#NFRoundup

NF Roundup Blog, Feb. 22 - Feb. 28

Monday, February 22, 2021 - 13:52 By United World Wrestling Press

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Moore Defeats Pye, Named Canada's World Olympic Qualification Rep

Alex MOORE (CAN) of the Montreal Wrestling Club defeated Clayton PYE (CAN) in two straight matches to win the 86 kg wrestle-off and earn a spot at the World Olympic Qualification Tournament.

The wrestle-off, which was closed to the public, took place at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre. Moore fell behind early in the first match, trailing 0-4 at the halfway point.

“It’s been a while since I competed, it took some time getting the rust off,” said the 23-year-old.

“I got a pep talk from my coaches and got myself together. I knew I was fine, and I knew I could come back, so I didn’t panic.”

Moore went on to score six straight points to win the first match 6-4.

In the second match, Moore dominated and scored ten points quickly to win by technical superiority.

“It feels good to be back. In practice I’ve been feeling amazing, we’ve been training hard. I just need to transfer that to the tournament.”

“Now I need to go back to practice and find out how I can fix my mistakes, and keep taking it one day at a time.”

The World Olympic Qualification Tournament is the final chance for athletes to qualify for the postponed Tokyo Olympics. At the event, the top two spots in each weight-class will be awarded Olympic qualification.

“Thank you to the staff at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre for their hard work and flexibility to help make this event happen,” added Tamara Medwidsky, Wrestling Canada Lutte’s Executive Director.

1300 Iranian Wrestling Coaches Participate in Scientific Webinar

While the COVID-19 crisis has a devastating impact on the world, the Iranian Wrestling Federation found a united way to reach 1300 coaches. The IWF hosted different education webinars gears towards refereeing, women's wrestling and coaches. The courses helped educate 31 wrestling accusations in all Iranian provinces. 

Meanwhile, during the final webinar, more than 1300 coaches participated in virtual educational courses that touched on coaching principles, training science, sports nutrition and psychology

#WrestleZagreb

Zagreb Open Flashback: Iran, U.S. opened season with success

Monday, January 19, 2026 - 10:21 By Vinay Siwach

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ZAGREB, Croatia (January 18) -- United World Wrestling's 2026 season will kick off with the Ranking Series in Zagreb February 4. The recent memories of Zagreb may be the September World Championships but the 2025 season also kicked off with the Ranking Series in the Croatian capital.

Iran and the United States had strong performances in the first of the four stops of the Ranking Series, a theme which continued throughout the 2025 season as the U.S. dominated Freestyle while Iran dominated Greco-Roman.

Women's Wrestling participants were less in numbers but still saw U.S. and UWW wrestlers share gold medals.

Here's a trip down memory lane of the 2025 Zagreb Open Ranking Series before the 2026 season kicks off:

WATCH ZAGREB OPEN 2025 TOP BOUTS HERE

Freestyle

A young Iranian team snapped four gold medals in Zagreb with Ahmad JAVAN (IRI) winning gold at 61kg, Abbas EBRAHIM (IRI) winning at 65kg, Amirhossein FIROUZPOUR (IRI) became champion at 92kg and Amirreza MASOUMI (IRI) winning the 125kg gold.

For the U.S., Spencer LEE (USA) kicked off the season with 57kg with gold, Zahid VALENCIA (USA) won at 86kg and Kyle SNYDER (USA) at 97kg. Both Valencia and Snyder went on to win gold at the World Championships later in the season.

Azerbaijan, Slovakia and France won one gold each, with Kanan HEYBATOV (AZE) winning at 70kg for Azerbaijan, Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK) winning gold at 74kg, and Zelimkhan KHADJIEV (FRA) winning at 79kg for France.

Iran dominance began when Ahmad JAVAN (IRI) won gold at 61kg, beating the likes of Nuraddin NUVROZOV (AZE), Nashon GARRETT (USA), Giorgi GONIASHVILI (GEO) and Ebrahim KHARI (IRI). Javan would later win a silver medal at the World Championships. At 65kg, Ebrahim held his own in a thrilling final against Joseph MCKENNA (USA) to grab the second gold for Iran.

Young superstars Firouzpour and Masoumi put up a show to win gold medals at 92kg and 125kg respectively.

Lee was making a returning to competition six months after winning the silver medal at the Paris Olympics. He won the Zagreb Open gold with rather ease. For the U.S., Valencia saw himself win gold at 86kg outscoring his opponents 35-4 in four bouts. In the final, Valencia defeated world bronze medalist Arsenii DZHIOEV (AZE), 8-0.

Snyder opened his season with a 33-1 scoring run in three bouts at 97kg in Zagreb. In the final, he easily defeated Abolfazl BABALOO (IRI).

Heybatov gave early warnings to the 70kg field by winning gold in Zagreb, a run which included wins over Austin GOMEZ (MEX), two back-to-back wins over Iranian wrestlers including a 12-1 one again Sina KHALILI (IRI) in the final. The two would wrestle again towards the end of the year at the U23 World Championships. Heybatov won that final with a 9-4 score.

Two veterans, Salkazanov and Khadjiev, were at their best in the opening Ranking Series tournament. Salkazanov blanked everyone, including winning 4-0 against David CARR (USA) in the final, to win 74kg gold.

Khadjiev had a tougher bat but managed to win the 79kg gold with a 5-3 win over Mahdi YOUSEFI (IRI) in the final. The French wrestler would later win silver at the European Championships.