The 4th World Wrestling Games took place in Siauliai (LTU) from 11 to 13 September 2009 and brought together a total of 250 athletes from 41 countries. The organizing committee put up a very professional event in the brand new Siauliai Arena that offered outstanding conditions for the grappling, pankration, belt wrestling, ssireum, tatar wrestling, and beach wrestling competitions.

From the grappling standpoint, a lot was at stake, since the Games were the occasion of the first senior European Championship and the first veteran World Championship, both in the Gi and No-Gi divisions. The level in the European Championship was very high and the competition was dominated by the French team that confirmed its leading position after the silver title won at the 2008 World Championship. In 74kg, Nicolas Renier surprised many participants with his technical skills, notably when taping out the Bulgarian Kamenov with a rarely seen knee slicer. Nicolas Renier came to a relatively easy win in the No-Gi division, but faced stiff competition in the 74kg Gi division, losing against the strong Lithuanian Viktor Tomasevic in overtime. Tomasevic went to the finals and got suprised by the Swiss talent Peter Mettler that won the title by points and became the youngest European Champion at 19 years old. The performance of the two world-class French female grapplers, Oceane Talvard and Romy Ruyssen, is also to be noted as they both got the gold in the No-Gi and Gi divisions. The two French grapplers then accepted to compete with some American pankratiasts in a dual meet and won every single match, featuring some of finest highlights of the competition with flying armbars from both of the French athletes.

The team ranking in the European Championship was a big surprise to many. The gold - as anticipated - went to France, but the silver went to the very strong Lithuanian team that participated in a FILA event for the first time. The level showed by the Lithuanian grapplers was outstanding and placed the team among the European grappling elite without a doubt. The third rank went to the Hungarian team that could have placed higher, but still showed great talent by beating the strong Bulgarian and Polish teams.  

The first veteran World Championship was a treat to the eyes. In 66kg, the French Karim Saki, who already won the gold in the European Championship, faced the Swiss Roland Laritz in the Gi and No-Gi finals. Both times, the overtime decided the winner and both athletes ended up with one gold and one silver medal. To be noted that the bronze medal went to Clint Kingsbury, Head of Grappling Pan-America and FILA Instructor, who also showed great mastery of the discipline. The 74kg Gi and No-Gi finals that opposed the Italian Alessandro Federico and the Swiss Rafael Perlungher could not have been more exciting. Rafael Perlungher, Head of Grappling Europe, won the No-Gi final in overtime and was leading the Gi final by 4-1 whe he got caught in a tight triangle choke 30 seconds before the end of the match. Only with much suffering and luck could he carry on the match until the end and acheive his second World title against the excellent Italian grappler. The Pole Piotr Baginski was the dominant force in 84kg as well as the the Bulgarian Valentin Simeonov in 120kg and the Croatian Zlatko Klaric in the Open division.

The team ranking in the veteran World Championship was also a big surprise with the Swiss team winning the first place over Poland and Croatia.

The competition was a true success and we would like to thank the organizers, the participants, and referees for contributing to the growth of FILA grappling. The complete results can be downloaded from the yellow menu bar. We wish the best of luck to the top athletes who will represent their country in the World Championship in Florida next December. Information on the Championship will shortly be posted.