Africa's top Olympic wrestlers will be in action in Pretoria next month when South Africa's capital city hosts the 25th African championships.

Thirteen African countries have confirmed participation and more than 140 competitors are expected making this the biggest continental championships ever.

The four-day tournament will take place from May 11 to 14, with the first two days seeing competition in the Greco Roman style leading up to Olympic freestyle competition.

Egyptians are the favorites to retain the team titles they won in dominant fashion at the 2005 championships in Morocco, the South African media pointed out recently.

The Egyptian team has not been announced yet but may include the sensational Olympic champion, Karam Gaber Ibragim, voted the best wrestler of the 2004 Athens Olympics, said Johannesburg-based newspaper The Citizen.

Wrestlers such as Saleh Moustafa (96 kg) and Ashraf El-Garably have also made their mark on the international wrestling circuit.

Nigeria, one of the power-houses of freestyle wrestling in Africa for the past two decades, has entered a full component of 21 wrestlers, the newspaper said.

Northern African countries are traditionally strong in the Greco Roman style and it is expected that Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia will rake in a number of medals in the competition.

Mohamed Ataya of Tunisia, Morocco's Ahmed Mohamadi and, in the female division, Isabelle Sambou of Cameroon are all expected to defend their African titles.

Source: Xinhua