#WrestleParis

Paris 2024 seeds announced for Freestyle, Greco-Roman, Women’s Wrestling

Friday, July 12, 2024 - 14:12 By Eric Olanowski

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PARIS, (July 12) — For the first time ever, the Olympic Games will be seeding the top eight wrestlers in each weight class. Wrestlers who competed in the 2023 World Championships, 2024 Continental Championships, 2024 Zagreb Open Ranking Series and the 2024 Hungarian Ranking Series event have accumulated points towards their seeds at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

UWW RANKING RULE BOOK

Apart from the seeded eight wrestlers, the remaining eight wrestlers, who round out the 16-person bracket, will be randomly drawn into the bracket the day before each style begins in Paris.

The bracket will be structured as follows:

- The top side will feature the No. 1, No. 4, No. 5, and No. 8 seeded wrestlers.
- The bottom side will feature the No. 2, No. 3, No. 6, and No. 7 seeded wrestlers.

If the seeds hold true through to the finals, the bracket will play out as follows:

Quarterfinals:
- Top side: No. 1 vs. No. 8; No. 4 vs. No. 5
- Bottom side: No. 2 vs. No. 7; No. 3 vs. No. 6

Semifinals:
- Top Side: No. 1 vs. No. 4
- Bottom Side: No. 2 vs. No. 3

Finals:
- No. 1 vs. No. 2

Here are the top eight seeded athletes in all three styles for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games:

Freestyle
57kg
No. 1 Stevan MICIC (SRB)
No. 2 Rei HIGUCHI (JPN )
No. 3 Arsen HARUTYUNYAN (ARM)
No. 4 Meirambek KARTBAY (KAZ)
No. 5 Zelimkhan ABAKAROV (ALB)
No. 6 Aman AMAN (IND)
No. 7 Wanhao ZOU (CHN)
No. 8 Gulomjon ABDULLAEV (UZB)

65kg
No. 1 Vazgen TEVANYAN (ARM)
No. 2 Rahman AMOUZAD (IRI)
No. 3 Ismail MUSUKAEV (HUN)
No. 4 Sebastian RIVERA (PUR)
No. 5 Maxim SACULTAN (MDA)
No. 6 Haji ALIYEV (AZE)
No. 7 Islam DUDAEV (ALB)
No. 8 Tulga TUMUR OCHIR (MGL)

74kg
No. 1 Kyle DAKE (USA)
No. 2 Turan BAYRAMOV (AZE)
No. 3 Georgios KOUGIOUMTSIDIS (GRE)
No. 4 Daichi TAKATANI (JPN)
No. 5 Hetik CABALOV (SRB)
No. 6 Feng LU (CHN)
No. 7 Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK)
No. 8 Bacar NDUM (GBS)

86kg
No. 1 Azamat DAULETBEKOV (KAZ)
No. 2 Hassan YAZDANICHARATI (IRI)
No. 3 Myles AMINE (SMR)
No. 4 Javrail SHAPIEV (UZB)
No. 5 Magomed RAMAZANOV (BUL)
No. 6 Bat BYAMBASUREN (MGL)
No. 7 Dauren KURUGLIEV (GRE)
No. 8 Hayato ISHIGURO (JPN)

97kg  
No. 1 Magomedkhan MAGOMEDOV (AZE)
No. 2 Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN)
No. 3 Kyle SNYDER (USA)
No. 4 Ibrahim CIFTCI (TUR)
No. 5 Givi MATCHARASHVILI (GEO)
No. 6 Erik THIELE (GER)
No. 7 Alisher YERGALI (KAZ)
No. 8 Zbigniew BARANOWSKI (POL)

125kg
No. 1 Amir ZARE (IRI)
No. 2 Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO)
No. 3 Mason PARRIS (USA)
No. 4 Taha AKGUL (TUR)
No. 5 Daniel LIGETI (HUN)
No. 6 Giorgi MESHVILDISHVILI (AZE)
No. 7 Robert BARAN (POL)
No. 8 Zhiwei DENG (CHN)

Women’s Wrestling
50kg
No. 1 Yui SUSAKI (JPN)
No. 2 Otgonjargal DOLGORJAV (MGL)
No. 3 Ziqi FENG (CHN)
No. 4 Evin DEMIRHAN (TUR)
No. 5 Alisson CARDOZO REY (COL)
No. 6 Sarah HILDEBRANDT (USA)
No. 7 Mariya STADNIK (AZE)
No. 8 Oksana LIVACH (UKR)

53kg
No. 1 Lucia YEPEZ GUZMAN (ECU)
No. 2 Emma MALMGREN (SWE)
No. 3 Akari FUJINAMI (JPN)
No. 4 ANTIM (IND)
No. 5 Maria PREVOLARAKI (GRE)|
No. 6 Christianah OGUNSANYA (NGR)
No. 7 Qianyu PANG (CHN)
No. 8 Andreea ANA (ROU)

