#WrestleRome

Matteo Pellicone Entries

By Eric Olanowski

ROME, Italy (January 4) -- The road to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games officially kicks off January 15-18 in Rome, Italy at the first Ranking Series event of the year, the Matteo Pellicone. And though entries are not official until 24 hours before the tournament begins, there are seven reigning world champions and 33 world medal holders from the 2019 World Championships that are expected to compete in Rome. 

Freestyle

57kg
Wanhao ZOU (CHN)
Minghu LIU (CHN)
Kumar RAVI (IND)
Givi DAVIDOVI (ITA)
Stevan Andria MICIC (SRB)
Andrii YATSENKO (UKR)
Taras MARKOVYCH (UKR)
Joseph Daniel COLON (USA)
Daton Duain FIX (USA)
Thomas Patrick GILMAN (USA)
Pedro Jesus MEJIAS RODRIGUEZ (VEN)

61kg
Zhandos ISMAILOV (KAZ)

65kg
Agustin Alejandro DESTRIBATS (ARG)
Shaohua YUAN (CHN)
Zhenguang TIAN (CHN)
Bajrang BAJRANG (IND)
Behnam Eshagh EHSANPOOR (IRI)
Abdellatif MANSOUR (ITA)
Jose Javier RODRIGUEZ COLON (PUR)
Selahattin KILICSALLAYAN (TUR)
Selim KOZAN (TUR)
Vasyl SHUPTAR (UKR)
Gor OGANNESYAN (UKR)
Erik ARUSHANIAN (UKR)
Jordan Michael OLIVER (USA)
Zain Allen RETHERFORD (USA)
Joseph Christopher MC KENNA (USA)

70kg
No entries

Kyle DAKE (USA), the reigning two-time 79kg world champion, will be making his debut at the Olympic weight class of 74kg. (Photo: Tony Rotundo)

74kg
Azamat NURYKAU (BLR)
Jasmit Singh PHULKA (CAN)
Adanabasier ADANABASIER (CHN)
Yin LUO (CHN)
Murad KURAMAGOMEDOV (HUN)
Jitender JITENDER (IND)
Yones Aliakbar EMAMICHOGHAEI (IRI)
Mitchell Louis FINESILVER (ISR)
Gianluca TALAMO (ITA)
Frank CHAMIZO MARQUEZ (ITA)
Franklin GOMEZ MATOS (PUR)
Sheng Yu LI (TPE)
Fazli ERYILMAZ (TUR)
Enes USLU (TUR)
Soner DEMIRTAS (TUR)
Vasyl MYKHAILOV (UKR)
Denys PAVLOV (UKR)
James Malcolm GREEN (USA)
Kyle Douglas DAKE (USA)
Jason Michael NOLF (USA)

79kg
Salvatore DIANA (ITA)
Carmelo LUMIA (ITA)
Akhmedkhan TEMBOTOV (RUS)

86kg
Deepak PUNIA (IND)
Ethan Adrian RAMOS (PUR)
Myles Nazem AMINE (SMR)
Fatih ERDIN (TUR)
Osman GOCEN (TUR)
Illia ARCHAIA (UKR)
Oleksii DOMANYTSKYI (UKR)
Alexander David DIERINGER (USA)
James Patrick DOWNEY III (USA)
Zahid VALENCIA (USA)
Rashid KURBANOV (UZB)
Pedro Francisco CEBALLOS FUENTES (VEN)

92kg
William RAFFI(ITA)

Kyle Frederick SNYDER (USA), the two-time world and Olympic champion, headlines the entries at 97kg. (Photo: Kadir Caliskan)

97kg
Aliaksandr HUSHTYN (BLR)
Jordan STEEN (CAN)
Chaoqiang YANG (CHN)
Georg Gabriel STARK SEREGELYI (GER)
Erik Sven THIELE (GER)
Gennadij CUDINOVIC (GER)
Pavel OLEJNYIK (HUN)
Ravi RAVI (IND)
Mohammadhossein Askari MOHAMMADIAN (IRI)
Abraham de Jesus CONYEDO RUANO (ITA)
Evan Amadour RAMOS (PUR)
Fatih YASARLI (TUR)
Ibrahim BOLUKBASI (TUR)
Valerii ANDRIITSEV (UKR)
Murazi MCHEDLIDZE (UKR)
Hayden Nicholas ZILLMER (USA)
Kyle Frederick SNYDER (USA)
Bo Dean NICKAL (USA)
Jose Daniel DIAZ ROBERTTI (VEN)

