#WrestleBudapest

Must-watch storylines from Budapest Ranking Series

By Vinay Siwach

BUDAPEST, Hungary (June 4) -- As the Budapest Ranking Series gets underway Thursday in the Hungary capital, a few intriguing storylines will be seen on the mats. Countries will be finalizing their Olympic line-ups, a few star wrestlers are returning to competition while others are competing for the ranking points.

Here are the top storylines that no wrestling fan should miss at the Budapest Ranking Series which will be live on uww.org using UWW+.

Iran's dilemma

A wrestle-off is set to be held by Iran in Budapest to decide on the Paris Olympic team. Tokyo Olympic champion Mohammadreza GERAEI (IRI) won the spot by winning bronze at the World Championships. But Saeid ESMAEILI LEIVESI (IRI) won the Asian Championships to lay his claim for the 67kg gold medal.

60kg will also see a wrestle-off as Mehdi MOHSEN NEJAD (IRI) is set to face Amirreza DEHBOZORGI (IRI) to decide who goes to the Paris Games.

Also, Mohammadali GERAEI (IRI) is wrestling!

Hassan YAZDANI (IRI)Hassan YAZDANI (IRI) will wrestle for the first time since winning gold medal at the Asian Games. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Sachiko Hotaka)

Yazdani returns

Undoubtedly Hassan YAZDANI (IRI) returning to competition is the big show in Budapest. Since winning the silver medal at the World Championships in Belgrade, Yazdani has wrestled only once, winning the gold medal at the Asian Games. A shoulder injury kept him out for eight months but Yazdani will be wrestling at 86kg on Thursday.

Before the Ranking Series, there were talks in Iran about a potential clash of Yazdani against 92kg world champion Kamran GHASEMPOUR (IRI) who is looking to make the Paris Olympic team for Iran. But Iran decided to send Yazdani alone and will assess his performance before deciding on a trial between the two.

Ziqi FENG (CHN)Ziqi FENG (CHN) gave a scare to Yui SUSAKI (JPN) in the Asian Championships final. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

China's problem of plenty

China rarely sends a portion of its team to the Ranking Series. But it has sent only five wrestlers for Budapest, all in Women's Wrestling. Three wrestlers are entered at 50kg and two at 57kg, expected for a wrestle-off.

Yu ZHANG (CHN), Jiang ZHU (CHN) and Ziqi FENG (CHN) are fighting for the Paris Olympic spot at 50kg. Feng won the quota for China by winning the bronze medal at the World Championships in Belgrade.

Qi ZHANG (CHN) and Kexin HONG (CHN) will wrestle off for the spot at 57kg. Hong won the quota at the Asian Olympic Qualifier in Bishkek. But Zhang, a world champion at 59kg, won the Asian Championships, a run that also had a win over Risako KINJO (JPN) in the first round.

Jamalov's switch

Razambek JAMALOV (UZB) has been waiting for his Uzbekistan debut which will finally happen in Budapest. Jamalov will take the mat at 74kg and can also face Bekzhod ABURKHAMANOV (UZB), meaning that their match can also be a wrestle-off.  Jamalov has not wrestled at an international event since finishing fifth at the 2021 European Championships but has previously shown that he can win against any top wrestler on his day.

#Grappling

Grappling World Championships 2025 Entries

By United World Wrestling Press

NOVI SAD, Serbia (September 30) -- The Grappling World Championships are set to be held in Novi Sad, Serbia from October 14 to 16 at the SPENS Arena.

The three-day tournament will see Grappling action in both men's and women's on September 14. The second day will have competition in both Grappling and Grappling Gi and only Grappling Gi on third day will finish the tournament.

All action will be live on the UWW website and highlights on UWW Grappling Instagram.

 

Men's Grappling Gi

58kg
Razmik MISAKYAN (ARM)
Farhad BAGIROV (AZE)
Samir BEN BELKACEM (FRA)
Daviti ZEDGINIDZE (GEO)
Alikhan ALSHINBAY (KAZ)
Zhyldyzbek ABYLBEKOV (KGZ)
Jerzy IZDEBSKI (POL)
Bohdan CHORNEI (UKR)
Joseph DIEHL (USA)

62kg
Rafayel KOSTANYAN (ARM)
Emil VERDIYEV (AZE)
Cedrick BISSOUT SIGNANG (CMR)
Lucas AUBRY (FRA)
Levente VARKONDI (HUN)
Mark BODO (HUN)
MANDEEP (IND)
Loris ZANOLINI (ITA)
Bekzat KAZTAYEV (KAZ)
Rakhymzhan TURGANBEK (KAZ)
Dmytro BARANOV (UKR)
Vadym SIROSHTAN (UKR)
Andrii TSVYK (UKR)
Asher URBAN HOYER (USA)
Kiryl AHEIKA (UWW)
Ruslan RADZHABKHANOV (UWW)
Magomedbek TEMEEV (UWW)