57kg
No. 1 Tsugumi SAKURAI (JPN)
No. 2 Anastasia NICHITA (MDA)
No. 3 Odunayo ADEKUOROYE (NGR)
No. 4 Anhelina LYSAK (POL)
No. 5 Helen MAROULIS (USA)
No. 6 Kexin HONG (CHN)
No. 7 Giulia PENALBER (BRA)
No. 8 Luisa VALVERDE (ECU)

62kg
No. 1 Aisuluu TYNYBEKOVA (KGZ)
No. 2 Sakura MOTOKI (JPN)
No. 3 Grace BULLEN (NOR)
No. 4 Iryna KOLIADENKO (UKR)
No. 5 Bilyana DUDOVA (BUL)
No. 6 Luisa NIEMESCH (GER)
No. 7 Ana GODINEZ (CAN)
No. 8 Kayla MIRACLE (USA)

68kg
No. 1 Buse CAVUSOGLU TOSUN (TUR)
No. 2 Delgermaa ENKHSAIKHAN (MGL)
No. 3 Koumba LARROQUE  (FRA)
No. 4 Irina RINGACI (MDA)
No. 5 Tetiana SOVA RIZHKO (UKR)
No. 6 Blessing OBORUDUDU (NGR)
No. 7 Soleymi CARABALLO HERNANDEZ (VEN)
No. 8 Feng ZHOU (CHN)

76kg
No. 1  Aiperi MEDET KYZY (KGZ)
No. 2 Yuka KAGAMI (JPN)
No. 3 Tatiana RENTERIA (COL)
No. 4 Catalina AXENTE (ROU)
No. 5 Milaimys MARIN (CUB)
No. 6 Hannah RUEBEN (NGR)
No. 7 Justina DI STASIO (CAN)
No. 8 Bernadett NAGY (HUN)

Greco-Roman
60kg
No. 1 Zholaman SHARSHENBEKOV (KGZ)
No. 2 Liguo CAO (CHN)
No. 3 Victor CIOBANU (MDA)
No. 4 Kenichiro FUMITA (JPN)
No. 5 Mehdi MOHSEN NEJAD (IRI)
No. 6 Islomjon BAKHRAMOV (UZB)
No. 7 Raiber RODRIGUEZ (VEN)
No. 8 Razvan ARNAUT (ROU)

67kg
No. 1 Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE)
No. 2 Luis ORTA (CUB)
No. 3 Slavik GALSTYAN (ARM)
No. 4 Mate NEMES (SRB)
No. 5 Amantur ISMAILOV (KGZ)
No. 6 Mamadassa SYLLA (FRA)
No. 7 Saeid ESMAEILI (IRI)
No. 8 Valentin PETIC (MDA)

77kg
No. 1 Nao KUSAKA (JPN)
No. 2 Sanan SULEYMANOV (AZE)
No. 3 Akzhol MAKHMUDOV (KGZ)
No. 4 Malkhas AMOYAN (ARM)
No. 5 Yosvanys PENA FLORES (CUB)
No. 6 Demeu ZHADRAYEV (KAZ)
No. 7 Zoltan LEVAI (HUN)
No. 8 Aram VARDANYAN (UZB)

87kg
No. 1 Ali CENGIZ (TUR)
No. 2 David LOSONCZI (HUN)
No. 3 Semen NOVIKOV (BUL)
No. 4 Zhan BELENIUK (UKR)
No. 5 Nursultan TURSYNOV (KAZ)
No. 6 Bachir SID AZARA (ALG)
No. 7 Aleksandr KOMAROV (SRB)
No. 8 Carlos MUNOZ (COL)

97kg
No. 1 Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM)
No. 2 Abubakar KHASLAKHANAU (AIN)
No. 3 Mohammadhadi SARAVI (IRI)
No. 4 Gabriel ROSILLO (CUB)
No. 5 Arvi SAVOLAINEN (FIN)
No. 6 Mindaugas VENCKAITIS (LTU)
No. 7 Mihail KAJAIA (SRB)
No. 8 Kevin MEJIA (HON)

130kg
No. 1 Amin MIRZAZADEH (IRI)
No. 2 Abdellatif MOHAMED (EGY)
No. 3 Lingzhe MENG (CHN)
No. 4 Alin ALEXUC CIURARIU (ROU)
No. 5 Heiki NABI (EST)
No. 6 Mantas KNYSTAUTAS (LTU)
No. 7 Yasmani ACOSTA (CHI)
No. 8 Seungchan LEE (KOR)

NOTE: These seeds are subject to change. The NOCs have until 24 hours before the start of the competition to make changes to their entries.

#JapanWrestling

Ono Interview: On Comeback, Penn State, Folkstyle, 2028 LA Olympics

Tuesday, May 26, 2026 - 11:19 By Vinay Siwach

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TOKYO (May 24) -- Where is Masanosuke ONO (JPN)?

A question that has intrigued both fans and wrestlers alike as Ono continues to missing from international wrestling since he became the world champion at 61kg in 2024.

Ono watched the Meiji Cup 2026 in Tokyo as he was in Japan to change his United States visa. Since he did not participate in the 2025 Emperor's Cup, Ono was ineligible to participate in the Meiji Cup.