125kg
Amarveer DHESI (CAN)
Er SONGBU (CHN)
Nick MATUHIN (GER)
Daniel LIGETI (HUN)
Sumit SUMIT (IND)
Amir Hossein Abbas ZARE (IRI)
Charles Zachary MERRILL (PUR)
Bilial MAKHOV (RUS)
Oleksandr KHOTSIANIVSKYI (UKR)
Gable Dan STEVESON (USA)
Anthony Robert NELSON (USA)
Luis Felipe VIVENES URBANEJA (VEN)

United World Wrestling's Greco-Roman Wrestler of the Year Viktor LORINCZ (HUN) begins his quest for Olympic gold at the Matteo Pellicone, where he'll compete at 87kg. (Photo: Kadir Caliskan)

Greco-Roman

55kg
Dogus AYAZCI (TUR)
Serif KILIC (TUR)
Andrii SEMENCHUK (UKR)
Max Emiliano NOWRY (USA)

60kg 
Sailike WALIHAN (CHN)
Erbatu TUO (CHN)
Haithem Mahmoud Ahmed Fahmy MAHMOUD (EGY)
Erik TORBA (HUN)
Manish MANISH (IND)
Sachin RANA (IND)
Giovanni FRENI (ITA)
Jacopo SANDRON (ITA)
Kerem KAMAL (TUR)
Ahmet UYAR (TUR)
Ihor KUROCHKIN (UKR)
Ildar HAFIZOV (USA)
Islomjon BAKHRAMOV (UZB)
Firuz TUKHTAEV (UZB)

63kg
Andres Roberto MONTANO ARROYO (ECU)
Christopher Josef KRAEMER (GER)
Stig-Andre BERGE (NOR)
Jui Chi HUANG (TPE)
Dmytro TSYMBALIUK (UKR)

U23 world champion Mohamed Ibrahim Elsayed Ibrahi ELSAYED (EGY) headlines the entries at 67kg. (Photo: Sachiko Hotaka)

67kg
Joilson DE BRITO RAMOS JUNIOR (BRA)
Qiye TIAN (CHN)
Mohamed Ibrahim Elsayed Ibrahi ELSAYED (EGY)
Abouhalima Mohamed Elsaid ABOUHALIMA (EGY)
Ashu ASHU (IND)
Ignazio SANFILIPPO (ITA)
Ruben MARVICE (ITA)
Xavier Tramain JOHNSON (USA)
Jamel Rasheed JOHNSON (USA)
Peyton Louis OMANIA (USA)
Mirzobek RAKHMATOV (UZB)
Makhmud BAKHSHILLOEV (UZB)
Anthony Javier PALENCIA PUENTES (VEN)

72kg
Gaoquan ZHANG (CHN)
Cengiz ARSLAN (TUR)
Selcuk CAN (TUR)
Parviz NASIBOV (UKR)
Maksym YEVTUSHENKO (UKR)
Raymond Anthony BUNKER III (USA)
Aram VARDANYAN (UZB)

77kg
Angelo Rafael MARQUES MOREIRA (BRA)
Bin YANG (CHN)
Ridong ZHANG (CHN)
Wael Hamdy Mohamed ABDELRAHMAN (EGY)
Sajan SAJAN (IND)
Luca DARIOZZI (ITA)
Matteo MAFFEZZOLI (ITA)
Fatih CENGIZ (TUR)
Yunus Emre BASAR (TUR)
Emrah KUS (TUR)
Patrick Harrison SMITH (USA)
Kamal Ameer BEY (USA)
Ravaughn Richard Ravelle PERKINS (USA)
Nurbek KHASHIMBEKOV (UZB)
Wuileixis de Jesus RIVAS ESPINOZA (VEN)

Jalgasbay BERDIMURATOV (UZB), a 77kg world bronze medalist, will be moving up to 82kg for the Matteo Pellicone (Photo: Kadir Caliskan)

82kg
Roland SCHWARZ (GER)
Florian NEUMAIER (GER)
Pascal EISELE (GER)
Zotlan LEVAI (HUN)
Singh GURPREET (IND)
Bing Hong LIN (TPE)
Burhan AKBUDAK (TUR)
Salih AYDIN (TUR)
Dmytro GARDUBEI (UKR)
John Walter STEFANOWICZ JR (USA)
Jalgasbay BERDIMURATOV (UZB)

87kg
Ronisson BRANDAO SANTIAGO (BRA)
Junjie NA (CHN)
Mohamed Moustafa Ahmed Abdall METWALLY (EGY)
Viktor LORINCZ (HUN)
Kumar SUNIL (IND)
Fabio PARISI (ITA)
Mirco MINGUZZI (ITA)
Simone FIDELBO (ITA)
Dogan GOKTAS (TUR)
Josef Patrick RAU (USA)
Patrick Anthony MARTINEZ (USA)
Luis Eduardo AVENDANO ROJAS (VEN)

