#RankingSeries

El Sayed, Amine headline Mediterranean Games entries

By Vinay Siwach

ORAN, Algeria (June 16) -- The XIX Mediterranean Games are scheduled to be held in Oran, Algeria from June 26 to 29 and will see a number of stars in the action next week.

Not only the Games will see some of the biggest names of the sport, but it will also mark the Ranking Series points being at any Games for the second time after the South-East Asian Games last month.

United World Wrestling's decision to include the Mediterranean Games, which struggled to get wrestlers to compete in the Games, in the ranking system has received a tremendous response which resulted in nearly twice as many athletes registering for this edition as the previous ones. This year's edition received entries from countries like Turkey, France, Portugal, Spain, Slovenia, Algeria, Morocco, San Marino, North Macedonia and Albania.

Olympic bronze medalist Yasemin ADAR (TUR) will be leading the women's wrestling field while the Games will also mark the return of Mohamed EL SAYED (EGY), who won a bronze medal in the 67kg weight class at the Tokyo Olympics. History maker for San Marino with a bronze medal in Tokyo and European champion, Myles AMINE (SMR) is entered at 86kg.

Turkey is sending a strong team with European champion Kerem KAMAL (TUR), Evin DEMIRHAN (TUR), Osman YILDIRIM (TUR), Feyzullah AKTURK (TUR) and Murat FIRAT (TUR) wrestling in Oran.

Earlier this year, United World Wrestling had added the Games before the September World Championships as part of the Ranking Series.

Wrestlers competing at these Games are eligible for Ranking points that will ultimately count for the seeds at the World Championships. The points will be calculated from the four Ranking Series events and the continental championships. Between the Games and four Ranking Series events, a wrestler's best four results will be counted for the seeding.

Across 17 Olympic weight classes, a total of 145 wrestlers will be competing at the EMEC Hall over the four days beginning June 26.

Myles AMINEEuropean champion Myles AMINE (SMR) is entered at 86kg. (Photo: UWW / Kadir Caliskan)

Freestyle

57kg
Salah KATEB (ALG)
Mohamed GAMAL (EGY)
Valentin DAMOUR (FRA)
Nikolaos VLANDOS (GRE)
Morris OBISPADO (ITA)
Levan METREVELI (ESP)
Muhammed KARAVUS (TUR)

65kg
Zelimkhan ABAKAROV (ALB)
Abdelhak KHERBACHE (ALG)
Yehia HAFEZ (EGY)
Quentin STICKER (FRA)
Colin REALBUTO (ITA)
Vladimir EGOROV (MKD)
Stevan MICIC (SRB)
Juan GONZALEZ (ESP)
Ahmad DIRKI (SYR)
Munir AKTAS (TUR)

74kg
Orges LILA (ALB)
Abdelkader IKKAL (ALG)
Amr HUSSEN (EGY)
Saifedine ALEKMA (FRA)
Jacopo MASOTTI (ITA)
Alban SOPA (KOS)
Fati VEJSELI (MKD)
Malik AMINE (SMR)
Hetik CABOLOV (SRB)
Samet AK (TUR)

86kg
Osman HAJDARI (ALB)
Fateh BENFERDJALLAH (ALG)
Choiras CHARALAMBOS (CYP)
Mahmoud BADAWI (EGY)
Akhmed AIBUEV (FRA)
Aron CANEVA (ITA)
Myles AMINE (SMR)
Damian IGLESIAS (ESP)
Feda ALASTA (SYR)
Fatih ERDIN (TUR)

97kg
Mohamed FARDJ (ALG)
Mostafa ELDERS (EGY)
Simone INNATTONI (ITA)
Magomedgadji NUROV (MKD)
Alejandro CANADA PANCORBO (ESP)
Mohamed SAADAOUI (TUN)
Feyzullah AKTURK (TUR)

125kg
Mohamed KHELIL (ALG)
Alexios KAOUSLIDIS (CYP)
Youssif HEMIDA (EGY)
Konstantinos ALEXANDRIDIS (GRE)
Abraham de Jesus CONYEDO (ITA)
Egzon SHALA (KOS)
Magomedgadzhi NURASULOV (SRB)
Omar SAREM (SYR)
Salim ERCAN (TUR)

Kerem KAMAL (TUR)Kerem KAMAL (TUR) will looking to win the 67kg gold in Oran. (Photo: UWW / Kadir Caliskan)

Greco-Roman

60kg
Bajram SINA (ALB)
Abdeldjbar DJEBBARI (ALG)
Ivan LIZATOVIC (CRO)
Ahmed BAGHDOUDA (EGY)
Leo TUDEZCA (FRA)
Ruben MARVICE (ITA)
Fouad FAJARI (MOR)
Ahmad ALNAKDALI (SYR)
Kerem KAMAL (TUR)

67kg
Gjete PRENGA (ALB)
Ishak GHAIOU (ALG)
Mohamed ELSAYED (EGY)
Gagik SNJOYAN (FRA)
Ignazio SANFILIPPO (ITA)
Pedro MIGUEL (POR)
Daniel BOBILLO VIGIL (ESP)
Mohamad FAWAZ (SYR)
Murat FIRAT (TUR)

