#WrestleNice

2024 Henri Deglane Grand Prix Entry List

By United World Wrestling Press

NICE, France (January 18) -- The 50th edition of the Henri Deglane Grand Prix will commence in Nice, France on January 19.

More than 300 wrestlers from around the world will take the mats over the weekend to prepare for the all-important Olympic qualifiers later this year.

A two-kilogram weight allowance is allowed at the tournament which will begin with Women's Wrestling on January 19, Freestyle on January 20 and Greco-Roman on January 21.

Here's the list of the wrestlers competing in Nice.

57kg
Ivaylo TISOV (BUL)
Ilman MUKHTAROV (FRA)
Diamantino IUNA FAFE (GBS)
Ben TARIK (MAR)
Roman BRAVO YOUNG (MEX)
Gary GIORDMAINA (MLT)
Rafal SZEWC (POL)
Darian Toi CRUZ (PUR)
Thomas EPP (SUI)
Cael NASDEO (USA)
Liam CRONIN (USA)
Kael LAURIDSEN (USA)
Daniel DESHAZER (USA)

61kg
Stilyan Yanchev ILIEV (BUL)
Georgi VANGELOV (BUL)
Levan METREVELI (ESP)
Jules GARDETTE (FRA)
Arman ELOYAN (FRA)
Ramzan AWTAEW (GER)
Dario DITTRICH (GER)
Jannis REBHOLZ (GER)
Julien ZINSER (GER)
Kairat AMIRTAYEV (KAZ)
Zangar KABYLBEKOV (KAZ)
Joseph SILVA (PUR)
Ramon SALAZAR (USA)
Ravi KUMAR (UWW)

65kg
Ayub MUSAEV (BEL)
Ilyas ABDURASHIDOV (BEL)
Mikyay NAIM (BUL)
Peiman BIABANI (CAN)
Michael ZALE (CAN)
Carlos ALVAREZ (ESP)
Quentin STICKER (FRA)
Khamzat ARSAMERZOUEV (FRA)
Marwane YEZZA (FRA)
Nico MEGERLE (GER)
Dominik JAGUSZ (POL)
Nino LEUTERT (SUI)
Nahshon GARRETT (USA)
Aden VALENCIA (USA)
Paul KOLODZIK (USA)
Anthony ASHNAULT (USA)
Seth GROSS (USA)

70kg
Alexander SEIWALD (AUT)
Benedikt HUBER (AUT)
Muhammad ABDURACHMANOV (BEL)
Kaloyan ATANASOV (BUL)
Moukhammad SANGARIEV (FRA)
Seyfulla ITAEV (FRA)
Abdoul NAKAEV (FRA)
Leon GERSTENBERGER (GER)
Kevin HENKEL (GER)
Alexander SEMISOROW (GER)
Dias SAGDATOV (KAZ)
Zhassulan BEXULTANOV (KAZ)
Yernur NURGAZY (KAZ)
Rifat SAIBOTALOV (KAZ)
Timur SHANBAYEV (KAZ)
Fabian NIEDZWIEDZKI (POL)
Marc DIETSCHE (SUI)
Yahya THOMAS (USA)
Anwar ALLI (USA)
Antonio TOLBERT (USA)

74kg
Muhamed BEKTEMIROV (AUT)
Mihail GEORGIEV (BUL)
Mohammad MOTTAGHINIA (ESP)
Roni NEVALAINEN (FIN)
Magamed DELIEV (FRA)
Alan GOLMOHAMMADI (GER)
Stefan KAEPPELER (GER)
Shamil USTAEV (GER)
Stas WOLF (GER)
Tim MUELLER (GER)
Rayanne ESSAIDI (MAR)
Nico ZARB (MLT)
Szymon WOJTKOWSKI (POL)
Tobias PORTMANN (SUI)
Khairiddine BEN TLILI (TUN)
Alexander FACUNDO (USA)
Tyler BERGER (USA)
Joseph LAVALLEE (USA)

79kg
Lukas LINS (AUT)
Gabriel IGLESIAS (ESP)
Joona VUOTI (FIN)
Saifedine ALEKMA (FRA)
Adam KAKHRIEV (FRA)
Pouria TAHERKHANI (GER)
Richard SCHROEDER (GER)
Yerkhan BEXULTANOV (KAZ)
Mateusz PEDZICKI (POL)
Umar MAVLAEV (SUI)

