#WrestleNoviSad

Georgia Grabs Greco-Roman U23 European Team Title

By Eric Olanowski

NOVI SAD, Serbia (March 6) – Georgia (178 points) wrapped up the Greco-Roman team title at the U23 European Championships, 11 points ahead of second-place Russia (167 points). They closed out the final day of Greco-Roman wrestling with a solo gold medalist and brought their tournament championship total to five. 

Ramaz ZOIDZE was Georgia’s fifth overall gold medalist. He won the 72kg title with a controlling 7-1 victory over Russia’s Magomed YARBILOV (RUS). 

Georgia’s second Day 3 finalist was Giorgi MELIA (GEO). Melia fell to Finland’s Arvi SAVOLAINEN, 4-1, in the 97kg gold-medal match. The Georgian led 1-1 on criteria but gave up a late takedown and a lost challenge dropping the match, 4-1. Although he didn’t leave as a titleholder, Melia’s silver medal still helped Georgia win the team title by claiming his 20-second place points. 

Meanwhile, second-place Russia had a trio of Day 3 finalists but only walked away with a single champion. 

Alen MIRZOIAN claimed Russia’s second overall gold of the tournament, blowing out the host nation’s Sebastian NAD, 10-0, in the opening period of the 67kg gold-medal bout. 

Mirzoian grabbed the 1-0 lead with a passivity point, then quickly went to work in the par terre position. The Russian picked up two points from a leg foul and added a point from a failed Serbian challenge, which brought the score to 4-0. The returning U23 European champion closed out the match 10-0 with a four-point throw and a gut wrench for good measures. 

In the 82kg finals, Zotlan LEVAI (HUN) trailed 1-1 on criteria before picking up the match's first takedown to steal the gold medal from Russia’s third finalist Vaag MARGARIAN, 3-1. 

Levai's Wednesday night win gave him his second U23 European title. He also won the 2017 U23 European title. 

The final gold medal of the day went to Kerem KAMAL, who defeated Romania’s Razvan ARNAUT in the 60kg gold-medal bout and helped Turkey finished in third place in the team race. 

In the finals, Kamal scored the first passivity points, but a Romanian reversal evened the match at 1-1. The Turkish wrestler scored a late period step out and regained the lead, 2-1, heading into the closing period.

Kamal started the second period with a pair of step outs, extending his lead to 4-1. Kamal stopped an arm throw attempt and wrapped up his second consecutive U23 European Championships with a gold medal, bringing his overall age-group European gold medal bout to five. 

Georgia won the Greco-Roman team title with 178 points. Russia had 167 points and finished in second place. Turkey, Romania, and Ukraine rounded out the top-five respectively.

Greco-Roman 
Team Scores 
GOLD – Georgia (178 points)
SILVER – Russia (167 points)
BRONZE - Turkey (141 points)
Fourth – Romania (78 points)
Fifth –  Ukraine (70 points)

60kg
GOLD - Kerem KAMAL (TUR) df. Razvan ARNAUT (ROU), 5-1 
BRONZE - Ivo Krasimirov ILIEV (BUL) df. Zhora ABOVIAN (UKR), 4-2 
BRONZE - Sadyk LALAEV (RUS) df. Irakli DZIMISTARISHVILI (GEO), 7-0 

67kg
GOLD - Alen MIRZOIAN (RUS) df. Sebastian NAD (SRB), 10-0 
BRONZE - Artur POLITAIEV (UKR) df. Valentin PETIC (MDA), 8-0
BRONZE - Aliaksandr LIAVONCHYK (BLR) df. Alexandru SOLOMON (ROU), 7-4

72kg
GOLD - Ramaz ZOIDZE (GEO) df. Magomed YARBILOV (RUS), 7-1 
BRONZE - Cengiz ARSLAN (TUR) df. Juan Sebastian AAK (NOR), 9-5
BRONZE - Stoyan Stoychev KUBATOV (BUL) df. Islambek DADOV (AZE), 4-2