66kg
Mayis NERSESYAN (ARM)
Cedric EYENGA (CMR)
Giovanni SUAREZ ARTILES (ESP)
Cristofer MARTIN BARRIOS (ESP)
Anthony DE OLIVEIRA (FRA)
Giorgi RAZMADZE (GEO)
Adam VERES KOVACS (HUN)
Milan LUKASZ (HUN)
Adlan ASUEV (KAZ)
Nurassyl TURUSPEKOV (KAZ)
Illia SVIATUN (UKR)
Yurii CHERKALIUK (UKR)
Jesse SOSA (USA)
Artur AGASHIRINOV (UWW)
Magomed MAGOMEDOV (UWW)
Avzal AKHMETOV (UZB)
Renzo MARTINEZ (VEN)

71kg
Shahnur MEHTIYEV (AZE)
Max KAMA (CMR)
Kevin MARTIN TINOCO (ESP)
Francisco ALCALDE TORREBLANCA (ESP)
Samuel CHAGNY (FRA)
Sacha MARGUERITE (FRA)
Dzhimsher RAZMADZE (GEO)
Nico PULVERMUELLER (GER)
Stefanos VAVILIS (GRE)
Davi DIMOPOULOS SAID (GRE)
Mark UJVARI (HUN)
Sandor LAKATOS (HUN)
Chandra PRAKASH (IND)
Zhassulan ZHETPISBAY (KAZ)
Nurbek TALBUDIN (KAZ)
Piotr DUDZINSKI (POL)
Kacper GARCZYNSKI (POL)
Milos GAJIC (SRB)
Ivan RIABCHENKO (UKR)
Vadym SKRYNYTSIA (UKR)
Nicolas ARNEL (USA)
Andrei SKOLYSH (UWW)
Zaur AKHMEDOV (UWW)
Said ZAIPULAEV (UWW)
Feruzbek UROKOV (UZB)

77kg
Kieto PACHECO (ANG)
Salomon MAYENGUE (CMR)
Aron HERNANDEZ MONTERO (ESP)
Hector SEPULVEDA PALMA (ESP)
Loan MOUTHON (FRA)
Arthur DEMONCEAUX (FRA)
Zoltan TOTH (HUN)
Csaba SZABO (HUN)
Jatin KUMAR (IND)
Nagaraja KAVADI (IND)
Darkhan TOLYBAYEV (KAZ)
Aziz ALIYEV (KAZ)
Dumitru CEBAN (MDA)
Kamil ROSIAK (POL)
Jakub NAJDEK (POL)
Pavlo MAKSYMCHUK (UKR)
Illia SUKHODIEIEV (UKR)
Sam Eli SCHWARTZAPFEL (USA)
Rakhim BIBULATOV (UWW)
Abduragim MAGOMEDOV (UWW)
Adolfo SUAREZ ARIAS (VEN)

84kg
Inelton BOMBO (ANG)
Suren KHURDAYAN (ARM)
Hajimurad PURTIYEV (AZE)
Juan SUAREZ MONTESDEOCA (ESP)
Ruslan VALIEV (FRA)
Samy MEZACHE (FRA)
Lukas BRESSMER (GER)
Dimitrios MAVRANTONIS (GRE)
Soma SOLTESZ (HUN)
Amirali SAYAD (IRI)
Christian FRILLICI (ITA)
Adlan MADAYEV (KAZ)
Magzhan MARATKHAN (KAZ)
Cristian TUGULEA (MDA)
Igor DZIAG (POL)
Kacper ROT (POL)
Tanguy DARBELLAY (SUI)
Mykhailo MUZYCHENKO (UKR)
Giuseppe LAMANNA (USA)
Dzhabrail ISRAPILOV (UWW)
Idris OMAROV (UWW)

