OTTAWA — Canada’s U17 athletes are set to take on the world next week, at the 2025 U17 World Championships, July 28 to August 3 in Athens, Greece. Wrestling Canada Lutte (WCL) will be sending a team of 12 athletes, along with coaches and team officials.

“We’re incredibly proud of the talented group of young athletes representing Canada at the U17 World Championships in Athens. This is an exciting opportunity for them to test themselves against the very best in the world and continue their growth on the international stage. We know they’ve put in the hard work, and we wish them all the best as they step onto the mats in Greece,” said Chris Woodcroft, WCL High Performance Director.

The men’s side will see seven athletes compete in Athens, all of whom captured a medal earlier this past June at the U17 Pan-American (Pan-Am) Championships in Brazil.

Four of the team members picked up silver medals at the Pan-Ams and will now compete at the Worlds. That group includes: Toronto’s Jonrex Casa at 51kg; St. Laurent, Manitoba’s Beau Chartrand at 80kg; Langley, British Columbia’s Harjot Shergil at 92kg and Surrey, British Columbia’s Uday Billen at 110kg.

In addition, the three bronze medalists from the Pan-Ams will be in action. That group consists of: Pickering, Ontario’s Aaharen Piranavan, who won bronze at 55kg; Smithville, Ontario’s Nathan Nash who won bronze at 60kg; and Port Coquitlam, British Columbia’s Liam Gorton, who won his at 65kg. Gorton is the only returning world team member, having competed last year in Jordan.

As for the women, the group of five athletes features one Pan-Am medalist on the squad with North Vancouver, British Columbia’s Kamryn Mason set to compete at 49kg. Mason has had a strong season so far, not only winning the 49kg national championship at the U17 level but also the U20 50kg title. Her bronze at the Pan-Ams was another solid showing with her only loss coming to the gold medalist.

2025 U17 World Team

Joining the athletes will be the coaches and support staff. The group includes event coaches Frank Mensah and Vanessa Brown, personal coaches Fred Ortencio, Aman Dhillon and Jevon Balfour, and physiotherapist Victoria Cleary. Gary Bird will represent Canada as an official.

For live updates, schedules, and results, visit the official tournament page at: https://uww.org/event/u17-world-championships-0/athletes. The event will be streamed on UWW+.