82kg 
GOLD - Zotlan LEVAI (HUN) vs. Vaag MARGARIAN (RUS), 3-1 
BRONZE - Hasan Basri YILDIRIM (TUR) df. ltun VAZIRZADE (AZE), 2-0 
BRONZE - Stanislau SHAFARENKA (BLR) df. Svetoslav NIKOLOV (BUL), via fall 

97kg 
GOLD - Arvi SAVOLAINEN (FIN) df. Giorgi MELIA (GEO), 4-1 
BRONZE - Ibrahim TIGCI (TUR) df. Ruslan BEKUZAROV (RUS), 5-0
BRONZE - Vladen KOZLIUK (UKR) df. Arif NIFTULLAYEV (AZE), via fall 

#WrestleZagreb

World Championships 2025 Freestyle Entries, Seeds

By United World Wrestling Press

ZAGREB, Croatia (August 14) -- The Freestyle entries for the World Championships are set. In total, close to 900 wrestlers are participating in the September 13-21 tournament in Zagreb.

In Freestyle, 326 wrestlers are entered to compete at the World Championships that will begin with Freestyle action on September 13. The competition will also see 12 Paris Olympic medalist compete including two gold medalists.

Note: These are preliminary entries and subject to change 72 hours before the Freestyle draw at the World Championships. For latest entries, refer to uww.org

WOMEN'S WRESTLING ENTRIES | GRECO-ROMAN ENTRIES

Zagreb

57kg

Seeded
No. 1 – Spencer LEE (USA)
No. 2 – Gulomjon ABDULLAEV (UZB)
No. 3 – AMAN (IND)
No. 4 – Roman BRAVO YOUNG (MEX)
No. 5 – Darian CRUZ (PUR)
No. 6 – Bekzat ALMAZ UULU (KGZ)
No. 7 – Islam BAZARGANOV (AZE)
No. 8 – Munkh Erdene BATKHUYAG (MGL)

Unseeded
Salah KATEB (ALG)
Arsen HARUTYUNYAN (ARM)
Ivaylo TISOV (BUL)
Garette SAUNDERS (CAN)
Mingzhuo LI (CHN)
Roland TAMBI NFORSONG (CMR)
Rabby KILANDI (COD)
Peter HAMMER CUDE (CRC)
Guesseppe REA VILLARROEL (ECU)
Roberti DINGASHVILI (GEO)
Niklas STECHELE (GER)
Ali Hossein MOMENI (IRI)
Husein ALBEHADILALBORS (IRQ)
Rin SAKAMOTO (JPN)
Adilet ALMUKHAMEDOV (KAZ)
Sunggwon KIM (KOR)
Vladimir EGOROV (MKD)
Chongsong HAN (PRK)
Azamat TUSKAEV (SRB)
Thomas EPP (SUI)
Aiaal BELOLYUBSKII (TJK)
Yusuf DEMIR (TUR)
Vladyslav ABRAMOV (UKR)
Musa MEKHTIKHANOV (UWW)
Aryan TSIUTRYN (UWW)

61kg

Seeded
No. 1 -- Zavur UGUEV (UWW)
No. 2 -- Nuraddin NOVRUZOV (AZE)
No. 3 -- Giorgi GONIASHVILI (GEO)
No. 4 -- Takara SUDA (JPN)
No. 5 -- UDIT (IND)
No. 6 -- Leomid COLESNIC (MDA)
No. 7 -- Dzmitry SHAMELA (UWW)
No. 8 -- Nils LEUTERT (SUI)

Unseeded
Zelimkhan ABAKAROV (ALB)
Manvel KHNDZRTSYAN (ARM)
Georgii OKOROKOVV (AUS)
Zezhong SUN (CHN)
Ndjidda BOUBA (CMR)
Godefroid KALUBI (COD)
Joshua KRAMER (ECU)
Ahmad  JAVAN (IRI)
Simone PIRODDU (ITA)
Assylzhan YESSENGELDI (KAZ)
Taiyrbek ZHUMASHBEK UULU (KGZ)
Sangboum HAN (KOR)
Tuvshintulga TUMENBILEG (MGL)
Besir ALILI (MKD)
Ali ABURUMAILA (PLE)
Kum Hyok KIM (PRK)
Dylan SHAWVER (PUR)
Emrah ORMANOGLU (TUR)
Kamil KERYMOV (UKR)
Jaxen FORREST (USA)
Ibrahim GUZAN (YEM)