92kg
Pablo ESTEPA NIETO (ESP)
Antonio GARCIA CONEJO (ESP)
Wilfried EDMUND (FRA)
Reda MEBTOUCHE (FRA)
Amirani SVIMONISHVILI (GEO)
Leonhard PREIN (GER)
Apostolos KOUGIAMIS MICHOS (GRE)
Konstantinos VAVOURAS (GRE)
Levente LAKY (HUN)
Akos SZEKERES (HUN)
Ruslan ISRAILOV (KAZ)
Ramazan KUSSAINOV (KAZ)
Mantas DAUBLYS (LTU)
Buyannemekh MUNKHSUKH (MGL)
Joris ROOKHUIJZEN (NED)
Mateusz MAZUR (POL)
Aleksandar DUKANOVIC (SRB)
Vladyslav ZENCHENKO (UKR)
Anthony ROBINSON (USA)
Ramazan SHIKHSHABEKOV (UWW)
Alibek SULEIMANOV (UWW)

100kg
Vasif SAFARBAYOV (AZE)
Pavel SLANINA ANTON (ESP)
Luc ROUSSEAU (FRA)
Herve REDON (FRA)
Ilias BOUKIS (GRE)
Ramazan ABDRAKHIMOV (KAZ)
Konstantin LI (KGZ)
Eldar RAFIGAEV (MDA)
Andrzej IWAT (POL)
Yevhenii MURADOV (UKR)
Shamil MAZHIDKHANOV (UWW)
Khasan ZAPIROV (UWW)
Gilberto AYALA RODRIGUEZ (VEN)

130kg
Nizami GAFAROV (AZE)
Abraham COBY MARTINEZ (ESP)
Niklas KOPICKI (GER)
Ioannis KARGIOTAKIS (GRE)
Amir FARHADPOR (IRI)
Arystan AITMOLDIN (KAZ)
Alexandr ROMANOV (MDA)
Ivan SNIHUR (UKR)
Oleksandr KOLDOVSKYI (UKR)
John HANSEN (USA)
Abu GUDANATOV (UWW)
Bilal KURBABAGAMAEV (UWW)

Women’s Grappling Gi

53kg
Lilit DANIELYAN (ARM)
Pernelle ABOMO (CMR)
Carlota PRENDES LARIOS (ESP)
Giulia ANGIOLINI (ITA)
Zuzanna KOWALSKA (POL)
Viktoriia ISAIEVA (UKR)
Evelina FLORIAK (UKR)
Anorbi GRISHINA (UWW)
Radomira OSTANINA (UWW)

58kg
Minerva MONTERO PEREZ (ESP)
MAMTA (IND)
Pinky SHARMA (IND)
Shynar UZBEKOVA (KAZ)
Nuraiym MUNAITBAS (KAZ)
Daria BRZOZOWSKA (POL)
Magdalena GIEC (POL)
Viktoriia SYNIAVINA SERHIIENKO (UKR)
Tetiana ASTAKHOVA (UKR)
Breanna STIKKELMAN (USA)
Alina KOPEIKINA (UWW)
Kseniia PASTUKHOVA GUBAIDULINA (UWW)

64kg
Mia MONTESINOS PERDOMO (ESP)
Ellen OBERBACH (GER)
Zafeiria PANAGIOTARAKOU (GRE)
Szabina SZALAY (HUN)
Nikolett KIS (HUN)
Emma ROSINI (ITA)
Milana MURGUZOVA (KAZ)
Adrianna MAZUR (POL)
Sylwia WIERZBOWSKA (POL)
Andela NESOVANOVIC (SRB)
Snezhana MORAR (UKR)
Viktoriia SYNIAVINA SERHIIENKO (UKR)
Sheliah LINDSEY (USA)
Renata IAKUBOVA (UWW)
Alsu IANSHINA (UWW)

71kg
Delfina FRANCISCO (ANG)
Fanny MOUNGOUN (CMR)
Daniella SANTANA FABELO (ESP)
Alycia QUENEE (FRA)
Mendy MACATIS (GER)
Sandra TRIEBEL (GER)
Maja SALAMON (POL)
Anna KOTIUK (UKR)
Sarah PAUL (USA)
Valentina PAVLOVA (UWW)
Anna REMNEVA (UWW)

90kg
Tatiana KABANOVA (UWW)
Alena VLASOVA (UWW)

Men’s Grappling No-Gi

58kg
Razmik MISAKYAN (ARM)
Farhad BAGIROV (AZE)
Samir BEN BELKACEM (FRA)
Daviti ZEDGINIDZE (GEO)
Alikhan ALSHINBAY (KAZ)
Rakhymzhan TURGANBEK (KAZ)
Zhyldyzbek ABYLBEKOV (KGZ)
Jerzy IZDEBSKI (POL)
Muhammet KARAVUS (TUR)
Bohdan CHORNEI (UKR)
Joseph DIEHL (USA)

