#WrestleAlmaty

Japan Announces Squads for Asian Olympic Qualifier, Asian Championships

Tuesday, March 23, 2021 - 15:48 By Japan Wrestling Federation

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Two-time world champion Yui SUSAKI heads a contingent of 10 Japanese who will aim to earn tickets to the Tokyo Olympics at next month's Asian Qualifying tournament in Kazakhstan, the Japan Wrestling Federation announced.

The federation also announced the squad to be dispatched to the Asian Championships that will follow the Olympic qualifier at the same venue in the Kazakh city of Almaty. Among those entries are seven wrestlers who have already qualified for the Tokyo Games, four of whom are also defending Asian champions.

The Olympic qualifying tournament will be held April 9-11, with competition in the six Olympic weight classes in each style. That will be followed by the Asian Championships, to run April 13-18 in all 10 weight classes.

It will mark the first time Japan has sent a team overseas since last year's Asian Championships in New Delhi in February 2020.

For the Tokyo Olympics, Japan has already qualified at freestyle 65kg and 74kg, Greco-Roman 60kg and women 53kg, 57kg, 62kg, 68kg and 76kg, based on results from the 2019 World Championships. The top two finishers at the continental qualifier will earn Olympic berths for their country.

Susaki will be looking to earn her first Olympic spot at women's 50kg. She and the others earned the right by winning titles at the 2019 national championships. Even when the Tokyo Games were postponed a year, they were allowed to keep their places.

Also hoping to qualify for Tokyo will be 2016 Rio Olympic silver medalist Rei HIGUCHI at freestyle 57kg and Sosuke TAKATANI, who will be aiming to make his third Olympics and first at freestyle 86kg.

The team for the Asian Championships consists mainly of the champions at the most recent national championships held in December 2020. In cases where the champion opted out or was unavailable, the runner-up or a third-place finisher filled the spot.

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Takuto OTOGURO, Japan's '18 world champion, will wrestle at 65kg at the Asian Championships. (Photo: Kadir Caliskan)

The wrestlers who have already qualified for the Tokyo Olympics and are entered for the Asian Championships are brothers Takuto and Keisuke OTOGURO at freestyle 65kg and 74kg, respectively, and the female quintet of Mayu MUKAIDA (53kg), Risako KAWAI (57kg), Yukako KAWAI (62kg), Sara DOSHO (68kg) and Hiroe MINAGAWA (76g).

Kenichiro FUMITA, Japan's lone current Olympic qualifier in Greco-Roman, has opted to skip the tournament and the chance to defend his 2020 Asian title at 60kg. He earned his Olympic ticket by winning the 2019 world title.

Takuto Otoguro, the Kawai sisters and Minagawa are the reigning Asian champions in their weight classes. Mukaida will be looking to improve on her silver medal from 2020.

At the 2020 tournament in New Delhi, Japan took home seven medals in freestyle, but with the exception of Otoguro, none of the other medalists earned a return trip this year. Also missing out are two women's champions from 2020, Miho IGARASHI and Naomi RUIKE.

Here are the squads:

Asian Olympic Qualifying Tournament  (April 9-11, Almaty)

Greco-Roman
67kg: Shogo TAKAHASHI
77kg: Shohei YABIKU
87kg : Masato SUMI
97kg: Yuta NARA
130kg: Arata SONODA

Women
50kg : Yui SUSAKI

Freestyle
57kg : Rei HIGUCHI
86kg : Sosuke TAKATANI
97kg : Naoya AKAGUMA
125kg : Tetsuya TANAKA

Asian Championships (April 13-18, Almaty)

Greco-Roman
55kg: Yu SHIOTANI
60kg: Ayata SUZUKI
63kg: Kensuke SHIMIZU
67kg: Tsuchika SHIMOYAMADA
72kg: Taishi HORIE
77kg: Kodai SAKURABA
82kg: Satoki MUKAI
87kg: So SAKABE
97kg: Masayuki AMANO
130kg: Sota OKUMURA

Women
50kg: Remina YOSHIMOTO
53kg: Mayu MUKAIDA
55kg: Tsugumi SAKURAI
57kg: Risako KAWAI
59kg: Akie HANAI
62kg: Yukako KAWAI
65kg: Miwa MORIKAWA
68kg: Sara DOSHO
72kg: Masako FURUICHI
76kg: Hiroe MINAGAWA

Freestyle
57kg: Yuto TAKESHITA
61kg: Shoya SHIMAE
65kg: Takuto OTOGURO
70kg: Jintaro MOTOYAMA
74kg: Keisuke OTOGURO
79kg: Ryuki YOSHIDA
86kg: Hayato ISHIGURO
92kg: Yuto IZUTSU
97kg: Takashi ISHIGURO
125kg: Taiki YAMAMOTO