97kg
Yan LIU (CHN)
Yanan CHEN (CHN)
Noureldin Hany Mohamed Gomaa HASSAN (EGY)
Matti Elias KUOSMANEN (FIN)
Arvi Martin SAVOLAINEN (FIN)
Mélonin NOUMONVI (FRA)
Ramsin AZIZSIR (GER)
Jan ZIRN (GER)
Kevin MEJIA CASTILLO( HON)
Hardeep HARDEEP (IND)
Luca SVAICARI (ITA)
Felix BALDAUF (NOR)
Suleyman DEMIRCI (TUR)
Semen NOVIKOV (UKR)
Daniel Collett MILLER (USA)
Tracy Gangelo HANCOCK (USA)
Muhammadali SHAMSIDDINOV (UZB)
Jahongir TURDIEV (UZB)
Temur Mirzo MAMAJANOV (UZB)
Luillys Jose PEREZ MORA (VEN)

130kg
Lingzhe MENG (CHN)
Di XIAO (CHN)
Abdellatif Mohamed Ahmed MOHAMED (EGY)
Tuomas Heikki Juhani LAHTI (FIN)
Konsta Johannes MAEENPAEAE (FIN)
Naveen NAVEEN (IND) 
Luca GODINO (ITA)
Samuele VARICELLI (ITA)
Oskar MARVIK (NOR)
Osman YILDIRIM (TUR)
Vladyslav VORONYI (UKR)
Adam Jacob COON (USA)
Muminjon ABDULLAEV (UZB)
Moises Salvador PEREZ HELLBURG (VEN)

The list of women's wrestling entries is highlighted by five-time world champion Adeline Maria GRAY (USA). (Photo: Kadir Caliskan)

Women's Wrestling

50kg
Kseniya STANKEVICH (BLR)
Viyaleta REBIKAVA CHYRYK (BLR)
Kamila BARBOSA VITO DA SILVA (BRA)
Jessica Anne Marie MACDONALD (CAN)
Yanan SUN (CHN)
Jacqueline Del Rocio MOLLOCANA ELENO (ECU)
Nada Medani Ashour Abdalla MOHAMED (EGY)
Ana Maria TORRES RUBIO (ESP)
Oihane VALLEZ PEREZ (ESP)
Julie Martine SABATIE (FRA)
Tabatha Helene Laurence GRUNEWALD (FRA)
Emilia Alina VUC (ROU)
Veronika GURSKAYA (RUS)
Milana DADASHEVA (RUS)
Oksana LIVACH (UKR)
Sarah Ann HILDEBRANDT (USA)
Whitney CONDER (USA)
Victoria Lacey ANTHONY (USA)

53kg
Samantha Leigh STEWART (CAN)
Qianyu PANG (CHN)
Lannuan LUO (CHN)
Luisa Elizabeth VALVERDE MELENDRES (ECU)
Aintzane GORRIA GONI (ESP)
Marina RUEDA FLORES (ESP)
Nina HEMMER (GER)
Annika WENDLE (GER)
Mercedesz DENES (HUN)
Pinki PINKI (IND)
Vinesh VINESH (IND)
Emanuela LIUZZI (ITA)
Carmen DI DIO (ITA)
Ekaterina POLESHCHUK (RUS)
Natalia MALYSHEVA (RUS)
Meng Hsuan HSIEH (TPE)
Yuliia KHAVALDZHY BLAHINYA (UKR)
Katherine Grace SHAI (USA)
Areana Louise VILLAESCUSA (USA)
Betzabeth Angelica ARGUELLO VILLEGAS (VEN)

55kg
Vanesa KALADZINSKAYA (BLR)
Stalvira ORSHUSH (RUS)
Solomiia VYNNYK (UKR)
Iryna HUSYAK (UKR)

Canada's 59kg world champion Linda MORAIS will make her debut down at 57kg at the Matteo Pellicone. (Photo: Kadir Caliskan)

57kg
Giullia RODRIGUES PENALBER DE OLIVEIRA (BRA)
Linda MORAIS (CAN)
Ningning RONG (CHN)
Lissette Alexandra ANTES CASTILLO (ECU)
Eman Essam Guda EBRAHIM (EGY)
Graciela SANCHEZ DIAZ (ESP)
Elena Heike BRUGGER (GER)
Sandra PARUSZEWSKI (GER)
Laura MERTENS (GER)
Ramona GALAMBOS (HUN)
Emese BARKA (HUN)
Pooja DHANDA (IND)
Arianna CARIERI (ITA)
Francesca INDELICATO (ITA)
Nuraida ANARKULOVA (KGZ)
Grace Jacob BULLEN (NOR)
Marina SIMONYAN (RUS)
Iryna CHYKHRADZE KHARIV (UKR)
Alina AKOBIIA (UKR)
Allison Mackenzie RAGAN (USA)
Jenna Rose BURKERT (USA)
Betzabeth Rebeca SARCO COLMENAREZ (VEN)

