Cadet, junior and senior wrestlers competed in a total of 20 weight categories across the three-day event.

Iran, Pakistan and Ukraine all took home gold medals in men’s beach wrestling, while Italy and Norway proved to be the dominant powers on the women’s side.

The Championships were described as a celebration of the sport’s re-emergence around the globe and the start of what the UWW believes will be the next big global sports phenomenon.

Beach wrestling is said to be an especially appealing competition style for wrestlers from nations like India, Pakistan and Vietnam and several in Africa as their local styles are very similar.

With constant growth, Lalovic believes that the discipline will help wrestling reach millions more young wrestlers and continue growing interest in the Olympic styles as well.

It is hoped beach wrestling will expand its offerings in 2018 with a tentatively approved global tour of five cities capped by an annual prize event.

"Beach wrestling is an exciting area of development for our organisation," Lalovic said.

"The appeal is right there for everyone to see.

"We are in the sun, and wrestlers are very fit people so when they compete everything is pleasing to the spectators no matter how much they know about wrestling.

"Beach wrestling has a lot of potential.

"We want to see it in more countries in 2018 and are planning for a new event series to make sure that we inspire our young athletes to get out and be active in our sport."

Men’s beach wrestling saw Iran claim gold medals in the 80 kilograms and over 90kg categories through Sayed Jafar Ghasemi and Pouga Rahmani respectively.

Ghasemi beat fellow Iranian Omid Hassan Tabar Jelodar 3-0 in his final, while Rahmani defeated Turkey’s Hakan Aydogan by the same scoreline. 

Ukraine’s Radulov Semen overcame Iran’s Mohammad Naderi 3-2 in the men’s 70kg final and there was also success for Pakistan’s Muahammad Inam thanks to a 2-1 victory over Iran’s Pejman Fazlollah Tabar Naghrachi in the men’s 90kg final.

In women’s beach wrestling, Norway accounted for both the gold and silver medals in the 70kg and over 70kg categories.

Charlotte Skavner finished ahead of Cesilie Magnusen at 70kg, while Cathrine Frilseth beat Pesnille Rojar 4-0 in the over 70kg final.

Italy’s Francesca Indelicato defeated Greece’s Christina Demirkan by the same scoreline in the women’s 60kg final.

The Beach Wrestling World Championships also featured a joint event on the final day, combining the men’s freestyle 90kg and over 90kg finals with a Turkish oil wrestling competition.

Known as "yagli gures", oil wrestling dates back more than 1,000 years and holds an annual championship.

The championship, named "Kirkpinar", attracts more than 100,000 fans and is considered the longest continually running athletic event in history.