#WrestleNoviSad

Farokhi, Hedayati lead Iran's golden charge at U23 Worlds

Tuesday, October 21, 2025 - 15:58 By Vinay Siwach

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NOVI SAD, Serbia (October 21) -- Iran’s Greco-Roman dominance shows no signs of slowing down. After winning team titles at the U17 World Championships in Athens, the U20 Worlds in Samokov, and the senior event in Zagreb, Iran looks poised to complete a clean sweep in Novi Sad as Gholamreza FAROKHI (IRI) and Fardin HEDAYATI (IRI) claimed gold medals at the U23 World Wrestling Championships 2025 on Tuesday.

World champion Farokhi and defending champion Hedayati, who celebrated his birthday as well on Tuesday, won gold medals in dominant fashion at 87kg and 130kg respectively.

"I was able to win two back-to-back tough matches at the World Championships and bring home two gold medals," Farokhi said. "These were high-level competitions."

Farokhi, a gold medalist at 82kg in Zagreb, moved up to 87kg for Novi Sad but had no troubles in switching weights. As he did in Zagreb, Farokhi brought his best game in par terre and rolled to his second gold in one month after a 9-0 victory in the final against Ivan CHMYR (UKR), his fifth technical superiority victory.

After being put on top in par terre, Farokhi launched a trap-arm gut and turned Chmyr four times for the win. Ukraine threw one of those ever increasing challenges for no reason but lost it to add one more point to Farokhi's score.

"When you move up a weight class, the opponents are definitely stronger and tougher," Farokhi said. "It was a good experience, and it gave me a better sense of how I can perform at 87 kg -- an Olympic weight class"

Hedayati, who has not lost an international bout since his 2022 U20 World Championships finals loss, showed why he will dominate the 130kg weight class for years to come.

Up against Razmik KURDYAN (ARM) in the final, Hedayati began with takedown on the edge for two points. Kurdyan was put in par terre and from there Hedayati turned him twice to extend his lead to 7-0. With just 23 seconds left before the break, Hedayati scored a stepout to finish the final 8-0 and claim his second straight U23 world title.

At 63kg, Ziya BABASHOV (AZE) upended returning 63kg U23 world champion Vitalie ERIOMENCO (MDA), 6-3, in the final using a four-point suplex from par terre to score his points.

Eriomenco, who had defeated Babashov in the U23 European finals, looked very dominant in run up to the final while Babashov had some tough bouts on Monday. But the Azerbaijan wrestler began aggressively and managed to earn first par terre advantage.

He performed a suplex for four points to make his lead 5-0 and take huge step towards winning his first ever world title. He further consolidated his position when he defended from par terre in the second period and gave up only stepout to Eriomenco as the score changed to 5-2.

Babashov then countered an attack from the Moldova wrestler and forced him to stepout outside to extend his lead to 6-2. He gave up one more stepout but held on to the 6-3 lead to win the gold medal.

With the win, he now leads the head-to-head against Eriomenco 2-1 as both have traded victories at 2024 U23 European Championships and its 2025 edition with the Moldovan one being the more recent winner.

Irfan MIRZOIEV (UKR)Irfan MIRZOIEV (UKR) holds off Temuri ORJONIKIDZE (GEO) in the 77kg final. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

A silver medalist from 2023 at the U23 Worlds, Irfan MIRZOIEV (UKR) managed to win gold at 77kg as he defeated Temuri ORJONIKIDZE (GEO), 4-1, in the final.

Orjonikidze was himself to blame for the loss as he committed a defensive leg foul in the first period when Mirzoiev got the par terre position and as he was trying to lift, Orjonikidze blocked him with his leg, giving a 3-0 lead to the Ukrainian.

Georgia challenged the decision but on review, it was confirmed that a leg foul was indeed committed. The lost challenge gave one more point to Mirzoiev.

Orjonikidze got the par terre position in the second period but he failed to score any points and Mirzoiev easily defended his 4-1 lead to eventually claimed the gold medal.

Yehor YAKUSHENKO (UKR)Yehor YAKUSHENKO (UKR) defeated Richard KARELSON (EST) in the 97kg semifinal. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Yakushenko closer to U23 title

U20 world champion Yehor YAKUSHENKO (UKR) is a win away from winning his second world tittle three months after he reached the 97kg final at U23 World Championships. He defeated European Championships silver medalist Richard KARELSON (EST) 6-3 in the semifinals.

Karelson tried to make a match of it but Yakushenko scored a four-pointer from par terre to lead 5-0 before Karelson scored a takedown. But Yakushenko got a stepout to lead 6-2. He defended his lead despite Karelson getting par terre in the second period.