86kg
Matteo MONTEIRO (CPV)
Miko ELKALA (FIN)
Rakhim MAGAMADOV (FRA)
Joshua MORODION (GER)
Lars SCHAEFLE (GER)
Dauren KURUGLIEV (GRE)
Uri KALASHNIKOV (ISR)
Ivars SAMUSONOKS (LAT)
Alans AMIROVS (LAT)
Domantas PAULIUSCENKO (LTU)
Krzysztof SADOWIK (POL)
Ethan RAMOS (PUR)
Kimi KAEPPELI (SUI)
Samuel SCHERRER (SUI)
Mark HALL (USA)
Taylor LUJAN (USA)
Owen WEBSTER (USA)

92kg
Benjamin GREIL (AUT)
Sali SALIEV (BUL)
Rahmatullah MORADI (GER)
Islyambek ILYASSOV (KAZ)
Abdimanap BAIGENZHEYEV (KAZ)
Michal BIELAWSKI (POL)
Filip ROGUT (POL)
Camden MCDANEL (USA)

97kg
Tarik AZZOUZI(BEL)
Adlan VISKHANOV (FRA)
Ertugrul AGCA (GER)
Nurdaulet ZAUYTBEK (KAZ)
Lukas KRASAUSKAS (LTU)
Wiktor HASA (POL)
Mohamed SAADAOUI (TUN)
Michael MACCHIAVELLO (USA)
Nathan JACKSON (USA)

125kg
Johannes LUDESCHER (AUT)
Levan LAGVILAVA (FRA)
Lucas GANSI (GER)
Omar EYUBOV (KAZ)
Jonovan SMITH (PUR)
Hayden ZILLMER (USA)
Trent HILLGER (USA)

Turpal BISULTANOV (DEN)Turpal BISULTANOV (DEN) will compete at 87kg in Nice. (Photo: UWW / Kadir Caliskan)

Greco-Roman

55kg
Raymond LANGLET (FRA)
Giorgi TOKHADZE (GEO)
Ramaz SILAGAVA (GEO)
Giorgi KOCHALIDZE (GEO)

60kg
Marat GARIPOV (BRA)
Nikolai MOHAMMADI (DEN)
Aser EBRO RODRIGUEZ (ESP)
Daniel BOBILLO VIGIL (ESP)
Ilian AINAOUI (FRA)
Lucas LO GRASSO (FRA)
Beso MAKHARADZE (GEO)
Dimitri KHACHIDZE (GEO)
Romeo BERIDZE (GEO)
Nugzari TSURTSUMIA (GEO)
Rashad ORUJEVI (GEO)
Abere FETENE (ISR)
Melkamu FETENE (ISR)
Romio GOLIATH (NAM)
Grzegorz KUNKEL (POL)
Michal TRACZ (POL)
Mohamed HKIRI (TUN)
Taylor LA MONT (USA)
Jamal VALIZADEH (UWW)

63kg
Gildas CHAMBINAUD (FRA)
Anri KHOZREVANIDZE (GEO)
Rati KHOZREVANIDZE (GEO)
Avtandil MAMALADZE (GEO)
Beka GURULI (GEO)
Jonas MUELLER (SUI)
Mathias MARTINETTI (SUI)

67kg
William REENBERG (DEN)
Nestori MANNILA (FIN)
Tigran GALUSTYAN (FRA)
Hocine AKLI (FRA)
Nika BROLADZE (GEO)
Giorgi SHOTADZE (GEO)
Shon NADORGIN (ISR)
Piotr STOLARCZYK (POL)
Michal BISKUPSKI (POL)
Dorien HUTTER (SUI)
Saya BRUNNER (SUI)
Fritz REBER (SUI)
Souleymen NASR (TUN)

72kg
Matias LIPASTI (FIN)
Haik Michel SARGSYAN (FRA)
Giorgi CHKHIKVADZE (GEO)
Otar ABULADZE (GEO)
Piotr LEWANDOWSKI (POL)

77kg
Arsen JULFALAKYAN (ARG)
Oliver KRUEGER (DEN)
Junior BENITEZ (ESP)
Marcos SANCHEZ (ESP)
Tornike MIKELADZE (GEO)
Nikoloz TCHIKAIDZE (GEO)
Khvicha ANANIDZE (GEO)
Shafaihuuna BENHARD (NAM)
Kamil CZARNECKI (POL)
Konrad KOZLOWSKI (POL)
Aleksander MIELEWCZYK (POL)
David LOHER (SUI)
Sami SLAMA (TUN)