65kg

Seeded
No. 1 – Rahman AMOUZAD (IRI)
No. 2 – Kotaro KIYOOKA (JPN)
No. 3 – Vazgen TEVANYAN (ARM)
No. 4 – Ali RAHIMZADA (AZE)
No. 5 – Khamzat ARSAMERZOUEV (FRA)
No. 6 – Sebastian RIVERA (PUR)
No. 7 – Ibragim IBRAGIMOV (UWW)
No. 8 – SUJEET (IND)

Unseeded
Chouaib SAHRAOUI (ALG)
Ayub MUSAEV (BEL)
Alibeg ALIBEGOV (BRN)
Mikyay NAIM (BUL)
Peiman BIABANI (CAN)
Tao WEI (CHN)
Roland KALAMBAYI (COD)
Goderdzi DZEBISASHVILI (GEO)
Nico MEGERLE (GER)
Mohammed KAREEM (IRQ)
Colin REALBUTO (ITA)
Nachyn KUULAR (KAZ)
Ikromzhon KHADZHIMURODOV (KGZ)
Junsik YUN (KOR)
Maxim SACULTAN (MDA)
Gantulga BATBAATAR (MGL)
Stephen IZOLO (NGR)
Abdullah ASSAF (PLE)
Krzysztof BIENKOWSKI (POL)
Kwang Jin KIM (PRK)
Daniel SANDU (ROU)
Nino LEUTERT (SUI)
Abdulmazhid KUDIEV (TJK)
Cavit ACAR (TUR)
Andrii BILIICHUK (UKR)
Real WOODS (USA)
Islam GUSEINOV (UWW)
Umidjon JALOLOV (UZB)
Wilfredo RODRIGUEZ (VEN)

70kg

Seeded
No. 1 – Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN)
No. 2 – Akaki KEMERTELIDZE (GEO)
No. 3 – Nurkozha KAIPANOV (KAZ)
No. 4 – Kanan HEYBATOV (AZE)
No. 5 – Arman ANDREASYAN (ARM)
No. 6 – Austin GOMEZ (MEX)
No. 7 – Vasile DIACON (MDA)
No. 8 – Iszmail MUSZUKAJEV (HUN)

Unseeded
Islam DUDAEV (ALB)
Shannon HANNA (BAH)
Mihail GEORGIEV (BUL)
Michael ZALE (CAN)
Jorge GATICA (CHI)
Shuang CHEN (CHN)
Gabriel MUANDA (COD)
Anthony WESLEY (CPV)
ROHIT (IND)
Amirmohammad YAZDANI (IRI)
Mohammed KAREEM (IRQ)
Ernazar AKMATALIEV (KGZ)
Yongseok JEONG (KOR)
Tulga TUMUR OCHIR (MGL)
Viktor VOINOVIC (SRB)
Viktor RASSADIN (TJK)
Khairiddine BEN TLILI (TUN)
Haydar YAVUZ (TUR)
Oleksii BORUTA (UKR)
PJ DUKE (USA)
Saiyn KAZYRYK (UWW)
Begijon KULDASHEV (UZB)

74kg

Seeded
No.1 -- Chermen VALIEV (ALB)
No. 2 -- Taimuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK)
No. 3 -- Yones EMAMI (IRI)
No. 4 -- Orozobek TOKTOMAMBETOV (KGZ)
No. 5 -- Murad KURAMAGOMEDOV (HUN)
No. 6 -- Giorgi ELBAKIDZE (GEO)
No. 7 -- Magomedrasul ASLUEV (BRN)
No. 8 -- David CARR (USA)