He will face Asian U23 champion Iussuf MATSIYEV (KAZ) who rolled to a 9-1 win over Maksim AVERIN (UWW), scoring four turns from par terre in the second period.

At 55kg, U23 European champion Alibek AMIROV (UWW) will face Elmir ALIYEV (AZE) in the final after he defeated Yerassyl MAMYRBEKOV (KAZ) in the semifinal. Amirov was down 2-1 when he got the 

Aliyev hit a beautiful headlock for four against 2024 U17 world champion Armin SHAMSIPOUR (IRI) before securing the fall in the semifinal.

Anri KHOZREVANIDZE (GEO) will take on Hassan ABDELREHIM (EGY) for the gold medal at 67kg after he defeated Hleb MAKARANKA (UWW), 1-1, having the criteria from the first point score in a 1-1 finish.

Andelrehim led 4-1 when his opponent in the semifinal, Attila JOZSA (HUN), injury default for a leg injury.

Seven years after winning the U17 World Championships gold medal, Abror ATABAEV (UZB) will have a chance to win a second world title after he reached the 72kg final. After getting the first par terre and 1-1 lead against Merey MAULITKANOV (KAZ), Atabaev defended his par terre position and kept the 1-1 criteria lead.

Maulitkanov threw everything at Atabaev in the final two minutes but the Uzbekistan defended all the attacks. Atabaev was close to giving up a takedown in the final 15 seconds but he managed to keep himself up and then score a pushout to lead 2-1. Kazakhstan challenged the call but it was a clear stepout and the lost challenge made it 3-1 for Atabaev.

He will face former Asian champion Iman MOHAMMADI (IRI) for gold after the Iranian defended his 1-1 criteria lead against Gaspar TERTERYAN (ARM). The final will be battle of two Asian champion as Atabaev won that title in 2023.

RESULTS

63kg
GOLD: Ziya BABASHOV (AZE) df. Vitalie ERIOMENCO (MDA), 6-3

BRONZE: Dordzhi SHUNGURTSIKOV (UWW) df. Servet ANGI (TUR), 6-1
BRONZE: Adham ELSAYED (EGY) df. Kuttubek ABDURAZAKOV (KGZ), 3-2

77kg
GOLD: Irfan MIRZOIEV (UKR) df. Temuri ORJONIKIDZE (GEO), 4-1

BRONZE: Alexandru SOLOVEI (MDA) df. Doniyorkhon NAKIBOV (UZB), 3-3
BRONZE: Levente LEVAI (HUN) df. Jonni SARKKINEN (FIN), 4-2

87kg
GOLD: Gholamreza FAROKHI (IRI) df. Ivan CHMYR (UKR), 10-0

BRONZE: Payton JACOBSON (USA) df. Lachin VALIYEV (AZE), 5-3
BRONZE: Achiko BOLKVADZE (GEO) df. Yassine BEN LABED (POL), 5-1

130kg
GOLD: Fardin HEDAYATI (IRI) df. Razmik KURDYAN (ARM), 8-0

BRONZE: Laszlo DARABOS (HUN) df. Saba CHILASHVILI (GEO), via fall (4-0)
BRONZE: Aleksandr MELEKHOV (UWW) df. Artur SARKISJAN (CZE), 9-1

Semifinals

55kg
GOLD: Elmir ALIYEV (AZE)  vs. Alibek AMIROV (UWW)

SF 1: Elmir ALIYEV (AZE) df. Armin SHAMSIPOUR (IRI), via fall (5-1)
SF 2: Alibek AMIROV (UWW) df. Yerassyl MAMYRBEKOV (KAZ), via fall (7-2)

67kg
GOLD: Anri KHOZREVANIDZE (GEO) vs. Hassan ABDELREHIM (EGY)

SF 1: Anri KHOZREVANIDZE (GEO) df. Hleb MAKARANKA (UWW), 1-1
SF 2: Hassan ABDELREHIM (EGY) df. Attila JOZSA (HUN), via inj. def. (4-1)

72kg
GOLD: Iman MOHAMMADI (IRI) vs. Abror ATABAEV (UZB)

SF 1: Iman MOHAMMADI (IRI) df. Gaspar TERTERYAN (ARM), 1-1
SF 2: Abror ATABAEV (UZB) df. Merey MAULITKANOV (KAZ), 3-1

97kg
GOLD: Yehor YAKUSHENKO (UKR) vs. Iussuf MATSIYEV (KAZ)

SF 1: Yehor YAKUSHENKO (UKR) df. Richard KARELSON (EST), 6-3 
SF 2: Iussuf MATSIYEV (KAZ) df. Maksim AVERIN (UWW), 9-1