Samoa to host Oceania champs and house wrestling academy

By Andrina Elvira Burkhart • 22 November 2025, 7:40PM

Samoa is getting ready to host the Oceania Championships in March and will soon have the Oceania Wrestling Academy based in the nation.

The announcements were made at the Samoa National Wrestling Championship, held on Saturday at Tuanaimato. The championship brought together competitors from across the country, showcasing the sport’s growing popularity and shared news that the nation will host the

The event featured three divisions: children, women, and men.

More than 30 children participated, showing promising talent at a young age. The Men’s Division also attracted many competitors, making it one of the most competitive groups of the day.

Tuaopepe Jerry Wallwork, President of the Wrestling and Weightlifting Federation and President of the Samoa Association of Sports and National Olympic Committee (SASNOC), expressed hope that the championship would help wrestling grow again in Samoa.

Tuaopepe shared that he first started wrestling in 1985–1986 and competed for many years, including at the Olympic Games. He explained that the sport later became inactive for a long time because he focused on weightlifting. However, he is happy to see the right people now leading the sport.

“I’m happy you’ve got the right people here — coaches and our own people who are driving it. All I’m doing is helping it. I’m just guiding it along, guiding the competition so it’s coming back,” he said.

He highlighted the team’s recent overseas success, noting that at the Pacific Games in Palau, Samoa won five gold medals, and at the Oceania Championships, they won four gold medals, showing how quickly wrestling has grown again.

Tuaopepe confirmed that Samoa will host the Oceania Championships for wrestling in March next year, along with the World Cup for weightlifting. “I want to host it because the sport is good for young people, good for women, good for girls and boys. I want to really build it up again,” he said.

He gave full credit to the coaching team, saying, “I have to give a lot of credit to the coaches — Yute, Kaku, and Willie and his lovely wife — they’re the ones doing all the work. I’m only here helping, guiding, trying to finance this and that, but they’re really doing all the coaching.”

Tuaopepe added that another tournament will be held early next year, leading up to the Oceania Championships. He also revealed that the Oceania Wrestling Institute will be based in Samoa, with the project already 60 per cent complete.

He praised the coaches again for their dedication. “Credit to these guys, they’ve done the work. They start from three o’clock with the young kids, then four o’clock and five o’clock with the seniors. Willie, Yute and the team do a lot of work. Me, like I said, I’m only on the side to guide them in the right direction,” he said.

Yute Abe, one of the coaches for the wrestling team, said that they train every morning and evening. His goal is for all his students to reach the Olympics. He teaches students of all levels, from ages 4 to 27.

According to him, they are now preparing for next year’s Oceania Championship, and the final Samoa team has yet to be decided.

Final Results

Men’s Division