Wrestling is an intense and exciting individual combat sport where one competitor attempts to throw the other to the ground, with the aim to pin them down to register a "fall". The competitor to first achieve a "fall" is declared the winner of the bout.

Wrestling makes for a great spectator sport as it offers strength, speed, technique and agility displayed by the wrestlers.

Wrestling has two styles: Greco-Roman and Freestyle. In the Greco-Roman style, holds are allowed from the waist up, while in freestyle holds are allowed on the whole body. Matches in both styles consist of two, rounds, with a 30 second interval.

During a match, long nails, punching, biting, pinching, strangulation holds or dislocations are forbidden, as is any other act that may cause injury to the opponent.

Women's freestyle wrestling is a growing sport around the world. The first world championship for women was held in the 1980s and an increasing number of nations enter women's wrestling teams each year. Women's wrestling has been on the Olympic programme since Athens in 2004.

One of the oldest sports in history, drawings of people wrestling have been found dating back to ancient Egypt around 2400BC and wrestling programmed in the ancient Olympics Games in 776BC.

While hundreds of wrestling styles are practised all over the world, today there are three main styles seen in international competition: Greco-Roman, freestyle, and women's wrestling.

The International Federation of Associated Wrestling (FILA) was founded in 1912 before the Stockholm Olympic Games to form a standard set rules and principles. Currently, FILA has 146 affiliated national federations with members from five continents.

Wrestling appeared in the first modern Olympics in 1896. In the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, women were included for the first time. Today, the dominant countries in international wrestling include Iran, Russia, the US, Turkey and Mongolia.

Wrestling became a competitive event at the 2nd Asian Games in Manila, Philippines in 1954.

Wrestling competitions at the 15th Asian Games will consist of the following events:

Men

• Freestyle - 55kg
• Freestyle - 60kg
• Freestyle - 66kg
• Freestyle - 74kg
• Freestyle - 84kg
• Freestyle - 96kg
• Freestyle - 120kg

• Greco-Roman - 55kg
• Greco-Roman - 60kg
• Greco-Roman - 66kg
• Greco-Roman - 74kg
• Greco-Roman - 84kg
• Greco-Roman - 96kg
• Greco-Roman - 120kg

Women

• Freestyle - 48kg
• Freestyle - 55kg
• Freestyle - 63kg
• Freestyle - 72kg

Competition rules for wrestling include:

• Competitors are paired in order of numbers drawn at random.
• Competitors are eliminated through a direct elimination system with repechage* for the losers against the opponents competing for first and second places. The ideal number is determined at the beginning of the competition and matches take place in order of the bottom of the draw first.
• Wrestlers who only lose against the two finalists make up a repechage. The repechage matches begin with wrestlers who lost in the first round (including the matches to obtain the ideal number) against one of the two finalists up to the losers in the semi-finals by direct elimination. Winners of the two repechage matches each receive a bronze medal.

Each weight category will begin and end in a day. Each weigh-in will take place the day before the beginning of the relevant category.

* Repechage: A supplementary heat in a competition that allows runners-up from earlier elimination heats a second chance to go to the final.

Competition will take place in the following manner:

• Qualification round
• Elimination round
• Repechage round
• Finals

The wrestling area involves a mat with two concentric circles in the middle. The larger circle has a diameter of 9m, while the smaller circle has a 7m diameter and constitutes the "central wrestling area".

The area formed between the smaller and larger circles is the "passive zone", red in colour with a width of 1m.

A match is judged either on points or a "fall" - a move when one wrestler holds his opponent down with his back pinned to the mat for at least two seconds.

The referee acknowledges and registers the fall (having first agreed with the judge or mat chairman) by blowing the whistle and simultaneously striking the mat with his hand.

A match is judged on points if there were no falls during the course of a match. The wrestler who has been allocated the most points is declared winner.