62kg
Rafayel KOSTANYAN (ARM)
Emil VERDIYEV (AZE)
Lucas AUBRY (FRA)
Mark BODO (HUN)
MANDEEP (IND)
Loris ZANOLINI (ITA)
Talgat ZHUMAGALIYEV (KAZ)
Adlan ASUEV (KAZ)
Dmytro BARANOV (UKR)
Vadym SIROSHTAN (UKR)
Andrii TSVYK (UKR)
Asher URBAN HOYER (USA)
Kiryl AHEIKA (UWW)
Ruslan RADZHABKHANOV (UWW)
Magomedbek TEMEEV (UWW)

66kg
Mayis NERSESYAN (ARM)
Giovanni SUAREZ ARTILES (ESP)
Cristofer MARTIN BARRIOS (ESP)
Anthony DE OLIVEIRA (FRA)
Giorgi RAZMADZE (GEO)
Adam VERES KOVACS (HUN)
Milan LUKASZ (HUN)
Bekzat KAPASHOV (KAZ)
Nurassyl TURUSPEKOV (KAZ)
Illia SVIATUN (UKR)
Yurii CHERKALIUK (UKR)
Jesse SOSA (USA)
Khabib ATLUEV (UWW)
Magomed SHAKHBANOV (UWW)

71kg
Shahnur MEHTIYEV (AZE)
Kevin MARTIN TINOCO (ESP)
Francisco ALCALDE TORREBLANCA (ESP)
Samuel CHAGNY (FRA)
Sacha MARGUERITE (FRA)
Dzhimsher RAZMADZE (GEO)
Nico PULVERMUELLER (GER)
Stefanos VAVILIS (GRE)
Davi DIMOPOULOS SAID (GRE)
Mark UJVARI (HUN)
Sandor LAKATOS (HUN)
Chandra PRAKASH (IND)
Federico ROTONI (ITA)
Zhassulan ZHETPISBAY (KAZ)
Nurbek TALBUDIN (KAZ)
Kenzo BIYONG (NED)
Piotr DUDZINSKI (POL)
Kacper GARCZYNSKI (POL)
Milos GAJIC (SRB)
Jalol MAMADALIBEKOV (TJK)
Ivan RIABCHENKO (UKR)
Vadym SKRYNYTSIA (UKR)
Nicolas ARNEL (USA)
Andrei SKOLYSH (UWW)
Apandi AMAGAEV (UWW)
Kurban KADIEV (UWW)

77kg
Kieto PACHECO (ANG)
Aron HERNANDEZ MONTERO (ESP)
Hector SEPULVEDA PALMA (ESP)
Loan MOUTHON (FRA)
Arthur DEMONCEAUX (FRA)
Beka KARTVELISHVILI (GEO)
Angelos NIKOLOPOULOS (GRE)
Zoltan TOTH (HUN)
Csaba SZABO (HUN)
Jatin KUMAR (IND)
Nagaraja KAVADI (IND)
Sayyed CHERDEYAN (IRI)
Darkhan TOLYBAYEV (KAZ)
Adlan MADAYEV (KAZ)
Dumitru CEBAN (MDA)
Kamil ROSIAK (POL)
Jakub NAJDEK (POL)
Fazli ERYILMAZ (TUR)
Pavlo MAKSYMCHUK (UKR)
Illia SUKHODIEIEV (UKR)
Sam SCHWARTZAPFEL (USA)
Gazimagomed GAZIEV (UWW)
Magomed IBRAGIMOV (UWW)
Adolfo SUAREZ ARIAS (VEN)

84kg
Inelton BOMBO (ANG)
Suren KHURDAYAN (ARM)
Hajimurad PURTIYEV (AZE)
Juan SUAREZ MONTESDEOCA (ESP)
Ruslan VALIEV (FRA)
Samy MEZACHE (FRA)
Nika MUSHKUDIANI (GEO)
Lukas BRESSMER (GER)
Leonhard PREIN (GER)
Dimitrios MAVRANTONIS (GRE)
Kleinto ZOLLANI (GRE)
Lorinc NAGY (HUN)
Amirali SAYAD (IRI)
Christian FRILLICI (ITA)
Maxat TOLENDI (KAZ)
Rauan ZHAKENULY (KAZ)
Cristian TUGULEA (MDA)
Igor DZIAG (POL)
Kacper ROT (POL)
Tanguy DARBELLAY (SUI)
Mykhailo MUZYCHENKO (UKR)
Dmytrii TKACHENKO (UKR)
Giuseppe LAMANNA (USA)
Amirkhan GITINOMAGOMEDOV (UWW)
Davud MAGOMEDOV (UWW)