77kg
Kevin KUPI (ALB)
Elkrim Abd OUAKALI (ALG)
Antonio KAMENJASEVIC (CRO)
Emad ABOUELATTA (EGY)
Ibrahim GHANEM (FRA)
Georgios PREVOLARAKIS (GRE)
Ciro RUSSO (ITA)
Ali ARSALAN (SRB)
Branko KOVACEVIC (SRB)
Luka GUMILAR (SLO)
Marcos SANCHEZ (ESP)
Mohamad ALOBEID (SYR)
Lamjed MAAFI (TUN)
Ahmet YILMAZ (TUR)

87kg
Bachir SID AZARA (ALG)
Vjeksolav LUBURIC (CRO)
Noureldin HASSAN (EGY)
Johnny BUR (FRA)
Mirco MINGUZZI (ITA)
Zarko DICKOV (SRB)
Ali CENGIZ (TUR)

130kg
Hichem KOUCHIT (ALG)
Abdellatif MOHAMED (EGY)
Nikolaos NTOUNIAS (GRE)
Samuele VARICELLI (ITA)
Amine GUENNICHI (TUN)
Osman YILDIRIM (TUR)

Marwa AMRI (TUN)African champ Marwa AMRI (TUN) will be wrestling at 62kg. (Photo: UWW / Kadir Caliskan)

Women's Wrestling

50kg
Ibtissem DOUDOU (ALG)
Mohamed NADA (EGY)
Julie SABATIE (FRA)
Emanuela LIUZZI (ITA)
Imane BOUJNANE (MOR)
Aintzane GONI (ESP)
Sarra HAMDI (TUN)
Evin DEMIRHAN (TUR)

53kg
Chemlal LAMIA (ALG)
Mohamed SHAIMAA (EGY)
Tatiana SALAH (FRA)
Maria PREVOLARAKI (GRE)
Carmen DI DIO (ITA)
Zinem HASSOUNE (MOR)
Marina RUEDA (ESP)
Siwar BOUSETA (TUN)
Zeynep YETGIL (TUR)

57kg
Rayane HOUFAF (ALG)
Farah HUSSEIN (EGY)
Mathilde RIVIERE (FRA)
Morena DE VITA (ITA)
Atika EL ASLA (MOR)
Garciela SANCHEZ (ESP)
Bediha GUN (TUR)

62kg
Mastoura SOUDANI (ALG)
Soaad ABDELDAYIM (EGY)
Ameline DOUARRE (FRA)
Elena ESPOSITO (ITA)
Ana FABIAN (SRB)
Lydia PEREZ (ESP)
Marwa AMRI (TUN)
Asli TUGCU (TUR)

68kg
Houria BOUKRIF (ALG)
Menatalla BADRAN (EGY)
Pauline LECARPENTIER (FRA)
Dalma CANEVA (ITA)
Nerea PAMPIN (ESP)
Khadija JLASSI (TUN)
Buse TOSUN (TUR)

76kg
Hadil BOUGHEZAL (ALG)
Samar HAMZA (EGY)
Kendra DACHER (FRA)
Stefania ZACHEILA (GRE)
Enrica RINDALI (ITA)
Carla LERA CELDA (ESP)
Zaineb SGHAIER (TUN)
Yasemin ADAR (TUR)

#WrestlePontevedra

Wrestling legend Medved, three-time Olympic champion, passes away aged 86

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (September 2) -- Aleksandr MEDVED, the most successful Freestyle wrestler with 10 Olympic and World Championships gold medals, died on Monday aged 86 years.

Medved made his international debut at the 1961 World Championships, where he won bronze in the 87kg weight class. A year later, he jumped to 97kg and won the gold medal at the World Championships.

Barring 1965, Medved won all the World Championships gold medals from 1962 to 1971, majorly competing in the +100kg. He was considered small for the weight class, yet he dominated it for more than a decade.

Apart from winning seven gold medals, Medved also won a silver medal (1965) and a bronze medal (1961) at the World Championships.

Aleksandr  MEDVEDAleksandr  MEDVED as a referee in a wrestling bout. (Photo: IMAGO / ITAR-TASS)

"The passing of Aleksandr saddens us," United World Wrestling President Nenad LALOVIC said. "He was an ambassador of our sport and his achievements show that the world regarded him as the best."

"It's a great loss to the wrestling world and we are with the Medved family in this time of grief."

Medved won his first Olympic gold medal in 1964 at the Tokyo Olympic Games in the 97kg weight class. He repeated as the Olympic champion in the +97kg at the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games, beating Osman DURALIEV (BUL). The two met in the 1972 Munich Olympic Games in the +100kg final and Medved defeated Duraliev again to win his third Olympic gold medal.

He also has three European Championships titles as well.

After retiring from the sport, Medved was actively involved in coaching. He was inducted into the UWW Hall of Fame in 2003.

United World Wrestling expresses its condolences to the Medved family.