Unseeded
Hrayr ALIKHANYAN (ARM)
Turan BAYRAMOV (AZE)
Ibragim VELIEV (BEL)
Renato DA SILVA (BRA)
Ramazan RAMAZANOV (BUL)
Adam THOMSON (CAN)
BATUQINGGELE (CHN)
Norvil BUKASA (COD)
Vedran LUKETIN (CRO)
Mohammad MOTTAGHINIA (ESP)
Vikash KUMAR (IND)
Luca FINIZIO (ITA)
Kota TAKAHASHI (JPN)
Alibek ABDIKASSYMOV (KAZ)
Daegil HAN (KOR)
Egzon XHONI (KOS)
Ion MARCU (MDA)
Cristian SANTIAGO (MEX)
Tugsjargal ERDENEBAT (MGL)
Rasul SHAPIEV (MKD)
Kamil RYBICKI (POL)
Ok Chol HAN (PRK)
Soner DEMIRTAS (TUR)
Ivan KUSYAK (UKR)
Vitali IHNATOVICH (UWW)
Zaurbek SIDAKOV (UWW)
Mirzo KHAYITOV (UZB)
Anthony MONTERO (VEN)

79kg

Seeded
No. 1 -- Akhsarbek GULAEV (SVK)
No. 2 -- Suldkhuu OLONBAYAR (MGL)
No. 3 -- Vladimeri GAMKRELIDZE (GEO)
No. 4 -- Magomet EVLOEV (TJK)
No. 5 -- Mohammad NOKHODI (IRI)
No. 6 -- Khidir SAIPUDINOV (BRN)
No. 7 -- Zelimkhan KHADJIEV (FRA)
No. 8 -- Ryunosuke KAMIYA (JPN)

Unseeded
Dzhabrail GADZHIEV (AZE)
Patrik LEDER (CAN)
Tu Erxun AHEIYOU (CHN)
Andy MUKENDI (COD)
Marko NIKOLIC (CRO)
Georgios KOUGIOUMTSIDIS (GRE)
AMIT (IND)
Bolat SAKAYEV (KAZ)
Bumgue SEO (KOR)
Alans AMIROVS (LAT)
Vlad STRATAN (MDA)
Dejan MITROV (MKD)
Michael LABRIOLA (PUR)
Iakub SHIKHDZHAMALOV (ROU)
Alfred DANIEL (SLE)
Azymberdi SAPAROV (TKM)
Ibrahim YAPRAK (TUR)
Vasyl MYKHAILOV (UKR)
Levi HAINES (USA)
Akhmed USMANOV (UWW)

86kg

Seeded
No. 1 -- Osman GOCEN (TUR)
No. 2 -- Arsenii DZHIOEV (AZE)
No. 3 -- Mahamedkhabib KADZIMAHAMEDAU (UWW)
No. 4 -- Tariel GAPHRINDASHVILI (GEO)
No. 5 -- Zahid VALENCIA (USA)
No. 6 -- Rakhim MAGAMADOV (FRA)
No. 7 -- Hayato ISHIGURO (JPN)
No. 8 -- Batbilguun NAADAMBAT (MGL)

Unseeded
Fateh BENFERDJALLAH (ALG)
Simon MARCHL (AUT)
Hade AYIDUSI (CHN)
Matteo MONTEIRO FURTADO (CPV)
Kreso SKUGOR (CRO)
Ahmed MAHMOUD (EGY)
Gabriel IGLESIAS RAMOS (ESP)
Joshua MORODION (GER)
Mukul DAHIYA (IND)
Kamran GHASEMPOUR (IRI)
Azamat DAULETBEKOV (KAZ)
Mukhammad ABDULLAEV (KGZ)
Gyeongyeon LEE (KOR)
Ivars SAMUSONOK (LAT)
Paulius LESCAUSKAS (LTU)
Traian CAPATINA (MDA)
Cezary SADOWSKI (POL)
Ethan RAMOS (PUR)
Weng CHOW (SGP)
Boris MAKOEV (SVK)
Mukhammed ALIIEV (UKR)
Ibragim KADIEV (UWW)