82kg
Yvan GUIADEM (FRA)
Gagik SNJOYAN (FRA)
Gela BOLKVADZE (GEO)
Adam GARDZIOLA (POL)

87kg
Turpal BISULTANOV (DEN)
Daniel HERRERO (ESP)
Waltteri LATVALA (FIN)
Artem SHAPOVALOV (FIN)
Tourpal MAGAMADOV (FRA)
Vladimeri KARCHAIDZE (FRA)
Gurami KHETSURIANI (GEO)
Lasha GOBADZE (GEO)
Aivengo RIKADZE (GEO)
Arkadiusz KULYNYCZ (POL)
Islam ALIEV (POL)
Hakim TRABELSI (TUN)

97kg
Loic SAMEN (FRA)
Roberti KOBLIASHVILI (GEO)
Giorgi MELIA (GEO)
Artsiom SHUMSKI (POL)
Igor SHEPETUN (POL)

130kg
Saba CHILASHVILI (GEO)
Giorgi TSOPURASHVILI (GEO)

Jonna MALMGREN (SWE)Jonna MALMGREN (SWE) is entered at 53kg. (Photo: UWW / Kadir Caliskan)

Women's Wrestling

50kg 
Katie DUTCHAK (CAN)
Justine VIGOUROUX (FRA)
Joséphine HAEMMERLE (FRA)
Juliette LESCURE (FRA)
Lola JACQUINOT (FRA)
Jasmine BOUAZERIA (FRA)
Julie SABATIE (FRA)
Emma LUTTENAUER (FRA)
Joanna SAMSONOWICZ (POL)
Amanda TOMCZYK (POL)
Natalia WALCZAK (POL)
Georgiana ANTUCA (ROU)
Svenja JUNGO (SUI)
Erin GOLSTON (USA)

53kg
Samantha STEWART (CAN)
Aintzane GORRIA (ESP)
Maria BAEZ (ESP)
Maelyss ROUSSELET (FRA)
Lilya COHEN (FRA)
Laurie LESAFFRE (FRA)
Tetiana PROFATILOVA (FRA)
Christianah OGUNSANYA (NIG)
Florentina ROTARU (ROU)
Elena IONESCU (ROU)
Jonna MALMGREN (SWE)
Lobna ICHAOUI (TUN)
Abir ZARROUKI (TUN)
Alisha HOWK (USA)
Katie GOMEZ (USA)
Hannah HALL (USA)
Lauren MASON (USA)

57kg
Giullia PENALBER (BRA)
Hannah TAYLOR (CAN)
Graciela SANCHEZ (ESP)
Celeste SION (FRA)
Gaelle RUIZ (FRA)
Mia OLIVIER (FRA)
Romaissa EL KHARROUBI (FRA)
Mathilde RIVIERE (FRA)
Amel REBIHA (FRA)
Ester ABRAHAM (NAM)
Patrycja STRZELCZYK (POL)
Julia NOWICKA (POL)
Ana PUIU (ROU)
Evelina HULTHEN (SWE)
Tilda NAESLUND (SWE)
Faten HAMMAMI (TUN)
Alexandra HEDRICK (USA)
Abigail NETTE (USA)
Bridgette DUTY (USA)

62kg
Lais NUNES (BRA)
Lydia PEREZ (ESP)
Mathilde GUEDON (FRA)
Esther KOLAWOLE (NIG)
Nicola WASILEWSKA (POL)
Olha PADOSHYK (POL)
Aleksandra WITOS (POL)
Annatina LIPPUNER (SUI)
Johanna LINDBORG (SWE)
Siwar BOUSETA (TUN)
Lexie BASHAM (USA)
Ana LUCIANO (USA)
Lauren LOUIVE (USA)
Skylar HATTENDORF (USA)

65kg
Madison CLAYTON (CAN)
Iris THIEBAUX (FRA)
Elma ZEIDLERE (LAT)
Alicja NOWOSAD (POL)

68kg
Nerea PAMPIN (ESP)
Lorena LERA (ESP)
Dalma CANEVA (ITA)
Paulina DANISZ (POL)
Georgiana ANDRIES (ROU)
Nour JELJELI (TUN)
Khadija JLASSI (TUN)
Kaylynn ALBRECHT (USA)

72kg
Thamires MARTINS (BRA)
Ambre CHEVREAU (FRA)
Kendra DACHER (FRA)
Karolina JAWORSKA (POL)
Paula ROTARU (ROU)
Maria NITU (ROU)
Tindra SJOEBERG (SWE)
Zaineb SGHAIER (TUN)

