China set to stage 2012 Olympics wrestling qualifier Special

BEIJING - China's wrestling has come a long way and the Eastern Giant is set to host its first wrestling qualifying tournament in history for the 2012 London Olympic Games.

"The sports bureau (General Administration of Sport of China) is planning to bid for the wrestling qualifying matches for the London Games," a Chinese sports official told media on Friday in Beijing. "It's gonna be the first time in history that China hosts the Olympic wrestling qualifying matches should things pan out." The FILA A-class tournament is expected to attract more than 600 hundreds athletes, coaches, officials and judges from approximately 60 countries and regions. While China has never hosted Olympic wrestling qualifier before, the nation did sponsored international wrestling tournament. In 2008 as well as 2009, the two editions of the women's World Cup of wrestling were staged in Taiyuan, a city in northern China. The Cup attracts more than 100 athletes from the world's top eight teams, including Mongolia, Russia, Canada and the United States in its every edition and China has won the Cup three times. China staged the Cups so successfully that FILA president Raphael Martinetti rated the 2008 version a 95 points and even suggested China to apply for bid for the 2011 World Wrestling Championships.