U23 World C'ships

Demirhan and Laroqque Advanced to Women’s Wrestling Finals

Friday, November 24, 2017 - 15:05 By Taylor Miller

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BYDGOSZCZ, Poland – The final four women’s freestyle finals are set for the inaugural U23 World Championships for Friday night in Bydgoszcz, Poland. The finals feature two Senior World bronze medalists among several other Junior and Cadet World champions.

U23 World finalists Evin DEMIRHAN (TUR) and Koumba LARROQUE (FRA) each brought home bronze hardware from this year’s Senior World Championships in Paris, France, in August at 48 kg and 69 kg, respectively.

Tonight Islamic Solidarity Games finalist and three-time World bronze medalist Demirhan seeks her first World gold medal, while Larroque is chasing her second.


Demirhan raced to the finals, taking out three-time World medalist Rina Okuno of Japan in the quarterfinals and 2015 Junior World champion and two-time World medalist Turkan Nasirova of Azerebaijan in the semifinals.

In the finals, she’ll go up against 2017 Senior Asian Championships silver winner Ritu RITU (IND).

Ritu escaped Jiang ZHU (CHN), who appeared to score a winning takedown at the final buzzer of the semifinals, but no points were awarded as the clock expired.

Larroque, a 2016 Junior World champion and 2015 Cadet World champion, picked up decisive wins en route to her fourth World final.

For 69 kg gold, she’ll face Naruha MATSUYUKI (JPN), who took fifth at the Juinor World Championships in Tampere, Finland, this summer. Matsuyuki won the 2016 Cadet Asian Championships.

There are two other Japanese wrestlers looking for gold tonight, including Miho IGARASHI and Yui SAKANO.

Igarashi, a three-time World champion, advanced to the 53 kg finals, where she will battle 2017 Senior Asian Championships bronze medalist.

A close 3-0 win over two-time Junior World bronze medalist Kayla MIRACLE (USA) put 2011 Cadet World champion Sakano in the 60 kg finals.

Looking to continue Japan’s dominant run in the finals, Sakano will take on Ilona PROKOPEVNIUK (UKR), who finished fifth at the 2017 Junior World Championships.

So far, Team Japan has sent seven of its eight women’s freestyle wrestlers to the U23 World finals this week.

The finals are set to begin at 6 p.m. local time (12 p.m. U.S. ET).

Finals matchups
48 kg
Gold - Ritu RITU (IND) vs. Evin DEMIRHAN (TUR)
Bronze - Rina OKUNO (JPN) vs. Turkan NASIROVA (AZE)
Bronze - Miglena Georgieva SELISHKA (BUL) vs. Jiang ZHU (CHN)

53 kg
Gold - Qi ZHANG (CHN) vs. Miho IGARASHI (JPN)
Bronze - Ekaterina POLESHCHUK (RUS) vs. Khrystyna BEREZA (UKR)
Bronze - Otgonjargal GANBAATAR (MGL) vs. Amy Ann FEARNSIDE (USA)

60 kg
Gold - Yui SAKANO (JPN) vs. Ilona PROKOPEVNIUK (UKR)
Bronze - Yuliya PISARENKA (BLR) vs. Gantuya ENKHBAT (MGL)
Bronze - Tetiana OMELCHENKO (AZE) vs. Kayla Colleen Kiyoko MIRACLE (USA)

69 kg
Gold - Naruha MATSUYUKI (JPN) vs. Koumba Selene Fanta LARROQUE (FRA)
Bronze - Yudari SANCHEZ RODRIGUEZ (CUB) vs. Khanum VELIEVA (RUS)
Bronze - Danute DOMIKAITYTE (LTU) vs. Divya KAKRAN (IND)

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UWW Top Ranked Wrestlers of 2025: Verbina, Komarov, Aoyagi

Wednesday, December 17, 2025 - 19:03 By United World Wrestling Press

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (December 17) -- United World Wrestling has announced the three Best Ranked Wrestlers in 2025. The three wrestlers earned the most ranking points in the year 2025.

The most ranking points in the year 2025 were earned by world champion Aleksandr KOMAROV (SRB) in Greco-Roman as he scored 83,500 points. In Women's Wrestling, world silver medalist Ekaterina VERBINA (UWW) was the highest ranked wrestler as she earned 64,200 points.

In Freestyle, world champion Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN) earned 76,900 points, the best among all wrestlers.

Verbina: Women's 55kg

Verbina may not have won the gold medal at the World Championships but she had a busy year, wrestling more often than others. That earned her more ranking points than many as she finished at the top of the rankings in Women's Wrestling.

Her first competition was the Zagreb Open Ranking Series in which she finished fifth for just 4,000 points. In the Muhamet Malo Ranking Series in Tirana, Albania where she finished with a bronze medal that earned her 5,2000 points. She added 10,000 points for her gold medal at the European Championships. Another gold, at the Budapest Ranking Series, added 8,000 points.

Verbina entered the World Championships with 27,200 points. She jumped ahead of many with 37,000 points for her silver medal at 55kg. Her total went up to 64,200 points, taking her past the likes of world champions Sakura ONISHI (JPN) and Miwa MORIKAWA (JPN). Both finished 1,200 points less than Verbina.

Komarov: Greco 87kg

Komarov began his season with the Zagreb Open Ranking Series and finished fifth, giving him 9,000 points. A similar result at the Muhamet Malo Ranking Series gave him 9,000 points.

A big boost came at the European Championships in which Komarov won a bronze medal at 87kg to earn 11,500 points. In June, another fifth place finish at the Budapest Ranking Series added 9,000 points to his name to take the total to 38,500 points before the World Championships.

In Zagreb at the Worlds, Komarov won the gold medal and earned a stunning 45,000 points to 83,500 points, the most among all wrestlers and 13,780 points more than second most -- Aytjan KHALMAKHANOV (UZB).

Aoyagi: Freestyle 70kg

World champion was the top ranked freestyle wrestler with 76,900 points, 9,600 points more than the second place wrestler.

His first competition was the Muhamet Malo Ranking Series in which he bagged the gold medal to earn 11,000 points. He then added a bronze medal at the Asian Championships and earned 9,500 points for the same.

The Budapest Ranking Series gold gave him another 11,000 points, taking his total to 31,500 points before the World Championships. He became a world champion in Zagreb and that gold medal was worth 45,000 points, sending his total to 76,500 points.

Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK), with 66,900 points, is the second-best wrestler, 9,600 points less than Aoyagi.