59kg
Krystsina SAZYKINA (BLR)
Andrea GRASRUCK (GER)
Anhelina LYSAK (UKR)

Aisuluu TYNYBEKOVA (KGZ) will compete for the first time since becoming the first wrestler from Kyrgyzstan to win a senior-level world title. (Photo: Kadir Caliskan)

62kg
Veranika IVANOVA (BLR)
Lais NUNES DE OLIVEIRA (BRA)
Michelle Christina FAZZARI (CAN)
Jia LONG (CHN)
Maria Victoria BAEZ DILONE (ESP)
Lydia PEREZ TOURINO (ESP)
Luisa Helga Gerda NIEMESCH (GER)
Marianna SASTIN (HUN)
Sakshi MALIK (IND)
Aurora CAMPAGNA (ITA)
Elena ESPOSITO (ITA)
Sara DA COL (ITA)
Aisuluu TYNYBEKOVA (KGZ)
Liubov OVCHAROVA (RUS)
Inna TRAZHUKOVA (RUS)
Yuliia TKACH OSTAPCHUK (UKR)
Iryna KOLIADENKO (UKR)
Macey Ellen KILTY (USA)
Mallory Maxine VELTE (USA)
Kayla Colleen Kiyoko MIRACLE (USA)
Nathaly Josefina GRIMAN HERRERA (VEN)

65kg
Petra Maarit OLLI (FIN)
Gabriella SLEISZ (HUN)
Hsin Ping PAI (TPE)
Oksana KUKHTA HERHEL (UKR)

68kg
Luz Clara VAZQUEZ (ARG)
Yauheniya ANDREICHYKAVA (BLR)
Maryia MAMASHUK (BLR)
Danielle Suzanne LAPPAGE (CAN)
Feng ZHOU (CHN)
Xiaoqian WANG (CHN)
Koumba Selene Fanta LARROQUE (FRA)
Anna Carmen SCHELL (GER)
Divya KAKRAN (IND)
Dalma CANEVA (ITA)
Anastasija GRIGORJEVA (LAT)
Anastasiia BRATCHIKOVA (RUS)
Alla CHERKASOVA (UKR)
Alina BEREZHNA STADNIK MAKHYNIA (UKR)
Victoria Christine FRANCIS (USA)
Tamyra Mariama MENSAH (USA)
Maria Jose ACOSTA ACOSTA (VEN)

72kg
Anastasiya ZIMIANKOVA (BLR)
Nadine WEINAUGE (GER)
Maria SELMAIER (GER)

London Olympic champion and reigning 72kg world champion Natalia VOROBEVA (RUS) will be bumping up to 76kg with hope of adding a third consecutive Olympic medal to her resume. (Photo: Tony Rotundo)

76kg
Martina KUENZ (AUT)
Kseniya DZIBUK (BLR)
Vasilisa MARZALIUK (BLR)
Aline DA SILVA FERREIRA (BRA)
Erica Elizabeth WIEBE (CAN)
Qian ZHOU (CHN)
Paliha PALIHA (CHN)
Genesis Rosangela REASCO VALDEZ (ECU)
Samar Amer Ibrahim HAMZA (EGY)
Epp MAEE (EST)
Aline ROTTER FOCKEN (GER)
Francy RAEDELT (GER)
Zsanett NEMETH (HUN)
Kiran KIRAN (IND)
Enrica RINALDI (ITA)
Eleni PJOLLAJ (ITA)
Aiperi MEDET KYZY (KGZ)
Natalia VOROBEVA (RUS)
Ekaterina BUKINA (RUS)
Hui Tsz CHANG (TPE)
Alla BELINSKA (UKR)
Adeline Maria GRAY (USA)
Andrimar Daniela LAZARO DIAZ (VEN)

#WrestleZagreb

Chung puts Korea in World C'ships final

By Vinay Siwach

ZAGREB, Croatia (September 20) -- Hanjae CHUNG (KOR) has long been the training partner of former world champion Hansyu RYU (KOR) at national camps in Korea as both hail from Busan and wrestled at the Kyungsung University.

