#worldcupiowacity

Complete Freestyle World Cup Rosters Released

By Eric Olanowski

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

#Grappling

Alshinbay defends crown in Grappling Gi; Poland wins team title

By Vinay Siwach

NOVI SAD, Serbia (October 16) -- Coming into the World Grappling Championships, Alikhan ALSHINBAY (KAZ) had one goal -- two become a two time world champ.

But he had disappointing start to competition, losing the No-Gi semifinal in Novi Sad, Serbia. He later bounced back to win the bronze medal but his goal was still not achieved.

Alikhan ALSHINBAY (KAZ)Alikhan ALSHINBAY (KAZ) celebrates after winning the 58kg final in Grappling Gi. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

A day later on Thursday, Alshinbay began his title defense at 58kg in Grappling Gi and won his first bout via submission Samir BEN BELKACEM (FRA) to take step closer to the final.

Next up was Joseph DIEHL (USA) in the semifinals but Alshinbay, unbothered, controlled the match from the start and defeated the American grappler 9-3 to book a spot in the final against former U20 world champion ABYLBEKOV (KGZ).

Using his experience, Alshinbay made the final one-sided and used a bow-and-arrow choke to defeat Abylbekov via submission in just three minutes. He claimed his second straight gold medal in Grappling Gi, having won the 2024 world title in his home country Kazakhstan.

At 62kg, after dropping a close final in No-Gi Grappling, Magomedbek TEMEEV (UWW) bounced back and made sure he did not make any mistakes in Grappling Gi. Temeev was facing Rafayel KOSTANYAN (ARM) in the final and got the opening control when Kostanyan decided to start in grounding. The control gave Temeev two points.

Temeev decided to keep his control on top even as Kostanyan tried various moves. The referees called Temeev passive twice which costed him two points but he held a 2-2 criteria lead and won the final.

Two more UWW grapplers, Abduragim MAGOMEDOV (UWW) and Idris OMAROV (UWW), won gold medals on Thursday. MAgomedov defeated Jakub NAJDEK (POL), 5-0, in the 77kg final while Omarov defeated Christian FRILLICI (ITA), 5-2, in the 84kg final.

Youngster Giovanni SUAREZ ARTILES (ESP), who had a disappointing outing in 2024, made amends and defeated Magomed MAGOMEDOV (UWW), 5-3, at 66kg to win the gold medal.

The final began with Magomedov scoring a stepout in standing for one point before Saurez hit a throw to get Magomedov out in standing to make it 1-1 and lead on criteria. Magomedov kept getting control of Saurez who kept stepping out in standing and Magomedov's lead swelled to 3-1.

In the last 30 seconds, Saurez managed to come in a back mount and score via a rear-naked-choke. Though Magomedov did not submit, Saurez got four points for his control which made him a 5-3 winner.

At 92kg, Mateusz MAZUR (POL) was crowned world champion after Ruslan ISRAILOV (KAZ) submitted three minutes into the final.

RESULTS

Men's Grappling Gi

58kg
GOLD: Alikhan ALSHINBAY (KAZ) df. Zhyldyzbek ABYLBEKOV (KGZ), via submission (6-0)

BRONZE: Razmik MISAKYAN (ARM) df. Jerzy IZDEBSKI (POL), 2-0
BRONZE: Joseph DIEHL (USA) df. Samir BEN BELKACEM (FRA), via submission (1-0)

62kg
GOLD: Magomedbek TEMEEV (UWW) df. Rafayel KOSTANYAN (ARM), 2-2

BRONZE: Ruslan RADZHABKHANOV (UWW) df. Kiryl AHEIKA (UWW), 1-0
BRONZE: Asher URBAN HOYER (USA) df. Mark BODO (HUN), via submission

66kg
GOLD: Giovanni SUAREZ ARTILES (ESP) df. Magomed MAGOMEDOV (UWW), 5-3

BRONZE: Adlan ASUEV (KAZ) df. Giorgi RAZMADZE (GEO), via submission
BRONZE: Artur AGASHIRINOV (UWW) df. Mayis NERSESYAN (ARM), via submission (2-2)

77kg
GOLD: Abduragim MAGOMEDOV (UWW) df. Jakub NAJDEK (POL), 5-0

BRONZE: Hector SEPULVEDA PALMA (ESP) df. Darkhan TOLYBAYEV (KAZ), 6-4
BRONZE: Dumitru CEBAN (MDA) df. Pavlo MAKSYMCHUK (UKR), 8-4

84kg
GOLD: Idris OMAROV (UWW) df. Christian FRILLICI (ITA), 5-2

BRONZE: Cristian TUGULEA (MDA) df. Kacper ROT (POL), 5-2
BRONZE: Dzhabrail ISRAPILOV (UWW) df. Adlan MADAYEV (KAZ), 5-2

92kg
GOLD: Mateusz MAZUR (POL) df. Ruslan ISRAILOV (KAZ), via submission (1-3)

BRONZE: Alibek SULEIMANOV (UWW) df. Mantas DAUBLYS (LTU), 3-2
BRONZE: Pablo ESTEPA NIETO (ESP) df. Antonio SALTUPS CARETTO (ITA), 6-2

Women's Grappling Gi

58kg
GOLD: Alina KOPEIKINA (UWW) df. Magdalena GIEC (POL), via submission (0-2)

BRONZE: Breanna STIKKELMAN (USA) df. Tetiana ASTAKHOVA (UKR), 2-0
BRONZE: Rachel GUTIERREZ (USA) df. Minerva MONTERO PEREZA (ESP), 6-0

64kg
GOLD: Mia MONTESINOS PERDOMO (ESP) df. Alsu IANSHINA (UWW), 5-2

BRONZE: Sheliah LINDSEY (USA) df. Adrianna MAZUR (POL), 9-0
BRONZE: Sylwia WIERZBOWSKA (POL) df. Renata IAKUBOVA (UWW), 3-2

71kg
GOLD: Alycia QUENEE (FRA) df. Maja SALAMON (POL), via submission (2-2)

BRONZE: Anna REMNEVA (UWW) df. Christina HANSEN (USA), via submission (0-2)
BRONZE: Valentina PAVLOVA (UWW) df. Sandra TRIEBEL (GER), 2-1