots to the ancient Olympic Games from 648 BC to 393 AD. Today, pankration is developed by FILA as a mild form of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), which forbids striking to the head. Pankration is practised both by men and women, according to the same rules.

In addition to individual competition, pankration includes two forms of choreographic team events that can be showcased with or without weapons. "Palaismata" takes place between two athletes and aims at assessing their level of knowledge while "Polydamas" takes place between 1 defendant and 3 attackers to simulate a dangerous situation to be overcome by the athlete. Pankration is an efficient form of self-defence that can be used for police and security training. Pankration was introduced to the programme of the SportAccord World Combat Games in 2010 with 3 male categories.

Grappling is a collection of wrestling disciplines or styles and the name refers to techniques, maneuvers, and counters applied to an opponent (sometimes making use of the clothing or uniform of either person) in order to gain a physical advantage. Grappling is practiced as a sport and as a form of self defense, but does not include striking or the use of weapons. Combat grappling was created by FILA to fulfill the need for a properly managed and regulated form of amateur Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). It incorporates techniques from most existing Martial Arts systems, creating a unique fighting environment that alternatively takes the fight from standing to ground positions. Matches are either won by grappling holds such as joint locks and chokes, or by striking and kicking techniques. Combat Grappling is practised both by men and women, according to the same rules.

Through the mandatory use of protection gear and limited impact rules (especially regarding ground and pound), FILA intends to offer a sport that can safely prepare an athlete for a professional MMA career or provide extended knowledge on realistic fighting scenarios. FILA intends to bring combat grappling to the SportAccord World Combat Games that will take place in 2013.

Combat Grappling was created by FILA to fulfill the need for a properly managed and regulated form of amateur Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). It incorporates techniques from most existing Martial Arts systems, creating a unique fighting environment that alternatively takes the fight from standing to ground positions. Matches are either won by grappling holds such as joint locks and chokes, or by striking and kicking techniques. Combat Grappling is practised both by men and women, according to the same rules.

Through the mandatory use of protection gear and limited impact rules (especially regarding ground and pound), FILA intends to offer a sport that can safely prepare an athlete for a professional MMA career or provide extended knowledge on realistic fighting scenarios. FILA intends to bring combat grappling to the SportAccord World Combat Games that will take place in 2013.

Belt Wrestling Alysh: The word "Alysh" meaning "fighting to determine the strongest" finds its roots in ancient Turkish and was chosen by the International Federation of Wrestling on Belts to embody the bringing together of all belt wrestling styles practised throughout the world.

The belt wrestling matches take place over a period of 5 minutes for men and 4 minutes for women. The competitors wear white trousers and either a blue or a green jacket held tight by a flexible red belt. While holding each other's belt, they try to throw their opponent to the mat. The technical points are awarded according to the amplitude of the throws: 1 point if the opponent lands on a knee or buttocks, 2 points if the opponent lends sideways or on a hip, and 6 points if the opponent lends on the back. The first competitor who scores 6 points wins the match. The rules adopted are purposely simple so that all national belt wrestling styles can express themselves within a generic form of the discipline. Belt wrestling was introduced to the programme of the SportAccord World Combat Games in 2010 with 1 male category. 

Ssireum (also spelled Sirum) is a Korean style where the bout is performed in a 7meter sand circle, and opponents grab one another by a belt, and tries to force the opponent to touch the ground with any part of his body above the knee. Unlike Sumo pushing your opponent outside of the ring does not warrant a win, just a restart.

In Cornish Wrestling (wrasling) the participants wear a strong jacket used for holds. All holds are taken upon the other wrestler's jacket, grabbing of the wrists or fingers is forbidden as well as any holding below the waist. The objective of Cornish wrestling is to throw your opponent and make him land as flat as possible on his back. Three sticklers (referees) watch and control each bout whilst also recording down the score of points achieved in play. Four pins are located on the back of a wrestler, two at the back of each shoulder and two either side just above the buttocks. If a wrestler manages to throw his opponent flat onto his back, simultaneously scoring with all 4 pins they score four points in that single throw and this is called a "Back" to which the bout is then finished and the throwing wrestler is the winner. The sticklers will each raise their sticks when they perceive a Back has been achieved. If two sticklers raise their sticks but one does not a back is still awarded.

Beach Wrestling was codified by FILA during the 2004 Congress in Athens in order to bring together all the different traditional wrestling styles practiced on sand and to make them more popular worldwide. It also aims at promoting the values of a fun, secure, accessible, and eco-friendly sport. Beach Wrestling is practised in swimming suit within a sand circle of 6m and consists of very simple rules: to win the match, the wrestler must maintain his opponent’s shoulders on the ground (victory by fall), bring him to the ground twice, or push him out of the circle twice.

Beach Wrestling was introduced to the programme of the first Youth Olympic Games that took place in Singapre in 2010 and FILA intends to bring the discipline to the World Beach Games that will be organised by SportAccord as per 2012.