76kg
Meiriele CHARAMBA (BRA)
Epp MAE (EST)
Pauline LECARPENTIER (FRA)
Patrycja CUBER (POL)
Daniela TKACHUK (POL)
Anna BRAUN (SWE)
Dymond GUILFORD (USA)
Skylar GROTE (USA)
Yelena MAKOYED (USA)
Precious BELL (USA)
Brooklyn HAYS (USA)

#JapanWrestling

Fujinami to move up to 57kg in quest for consecutive Olympic golds

By Ken Marantz

TOKYO (November 26) -- Akari FUJINAMI (JPN) won't be defending her Olympic gold at women's 53kg at the 2028 Los Angeles Games. That's bad news for anyone aiming to strike gold at 57kg.

Fujinami has announced that she will move up to the next Olympic weight class starting next year, the Japan federation website and Japan media widely recently reported.

Fujinami, who turned 21 on November 11, cited the difficulty of cutting weight for the decision, as well as the historic aspect that no woman wrestler has ever won a second straight Olympic gold after moving to a higher weight class.

"I have decided to move up to the 57kg weight class," Fujinami said after Sunday's East Japan Collegiate Women's League, a team tournament that marked her first competition since winning the gold at the Paris Olympics in August. "Considering my height and my normal weight, I think I can give my best performance at 57."

Fujinami competed at 59kg in the five-team league tournament (one school was a no-show), which was run in a round-robin, duel-meet format with only three weight classes -- 53kg, 59kg and 76kg.

She won both of her matches by fall, extending her current winning streak to 139 matches dating back to her junior high school days in September 2017.

The 1.64-meter Fujinami was actually wrestling near her natural weight, which she says is "about 61kg." But even against two opponents from higher weight classes -- Ikuei University's Ichika ARAI (JPN) was the 2023 world U20 silver medalist at 57kg -- her skills and speed were still overwhelming.

"It has been really hard to cut down to 53kg," Fujinami said. "I felt I lost muscle during the process. I feel I can give my best performance by going down three kilos from my natural weight."

Asked when she expects to make her full-fledged "debut" at the new weight, she replied in a text message, "It will be sometime next year. I haven't decided exactly when yet."

With a full schedule of post-Olympic TV appearances and local events curtailing her training, she has already ruled out appearing at next month's Emperor's Cup All-Japan Championships.

It is likely she will compete at the Meiji Cup All-Japan Invitational Championships in the spring, as that tournament, along with the Emperor's Cup, will serve as qualifiers for the 2025 World Championships.

The move up to 57kg will likely put her on a collision course with the reigning Olympic champion, Tsugumi SAKURAI (JPN). The two met last year at the East Japan Collegiate tournament, with Fujinami coming away with a 5-0 victory.

The challenge of possibly accomplishing a historic first appeals to Fujinami, who last year won her second career world title at 53kg in Belgrade.

"I heard that no [woman] has moved up a weight class and won another Olympic gold," Fujinami said. "It will difficult, but that's what makes it challenging. I hope I can become stronger at the next [Olympics] in Los Angeles."

Two Japanese women -- Saori YOSHIDA (JPN) and Kaori ICHO (JPN) -- have won an additional Olympic gold after going down a weight, but that was mainly because the number of weight classes was expanded from four to six, allowing them to compete more closely to their normal weight.

Among men, the legendary Aleksandr MEDVED (URS) won the freestyle 97kg gold in 1964, then triumphed again at 97+kg in 1968, while Levan TEDASHVILI (URS) won at freestyle 82kg in 1972 and 90kg in 1976. More recently, Abdulrashid SADULAEV claimed the freestyle 86kg gold in 2016, then won again at 97kg in 2021.

Fujinami said she doesn't expect to make any major alterations to her wrestling style at the heavier weight.

"I have no intention of making any big changes in my wrestling style," she said. "I will still try to keep the opponent from getting at my legs, and take the initiative to score points. Still, I can feel the extra weight of four kilos, so how I increase my weight could affect how I perform."

At this year's East Japan league tournament, Fujinami's Nippon Sport Science University was relegated to second by Ikuei University, which won 2-1 in their duel meet. Ikuei got victories from Moe KIYOOKA (JPN) and Ami ISHII (JPN), who both won gold medals at last month's Non-Olympic Weight Category World Championships.