92kg
Pablo ESTEPA NIETO (ESP)
Antonio GARCIA CONEJO (ESP)
Wilfried EDMUND (FRA)
Reda MEBTOUCHE (FRA)
Amirani SVIMONISHVILI (GEO)
Givi KARTVELISHVILI (GEO)
Apostolos KOUGIAMIS MICHOS (GRE)
Fotios TZAFERIS (GRE)
Levente LAKY (HUN)
Akos SZEKERES (HUN)
Alessandro ARDINI (ITA)
Ruslan ISRAILOV (KAZ)
Ramazan KUSSAINOV (KAZ)
Mantas DAUBLYS (LTU)
Buyannemekh MUNKHSUKH (MGL)
Joris ROOKHUIJZEN (NED)
Mateusz MAZUR (POL)
Aleksandar DUKANOVIC (SRB)
Vladyslav ZENCHENKO (UKR)
Anthony ROBINSON (USA)
Murad ABDULATIPOV (UWW)
Islam TAPPASKHANOV (UWW)

100kg
Vasif SAFARBAYOV (AZE)
Pavel SLANINA ANTON (ESP)
Luc ROUSSEAU (FRA)
Saba DJAVAKHICHVILI (FRA)
Aleksandre TEVZADZE (GEO)
Ilias BOUKIS (GRE)
Georgios APOSTOLOU (GRE)
Karoly FOCZENY (HUN)
Ramazan ABDRAKHIMOV (KAZ)
Yerulan TOLEUBEKOV (KAZ)
Konstantin LI (KGZ)
Eldar RAFIGAEV (MDA)
Armin DOUZALI (NOR)
Andrzej IWAT (POL)
Yevhenii MURADOV (UKR)
Mukhamed URUSOV (UWW)
Khasan ZAPIROV (UWW)

130kg
Nizami GAFAROV (AZE)
Abraham COBY MARTINEZ (ESP)
Niklas KOPICKI (GER)
Ioannis KARGIOTAKIS (GRE)
Amir Ali FARHADPOR (IRI)
Arystan AITMOLDIN (KAZ)
Genrikh BAGDASSARYAN (KAZ)
Alexandr ROMANOV (MDA)
Ivan SNIHUR (UKR)
Oleksandr KOLDOVSKYI (UKR)
John HANSEN (USA)
Umar GAISUMOV (UWW)
Nikita LOBOIKO (UWW)

Women’s Grappling No-Gi

53kg
Lilit DANIELYAN (ARM)
Carlota PRENDES LARIOS (ESP)
Giulia ANGIOLINI (ITA)
Zuzanna KOWALSKA (POL)
Viktoriia ISAIEVA (UKR)
Evelina FLORIAK (UKR)
Anorbi GRISHINA (UWW)
Valeriia SHUVALOVA (UWW)

58kg
Minerva MONTERO PEREZ (ESP)
Ellen OBERBACH (GER)
Lili RACZ (HUN)
MAMTA (IND)
Pinky SHARMA (IND)
Shynar UZBEKOVA (KAZ)
Nuraiym MUNAITBAS (KAZ)
Daria BRZOZOWSKA (POL)
Magdalena GIEC (POL)
Tetiana ASTAKHOVA (UKR)
Breanna STIKKELMAN (USA)
Varvara MASHKINA (UWW)
Kseniia PASTUKHOVA GUBAIDULINA (UWW)

64kg
Mia MONTESINOS PERDOMO (ESP)
Mendy MACATIS (GER)
Zafeiria PANAGIOTARAKOU (GRE)
Szabina SZALAY (HUN)
Nikolett KIS (HUN)
Emma ROSINI (ITA)
Milana MURGUZOVA (KAZ)
Adrianna MAZUR (POL)
Sylwia WIERZBOWSKA (POL)
Andela NESOVANOVIC (SRB)
Snezhana MORAR (UKR)
Viktoriia SYNIAVINA SERHIIENKO  (UKR)
Sheliah LINDSEY (USA)
Alsu IANSHINA (UWW)
Veronika KARAKHONOVA (UWW)

71kg
Delfina FRANCISCO (ANG)
Daniella SANTANA FABELO (ESP)
Alycia QUENEE (FRA)
Sandra TRIEBEL (GER)
Eleni CHRYSIKAKI (GRE)
Maja SALAMON (POL)
Anna KOTIUK (UKR)
Sarah PAUL (USA)
Valentina PAVLOVA (UWW)
Anna REMNEVA (UWW)

90kg
Tatiana KABANOVA (UWW)
Alena VLASOVA (UWW)