92kg

Seeded
No. 1 -- Miriani MAISURADZE (GEO)
No. 2 -- Benjamin HONIS (ITA)
No. 3 -- Batyrbek TSAKULOV (SVK)
No. 4 -- Osman NURMAGOMEDOV (AZE)
No. 5 -- Dauren KURUGLIEV (GRE)
No. 6 -- Amirhossein FIROUZPOUR (IRI)
No. 7 -- Lars SCHAEFLE (GER)
No. 8 -- Trent HIDLAY (USA)

Unseeded
Benjamin GREIL (AUT)
Magomed SHARIPOV (BRN)
Ahmed BATAEV (BUL)
Andrew JOHNSON (CAN)
Hua ZE (CHN)
Cedric ABOSSOLO (CMR)
Barthelemy TSHOSHA (COD)
Deepak PUNIA (IND)
Uri KALASHNIKOV (ISR)
Takashi ISHIGURO (JPN)
Kamil KURUGLIYEV (KAZ)
Gwanuk KIM (KOR)
Andrian GROSUL (MDA)
Demchigdorj TUMURBAATAR (MGL)
Redjep HAJDARI (MKD)
Samuel SCHERRER (SUI)
Alperen TOKGOZ (TUR)
Ivan CHORNOHUZ (UKR)
Amanula GADZHIMAGOMEDOV (UWW)
Yaraslau IADKOUSKI (UWW)

97kg

Seeded
No. 1 -- Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN)
No. 2 -- Givi MATCHARASHVILI (GEO)
No. 3 -- Kyle SNYDER (USA)
No. 4 -- Magomedkhan MAGOMEDOV (AZE)
No. 5 -- Amirali AZARPIRA (IRI)
No. 6 -- Zbigniew BARANOWSKI (POL)
No. 7 -- Arash YOSHIDA (JPN)
No. 8 -- Richard VEGH (HUN)

Unseeded
Akhmed MAGAMAEV (BUL)
Nishan Preet RANDHAWA (CAN)
Awusayiman HABILA (CHN)
Filip HUKLEK (CRO)
Arturo SILOT TORRES (CUB)
Adlan VISKHANOV (FRA)
Ertugrul AGCA (GER)
VICKY (IND)
Rizabek AITMUKHAN (KAZ)
Juhwan SEO (KOR)
Domantas PAULIUSCENKO (LTU)
Radu LEFTER (MDA)
Gankhuyag GANBAATAR (MGL)
Magomedgadji NUROV (MKD)
Adam JAKSIK (SVK)
Shatlyk HEMELYAYEV (TKM)
Resul GUNE (TUR)
David MCHEDLIDZE (UKR)
Aliaksandr HUSHTYN (UWW)
Magomed KURBANOV (UWW)
Cristian SARCO (VEN)

125kg

Seeded
No. 1 -- Giorgi MESHVILDISHVILI (AZE)
No. 2 -- Amir Hossein ZARE (IRI)
No. 3 -- Dzianis KHRAMIANKOU (UWW)
No. 4 -- Robert BARAN (POL)
No. 5 -- Lkhagvagerel MUNKHTUR (MGL)
No. 6 -- Shamil SHARIPOV (BRN)
No. 7 -- Solomon MANASHVILI (GEO)
No. 8 -- Vlagyiszlav BAJCAJEV (HUN)

Unseeded
Johannes LUDESCHER (AUT)
Gabriel DE SOUSA (BRA)
Alen KHUBULOV (BUL)
BUHEEERDUN (CHN)
Filip KOSCIC (CRO)
Mohsen SIYAR (GER)
Azamat KHOSONOV (GRE)
Rajat RUHAL (IND)
Taiki YAMAMOTO (JPN)
Alisher YERGALI (KAZ)
Gyeongmin KIM (KOR)
Dmitrii DUSCOV (MDA)
Jonovan SMITH (PUR)
Omar SAREM (ROU)
Zyyamuhammet SAPAROV (TKM)
Hakan BUYUKCINGIL (TUR)
Murazi MCHEDLIDZE (UKR)
Wyatt HENDRICKSON (USA)
Abdulla KURBANOV (UWW)
Khasanboy RAKHIMOV (UZB)