 United World Wrestling caught up with Ono on the sidelines of the Meiji Cup in Tokyo. Ono talks about his comeback, plan for 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, life at Penn State and more:

UWW Plus

Excerpts:

- Why did you not participate in the Meiji Cup

Ono: I suppose it’s only natural that I can’t play because I don’t have the right to do so. That’s just the way things are in Japan. I’m aiming to make a comeback so that I can play in the next Emperor’s Cup and Meiji Cup. This has been a good period of preparation for that.

- How are your preparation for the comeback?

Ono: I’m feeling pretty much back to normal now, so I’m absolutely fine. It’s just that I haven’t competed much since the World Championships ended about two years ago, and there’s a part of me that simply can’t suppress the urge to get back out there. So I’m really looking forward to getting back into competition soon and giving it my all.

- When will you compete next?

Ono: I’ll be aiming to qualify [for Emperor's Cup]. As for the weight class, I’m thinking of competing in the 61kg category at the Shakaijin Championships. [The Shakaijin Championships will be held on July 11]. Once I’ve qualified, I’m not quite sure yet whether I’ll move down a weight class, stay in the same one, or move up, but I’m planning to set myself some clear goals.

Masanosuke ONO (JPN)Masanosuke ONO (JPN) giving interview on the sidelines of the Meiji Cup. (Photo: wrestling-spirits.jp / Ikuo Higuchi)

- How challenging life is at Penn State in the United States?

Ono: I imagine there are plenty of challenges. The rules of wrestling are different there, so there’s a lot to learn. I’m always being taught and helped by others. When it comes to what I’ve actually taken on board, it’s obviously wrestling. As for other aspects of school life, I wasn’t really the type who was naturally good at studying. I’m currently studying philosophy at a university in the United States, and whilst it’s a bit tricky, I’m doing my best in my own way.

- What is your daily routine?

Ono: I have practice in the morning, then I go to lessons, then there’s another practice session around midday, and then in the evening - or rather, in the late afternoon - I study with the translator.

- How's your experience at Penn State and Folkstyle?

Ono: I do a lot of Folkstyle, and I do a bit of Freestyle as well, but there’s so much to learn that I’m still very much a novice. When it comes to training, coach Cael SANDERSON, and his brother Cody, who’s also a coach, as well as Casey CUNNINGHAM and Nick LEE. Everyone, both the students and my flat mates, are really strong, so I’m learning a hell of a lot from them.

There really are so many movements that are unique to Folkstyle, I still feel a bit of a gap there. But once I’ve got the hang of it, I reckon I’ll be able to grow even more myself without losing sight of the good bits. If I just focus on that one thing, it’ll disappear, so I’m thinking I’ll keep 95 per cent of my style exactly as it is and just add a few bits here and there.

Masanosuke ONO (JPN)

Masanosuke ONO (JPN) showing his grades.

- Do you like studying Philosophy? 

Ono: Philosophy. No, I don’t really get it. (Ono scored a remarkable 3.74 CGPA in his last semester).

- Why did you decide to wrestle Folkstyle?

Ono: I want to do Folkstyle more because I like Folkstyle more than Freestyle right now. I was world champ maybe two years ago, but I know Freestyle like 95 percent but Folkstyle, that I don't know. So I mean, I just I'm excited compete Folkstyle more than Freestyle right now. 

- When will you compete for Penn State and why have you not yet?

Ono: I don't know why. If the coaches say you go, I go. I am learning for maybe just one year. It's kind of hard.

- Marcus BLAZE (USA) is your roommate. What you learn from him?

Ono: He's my roommate and in my weight. He's great guy. He's my weight maybe. I learn a lot from him. He likes pickleball. He likes something like outside. I cannot drive. I don't have license. So he drive me around there.

- If you want to go to 2028 LA Olympics, what is the path for you? If it's at 57kg, will you take inspiration from Rei HIGUCHI (JPN) who made it at 57kg for Paris?

Ono: I compete at December competition because of 2028 Olympics trial. I have to. I mean my weight like around 64kg so maybe this difficult. Living in America, when the Olympics are held here, you can’t exactly just give up on the idea of competing, you can’t just walk away from it. But when it comes to the Olympics, at 57 or 65kg, with the 8kgs mark being a key hurdle, it’s certainly a challenge. So I thought I’d just have to take it step by step, listening to my body as I go along. I’m not really that bothered about winning or losing. I just want to wrestle, so to be honest, it doesn’t really matter.

Higuchi is amazing. I am sure he is mentally tough. I like to eat and I like chipotle.

- Which weight class are you aiming for?

Ono: If [Rei] Higuchi were to join us at 57kg, I’d be absolutely chuffed. I’d be just as chuffed if we played with Higuchi at 65kg, or with [Kotaro] Kiyooka at 65kg. I’m not sure about [Toshihiro] Hasegawa, but I reckon [Rin] Sakamoto would be there. Wouldn’t it be brilliant if they all got together?