Eight years after Ryu became a world champion in Paris, Korea's last gold at World Championships, Chung would try to emulate his role model after he made the 63kg final at the World Championships in Zagreb on Saturday.

In his previous two trips to the World Championships, Chung finished eight and 25th but has now assured himself at least a silver medal in 2025. This is also Korea's first medal since Min Seok KIM (KOR) won bronze in 2018.

Chung opened his campaign with a 7-1 victory over Ivan LIZATOVIC (CRO) before picking up a fall over Manato NAKAMURA (JPN). Tokyo bronze medalist Sergey EMELIN (UWW) was next but Chung defended from par terre and posted a 1-1 criteria win.

In the semifinals, Chung had Asian silver medalist Mohammad KESHTKAR (IRI) but he stepped up. Keshtkar got the first par terre position but was not able to score any points, going to the break leading 1-0.

The second period saw Chung go for the reverse throw for two points and Keshtkar was docked two points for a leg foul, giving a 5-1 lead to Chung. Keshtkar tried making a comeback and got a takedown to cut the lead to 5-3 but that was all he had as Chung claimed the victory in the semifinals.

But to win his country's first gold since 2017, Chung will have to go through Aytjan KHALMAKHANOV (UZB) who looks unbeatable. A month after winning the gold medal at the U20 World Championships, the Uzbek star is now in the World Championships final with a dominant 8-0 win over Vitalie ERIOMENCO (MDA).

Khalmakhanov needed only 37 seconds to finish his semifinals against Erimenco as he used an over-under grip to slam him on the mat for two points. He continued the same sequence for two more points and lead 6-0. A trap arm gut was enough to get him two more points and the win.

Iran managed two more wrestlers in the final at the World Championships with Olympic champion Saeid ESMAEILI (IRI) and Olympic silver medalist Alireza MOHAMADI (IRI) a win away from winning their first world titles at 67kg and 87kg respectively.

Esmaeili particularly looked in the form of his life as he blanked his 36-0 in four bouts with none going the full distance of the six minutes. He began with a 9-0 win over 2022 world champion Sebastian NAD (SRB) before two 8-0 wins against Shermukhammad SHARIBJANOV (UZB) and Haavard JOERGENSEN (NOR), 8-0.

In the semifinals, he used a five-point throw to beat Daniial AGAEV (UWW). Using a bodylock, he scored his first takedown and then turned Agaev for a 4-0 lead. He then got the par terre position and reverse lifted Agaev and slammed him for five points.

For the gold medal, he will have to get past Olympic bronze medalist Hasrat JARAFOV (AZE), a returning silver medalist. Jafarov faced Razzak BEISHEKEEV (KGZ) in the semifinal and used a correct throw from par terre to beat the Kyrgyzstan wrestlers 3-1.

Mohamadi had a very contrasting semifinal against David LOSONCZI (HUN) at 87kg. He seemed to be sailing to victory with 5-1 lead and under a minute left but Losonczi locked his waist and threw him for a takedown for two points. Hungary challenged the call asking for four points but it was awarded only two on review and Hungary lost the challenge to give one more point to Mohamadi.

With a 6-3 win, Mohamadi, a silver medalist at 82kg from 2023, will now try to win the gold medal against former European champion Aleksandr KOMAROV (SRB).

Trusting his defense in the semifinal against Milad ALIRZAEV (UWW), Komarov held on to his 1-1 criteria lead to win the bout. Komarov was the beneficiary of the new Greco-Roman rule which states that the criteria will remain with the wrestler who got the first point in a 1-1 finish.

Irrespective of what happens in the final on Sunday, Iran has already won the Greco-Roman team title. This is the first time in the country's history that Iran has won both Freestyle and Greco-Roman team title at the same World Championships.

RESULTS

63kg
GOLD: Hanjae CHUNG (KOR) vs. Aytjan KHALMAKHANOV (UZB)

SF 1: Hanjae CHUNG (KOR) df. Mohammad KESHTKAR (IRI), 5-3
SF 2: Aytjan KHALMAKHANOV (UZB) df. Vitalie ERIOMENCO (MDA), 8-0

67kg
GOLD: Saeid ESMAEILI (IRI) vs. Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE)

SF 1: Saeid ESMAEILI (IRI) df. Daniial AGAEV (UWW), 10-0
SF 2: Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE) df. Razzak BEISHEKEEV (KGZ), 3-1

87kg
GOLD: Alireza MOHMADI (IRI) vs. Aleksandr KOMAROV (SRB)

SF 1: Alireza MOHMADI (IRI) df. David LOSONCZI (HUN), 6-3
SF 2: Aleksandr KOMAROV (SRB) df. Milad ALIRZAEV (UWW), 1-1