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Complete Freestyle World Cup Rosters Released

Thursday, April 5, 2018 - 23:59 By Eric Olanowski

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Iowa, United States (April 5) - Although India does not arrive until Friday morning, each of the eight participating nations have submitted their finalized rosters for the 2018 Freestyle World Cup which begins April 7.

The eight teams have been split into two groups for the dual-meet based events which is an annual highlight of the international wrestling calendar. Group A will be comprised of the United States, Georgia, Japan and India, while Group B will be Azerbaijan, Cuba, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia.

Azerbaijan
57kg Giorgi EDISHERASHVILI 
57kg - Afgan KHASHALOV     
61kg - Akhmednabi GVARZATILOV   
65kg - Haji ALIYEV     
65kg - Aghahuseyn MUSTAFAYEV    
70kg - Joshgun AZIMOV        
74kg - Gadzhimurad OMAROV         
79kg - Jabrayil HASANOV      
86kg - Aleksandr GOSTIYEV  
92kg - Aslanbek ALBOROV    
97kg - Nurmagomed GADZHIYEV     
97kg - Roman BAKIROV        
125kg - Jamaladdin MAGOMEDOV   

Cuba
57kg - Reineri ANDREU ORTEGA      
61kg - Yowlys BONNE RODRIGUEZ  
65kg - Alejandro Enrique VALDES TOBIER    
70kg - Franklin MAREN CASTILLO     
74kg - Livan LOPEZ AZCUY    
79kg - Yoan Adrian ZULUETA MORALES       
86kg - Yurieski TORREBLANCA QUERALTA   
92kg - Lazaro Daniel HERNANDEZ LUIS        
97kg - Reineris SALAS PEREZ CUB
125kg - Yudenny ALPAJON ESTEVEZ 

Georgia
57kg - Teimuraz VANISHVILI 
61kg - Lasha LOMTADZE       
65kg - Magamed SAIDOVI     
70kg - Levan KELEKHSASHVILI           
74kg - Tarzan MAISURADZE 
79kg - Tariel GAPHRINDASHVILI      
86kg - Davit KHUTSISHVILI   
92kg - Dato MARSAGISHVILI
97kg - Givi MATCHARASHVILI
125kg - Zviad METREVELI      

India
57kg -  Amit KUMAR 
61kg -  Sandeep TOMAR       
65kg -  Sharvan SHARVAN     
70kg -  Kumar ARUN 
74kg -  Kumar Omprakash VINOD     
79kg -  Sachin GIRI    
86kg -  Pawan KUMAR          
92kg -  Deepak PUNIA
97kg -  Viky VIKY        
125kg - Singh PUSHPENDER  

Japan
57kg -  Yuki TAKAHASHI         
61kg -  Kazuya KOYANAGI     
61kg -  Rinya NAKAMURA     
65kg -  Daichi TAKATANI       
65kg -  Takuto OTOGURO     
70kg -  Keisuke OTOGURO    
70kg -  Kirin KINOSHITA         
74kg -  Ken HOSAKA  
74kg -  Yuhi FUJINAMI           
79kg -  Sohsuke TAKATANI    
86kg -  Shota SHIRAI  
86kg -  Masao MATSUSAKA  
92kg -  Takashi ISHIGURO     
97kg -  Takeshi YAMAGUCHI 
97kg -  Taira SONODA           
125kg -Nobuyoshi ARAKIDA  
125kg -Taiki YAMAMOTO      

Kazakhstan
57kg -  Mukhambet KUATBEK           
61kg -  Rassul KALIYEV          
65kg -  Sayatbek OKASSOV   
70kg -  Meirzhan ASHIROV    
74kg -  Daniyar KAISANOV    
79kg -  Saken AITZHANOV     
86kg -  Elkhan ASSADOV       
92kg -  Iliskhan CHILAYEV      
97kg -  Mamed IBRAGIMOV 
125kg -Daulet SHABANBAY   
125kg -Oleg BOLTIN  
125kg -Yermukambet INKAR 

Mongolia
57kg -  ERDENEBAT Bekhbayar         
61kg -  TUMENBILEG Tuvshintulga   
65kg -  BATCHULUUN Batmagnai     
70kg -  SANJAA Ganbayar     
74kg -  GANZORIG Mandakhnaran   
79kg -  GANTULGA Iderkhuu 
86kg -  ORGODOL Uitumen   
92kg - LUVSANDORJ Turtogtokh      
97kg - ULZIISAIKHAN Batzul 
125kg - NATSAGSUREN Zolboo 

United States
57kg -  Thomas Patrick GILMAN       
57kg -  Frank Vincent PERRELLI IV    
61kg -  Kendric Dwayne MAPLE         
61kg -  Joseph Daniel COLON
65kg -  Logan Jeffery STIEBER           
65kg -  Joseph Christopher MC KENNA         
70kg -  James Malcolm GREEN         
70kg -  Frank Aniello MOLINARO      
74kg -  Jordan Ernest BURROUGHS  
74kg -  Isaiah Alexander MARTINEZ 
79kg -  Kyle Douglas DAKE     
79kg -  Alexander David DIERINGER 
86kg -  David Morris TAYLOR III        
86kg -  Bo Dean NICKAL         
92kg -  J'Den Michael Tbory COX       
92kg -  Hayden Nicholas ZILLMER     
97kg -  Kyle Frederick SNYDER          
97kg -  Kyven Ross GADSON  USA
125kg - Nicholas Edward GWIAZDOWSKI    
125kg - Dominique Deshon BRADLEY

