Ancient Greece is where the sport of Wrestling was invented, and legends created. Throughout the years it’s taken many styles and forces and the latest makes its way to the Olympic cradle as the 3rd leg of the 2021 Beach Wrestling World Series arrives at Paralia Beach on the Aegean Sea this Friday and Saturday.

Oyan NAZARIANI (AZE, +90kg) is not only the reigning Beach Wrestling World Champion but is now also the head coach of the Azerbaijan Wrestling Team and he has big ambitions to help promote the sport.

The Greek leg of the Beach Wrestling World Series kicked off with a highly charged home crowd giving great backing to their compatriots as they took to the sand in their numbers with no fewer that 15 Greek wrestlers taking their part in a field of 58 wrestlers from 12 nations from around the world.

The athletes in the Beach Wrestling are rightly lauded for their wrestling abilities, tactical acumen, and athleticism but there is another group of individuals who without there would be no matches for the wrestlers to take the sand for, our superheroes in red, the Match referees.

A gold rush for the Ukrainian Womens team, a potential Romanian World Series clean sweep on home sand only one leg away, back-to-back gold medals for and a return to winning ways for Azerbaijan are the main stories as the sand settles after the final day of Wrestling in stunning Katerini.