Top Stories of the Decade

Cuban Greco-Roman Great Mijain Lopez Wins Third Olympic Gold

Saturday, December 28, 2019 - 22:45 By Andrew Hipps

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (December 26) -- At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Cuban wrestling great Mijain LOPEZ captured his third Olympic gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling, equaling the record of Alexander KARELIN (RUS, 1988-1996) and Carl WESTERGREN (SWE, 1920-1932). Lopez became the ninth wrestler in history to win three Olympic gold medals.

Lopez, a five-time world champion and eight-time world medalist, earned his Rio gold medal by shutting out Turkey’s reigning world champion Riza Kayaalp, 6-0.

After Kayaalp defeated Lopez at the 2015 World Championships in Las Vegas, many wrestling fans were expecting a hard-fought struggle in their Rio gold-medal match, but Lopez all but sealed his victory in the opening 30 seconds.

Lopez snapped Kayaalp down and wrapped up a tight chest-lock from in front and tossed the champ to his back for a quick 4-0 lead. He added a step-out point off an ensuring scramble to go up 5-0.

Lopez added another penalty point in the second period as things got chippy with a frustrated Kayaalp. He appeared to be closing in on a technical superiority with a minute remaining, but Lopez chose to ease home with the victory.

The 6-foot-5 Cuban celebrated his third Olympic gold title by doing a salsa-infused dance on the Mat. “The dance just came natural to me,” Lopez said moments after his match. “Brazil is Brazil, and in Brazil you have to dance!”

#Grappling

Uzbekistan shines at Andijan Open Grappling

Wednesday, June 11, 2025 - 12:47 By United World Wrestling Press

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ANDIJAN, Uzbekistan (June 11) -- The Grappling season is back. Andijan Open was organized in Andijan, Uzbekistan on June 1 and 2 in U17, U20 and Senior age-groups.

Host country Uzbekistan had the most grapplers entered in the competition which also serves as the test event for the World Grappling Championships to be held in Novi Sad, Serbia in October.

Out of the six weight classes competed in senior men's grappling, Uzbekistan won four gold medals. Avzal AKHMETOV (UZB) won the gold medal at 66kg, Janobiddin SATTAROV (UZB) won at 84kg and Azizbek SHARIPOV (UZB) defeated Alisher NEMATJONOV (UZB), 18-0, at 92kg, a weight class in which only two entries were received.

Asrorbek ANVARJONOV (UZB) won the gold medal at 100kg after he was the only grappler entered in the weight class.

At 62kg, Kiryl AHEIKA (UWW) won the gold medal after winning all his round-robin bouts. Zojiakbar KAMOLOV (UZB) was silver medalist while Avrangzebmirzosulton TORAQULOV (UZB) won bronze medal.

Nico PULBERMUELLER (GER) won the gold medal at 71kg after he won three bouts in round-robin. Makhmudjon ODILOV (UZB) won silver while Muhammad MAHSUDXOJAYEV (UZB) was bronze medalist.

In women's competition, only 64kg weight class was competed and Zebiniso OTAQULOVA (UZB) submitted Khilola SOBIROVA (UZB) to win the gold medal.

At the U20 level, Uzbekistan won four of the five gold medals on offer in men's grappling and Heorhi HLAZKO (UWW) won the gold medal at 77kg to break the cycle.

For detailed results of the U17, U20 and Senior Grappling Andijan Open, click here.

RESULTS

Senior Men's Grappling

62kg
GOLD: Kiryl AHEIKA (UWW)
SILVER: Xojiakbar KAMOLOV (UZB)
BRONZE: Avrangzebmirzosulton TORAQULOV (UZB)

66kg
GOLD: Avzal AKHMETOV (UZB)
SILVER: Umidjon ABDURAXIMOV (UZB)
BRONZE: Muhammad MAHSUDXOJAYEV (UZB)

71kg
GOLD: Nico PULVERMUELLER (GER)
SILVER: Makhmudjon ODILOV (UZB)
BRONZE: Khusniddin JURABOEV (UZB)

84kg
GOLD: Janobiddin SATTAROV (UZB)
SIVER: Azizbek MIRZAEV (UZB)
BRONZE: Ahmadullo NUMONOV (UZB)

92kg
GOLD: Azizbek SHARIPOV (UZB) df. Alisher NEMATJONOV (UZB), 18-0

100kg
GOLD: Asrorbek ANVARJONOV (UZB)

Senior Women's Grappling

64kg
GOLD: Zebiniso OTAQULOVA (UZB) df. Khilola SOBIROVA (UZB), via submission (9-0)

Men's U20 Grappling

58kg
GOLD: Farrux ERGASHEV (UZB) df. Abror SAIDGANIYEV (UZB), via submission (6-4)

62kg
GOLD: Egamberdi SOLIYEV (UZB)
SILVER: Temur UMARALIYEV (UZB)
BRONZE: Shuxratbek YUNUSJONOV (UZB)

66kg
GOLD: Abduraxmon XAYITOXUNOV (UZB)
SILVER: Muhammad MAHSUDXOJAYEV (UZB)
BRONZE: PRINCE (IND)

77kg
GOLD: Heorhi HLAZKO (UWW)
SILVER: Dostonjon MAMASHARIPOV (UZB)
BRONZE: Muhakammadali HAMIDJONOV (UZB)

84kg
GOLD: Firdavsbek GOFURJONOV (UZB) df. Ruslan PLOTNIKOV (UZB), 10-1

Men's U17 Grappling

50kg
GOLD: Shoxboz ABDUXARIMOV (UZB)
SILVER: Ibrokhimjon BOTIROV (UZB)
BRONZE: Ozodbek ABDUSAMADOV (UZB)

54kg
GOLD: Gofur ISMOILOV (UZB) df. Raxmatillo RUSTAMJONOV (UZB), via submission (8-3)

58kg
GOLD: Mikita KAPYCHKA (UWW)
SILVER: Holid ARABBOYEV (UZB)
BRONZE: Abdulaziz MAMATIMINOV (UZB)

69kg
GOLD: Elbek ERKINOV (UZB)
SILVER: Dzianis FEDARTSOU (UWW)
BRONZE: Asilbek MAHAMMADAMINOV (UZB)

Women's U17 Grappling

49kg
GOLD: Rayhona ISLOMBOYEVA (UZB)