Freestyle World Cup Schedule
Saturday, April 7 (All Times, CST)
10:00 am: United States v. India (Mat A) // Mongolia v. Kazakhstan (Mat B)
11:15 am: Japan v. Georgia (Mat A) // Azerbaijan v. Cuba (Mat B)
2:00 pm: Opening Ceremonies 
2:30 pm: United States v. Japan (Mat A) 
4:30 pm: Mongolia v. Cuba (Mat B)
5:45 pm: India v. Georgia (Mat A) // Azerbaijan v. Kazakhstan (Mat B)

Sunday, April 8 (All Times, CST)
10:00 am: United States v. Georgia (Mat A) // Mongolia v. Azerbaijan (Mat B)
11:15am: India v. Japan (Mat A) // Kazakhstan v. Cuba (Mat B)
12:30pm: Fifth Place Match (Mat A) // Seventh Place Match (Mat B)
2:15 pm: Bronze Medal Match (Mat A)
4:00 pm: Gold Medal Match (Mat A)

TV Schedule
Saturday, April 7 (All Times, CST)
10:00 am: USA v. India — Olympic Channel
2:30 pm: USA v. Japan — NBCSN

Sunday, April 8 ((All Times, CST)
11:00 am: United States v. Georgia — Olympic Channel
4:00 pm: Gold Medal Match — NBCSN

#UWWAwards

UWW Most Dominant Wrestlers 2025: Amouzad, Motoki, Esmaeili

Thursday, December 25, 2025 - 11:08 By Eric Olanowski

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (December 24) -- There were several dominant performances in 2025 on the wrestling mat. But it was three wrestlers who remained at the top of their weight classes and racked up dominant wins one after another. Two were Olympic champions while one was an Olympic silver medalist. All three became world champions in Zagreb.

Freestyle Most Dominant Wrester: Rahman AMOUZAD (IRI)

- 14–0
- Rank 1 at 65kg 
- 58,000 RS points 
- Outscored world and Olympic medalists 42–4
- World Championships, Tirana RS and ISG golds

Rahman AMOUZAD (IRI) was about as perfect as you could be in a season, returning to prominence with title-winning efforts at the World Championships, Islamic Solidarity Games and Muhamet Malo Ranking Series event and finishing the season as the No.1 ranked wrestler in the world at 65kg with 58,000 Ranking Series points.

The Paris silver medalist, collected an unblemished 14-0 record in 2025 -- with five of those wins coming against top-level opponents who have world or Olympic medals on their resumes in Olympic champion Kotaro KIYOOKA (JPN), Umidjon JALALOV (UZB), Taiyrbek ZHUMASHBEK UULU (KGZ) and Real WOODS (USA). The craziest part about those five matches against the world’s best, Amouzad outscored 42-4.

But without a doubt, the highlight of Amouzad’s season came in Zagreb when he finally got his long awaited rematch, beating Kotaro KIYOOKA in a revenge match from the Paris 2024 Olympic finals.

The scariest part about Amouzad’s dominance -- he’s only 23 years old and he’s still getting better.

Women's Wrestling Dominant Wrestler: Sakura MOTOKI (JPN)

- 9-0
- Five pins, two technical superiorities
- 45,000 RS points 
- 8/9 bouts finished before regulation
- Completed Golden Grand Slam (U17, U20, U23, Senior World and Olympic gold)

Coming into the 2025 season, Motoki made her goals crystal clear -- become the third wrestler in history of the sport to win wrestling’s Golden Grand Slam -- and for those who don’t know, that is gold medals at the U17, U20, U23, Senior World Championships and the Olympic Games.

The only two missing from the Olympic champ's resume were the U23 and Senior World golds.

At the 2025 U23 and senior World Championships, Motoki showed that she’s in a league of her own, as she went 9-0, with eight  matches finishing before time expired. She scored five falls and two technical superiority wins.

Her win in the final of the World Championships will be one that will be talked about for ages as the most dramatic win of the season. Motoki scored a buzzer-beating takedown against Ok Ju KIM (PRK) with a 10-second flurry that consisted of a head outside single, arm throw, over-under knee pick, before head locking Kim with four tenths of a second left to keep her history making hopes alive.

In the end, Motoki’s heart and courage under fire helped her close out the year as the third wrestler to complete the Golden Grand Slam and she did it with a level of dominance we may not see again for a very long time.

Greco-Roman Dominant Wrestler: Saeid ESMAEILI (IRI)

- Rank 1 at 67kg 
- 58,000 RS points  
- 11–0 Record
- World Championships, Asian Championships and  ISG golds

In a 2025 campaign that saw him become a world champion, Esmaeili's season was immaculate, as he cemented his place among the sport’s top pound-for-pound wrestler with a season full of titles, stacking gold-medals at the World Championships, Asian Championships and Islamic Solidarity Games, rounding out the season ranked No. 1 in the world at 67kg.

The Paris Olympic champion remained unbeaten in 2025, winning all 11 bouts of his bouts in dominant fashion -- scoring eight shutout wins, with seven technical falls -- including a pair of 9-0 win against world champions Aytjan KHALMAKHANOV (UZB) and Sebastian NAD (SRB). The reigning Olympic gold medalist also collected two victories over Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medalist Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE), one in the world final and one in the Islamic Game gold-medal match, where he tossed his Azeri opponent for four as time expired to rob his rival of the title.

His opponents should not ease up because at just 22 years old, Esmaeili is still sharpening his tool set and leveling up his skills.