#WrestleBelgrade

Preliminary women's World Championship seeds announced

Monday, September 4, 2023 - 12:25 By Eric Olanowski

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BELGRADE, Serbia (September 4) --- United World Wrestling has released the preliminary women's wrestling seeds for the 2023 World Championships.

The point-based seeds were determined by a wrestler's participation and placement at the 2022 World Championships, 2023 Continental Championships and 2023 Ranking Series events.

Although it's highly unlikely that the brackets play out exactly how their seeded, but if the seeds were to hold true through the finals in the top-eight seeded system, here's how the bracket will look leading up to the gold-medal match:

Quarterfinals: 
No. 1 vs. No. 8 (top side)
No. 4 vs. No. 5 (top side)

No. 2 vs. No. 7 (bottom side)
No. 3 vs. No. 6 (bottom side)

Semifinals: 
No. 1 vs. No. 4 (top side)
No. 2 vs. No. 3 (bottom side)

Finals:
No. 1 vs. No. 2 

*The seeds are based on the current entries provided by National Federations and are subject to change.

50kg
No. 1 - Yui SUSAKI (JPN)
No. 2 - Sarah HILDEBRANDT (USA) 
No. 3 - Otgonjargal DOLGORJAV (MGL)
No. 4 - Ziqi FENG (CHN)
No. 5 - Anna LUKASIAK (POL)
No. 6 - Madison PARKS (CAN)
No. 7 - Jasmina IMMAEVA (UZB)
No. 8 - Miesinnei GENESIS (NGR)

53kg
No. 1 - Lucia YEPEZ (ECU)
No. 2 - Dominique PARRISH (USA)
No. 3 - Jonna MALMGREN (SWE)
No. 4 - Maria PREVOLARAKI (GRE)
No. 5 - Iulia LEORDA (MDA)
No. 6 - Sztalvira ORSUS (HUN)
No. 7 - Karla ACOSTA MARTINEZ (MEX)
No. 8 - Akari FUJINAMI (JPN)

55kg
No. 1 - Karla GODINEZ (CAN)
No. 2 - Jacarra WINCHESTER (USA)
No. 3 - Marina SEDNEVA (KAZ)
No. 4 - Mariana DRAGUTAN (MDA)
No. 5 - Erika BOGNAR (HUN)
No. 6 - Shokhida AKHMEDOVA (UZB)
No. 7 - Mariia VYNNYK (UKR)
No. 8 - Otgontuya CHINBOLD (MGL)

57kg
No. 1 - Alina HRUSHYNA AKOBIIA (UKR)
No. 2 - Helen MAROULIS (USA)
No. 3 - Tsugumi SAKURAI (JPN)
No. 4 - Giullia PENALBER (BRA)
No. 5 - Laylokhon SOBIROVA (UZB)
No. 6 - Anhelina LYSAK (POL)
No. 7 - Zhala ALIYEVA (AZE)
No. 8 - Luisa VALVERDE (ECU)

59kg
No. 1 - Jowita WRZESIEN (POL)
No. 2 - Diana KAYUMOVA (KAZ)
No. 3 - Yuliia TKACH (UKR)
No. 4 - Qi ZHANG (CHN)
No. 5 - Alyona KOLESNIK (AZE)
No. 6 - Othelie HOEIE (NOR)
No. 7 - Siwar BOUSETA (TUN)
No. 8 - Jennifer PAGE (USA)

62kg
No. 1 - Kayla MIRACLE (USA)
No. 2 - Aisuluu TYNYBEKOVA (KGZ)
No. 3 - Xiaojuan LUO (CHN)
No. 4 - Ana GODINEZ (CAN)
No. 5 - Bilyana DUDOVA (BUL)
No. 6 - Lais NUNES (BRA)
No. 7 - Luisa NIEMESCH (GER)
No. 8 - Sara LINDBORG (SWE)

65kg (Only six seeded wrestlers entered)
No. 1 - Mimi HRISTOVA (BUL)
No. 2 - Iva GERIC (CRO)
No. 3 - Aleah NICKEL (CAN)
No. 4 - Irina KAZYULINA (KAZ)
No. 5 - Kadriye AKSOY (TUR)
No. 6 - Masa PEROVIC (SRB)

68kg
No. 1 - Feng ZHOU (CHN)
No. 2 - Ami ISHII (JPN)
No. 3 - Irina RINGACI (MDA)
No. 4 - Koumba LARROQUE (FRA)
No. 5 - Delgermaa ENKHSAIKHAN (MGL)
No. 6 - Adela HANZLICKOVA (CZE)
No. 7 - Meerim ZHUMANAZAROVA (KGZ)
No. 8 - Blessing OBORUDUDU (NGR)

72kg
No. 1 - Zhamila BAKBERGENOVA (KAZ)
No. 2 - Amit ELOR (USA)
No. 3 - Dalma CANEVA (ITA)
No. 4 - Davaanasan ENKH AMAR (MGL)
No. 5 - Shauna KUEBECK (CAN)
No. 6 - Kendra DACHER (FRA)
No. 7 - QIANDEGENCHAGAN (CHN)
No. 8 - Alina LEVYTSKA (UKR)

76kg
No. 1 - Samar HAMZA (EGY)
No. 2 - Genesis REASCO (ECU)
No. 3 - Epp MAE (EST)
No. 4 - Justina DI STASIO (CAN)
No. 5 - Aiperi MEDET KYZY (KGZ)
No. 6 - Yuka KAGAMI (JPN)
No. 7 - Cynthia VESCAN (FRA)
No. 8 - Francy RAEDELT (GER)

#JapanWrestling

Another Ono rises: Konami follows brother's footsteps

Friday, August 29, 2025 - 02:52 By Ikuo Higuchi

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TOKYO (August 27) -- When you think of the name Ono from Shimane Prefecture, many will recall Masanosuke ONO (JPN), a world champion who is quickly becoming a global star, who now primarily competes in the United States.

Ono's younger sister Konami, who was undefeated in the national tournament during her elementary school years, is just like her brother. She went on to attend Nippon Sport Science University Ohka High School in Tokyo, where she grew up steadily, winning the Inter-High School Championships in 2023 and also winning silver at the U17 World Championships the same year.

A shoulder injury caused her to slow down, but through repeated practice at Nippon Sport Science University she regained her former strength and won the East Japan Student Championships and the All Japan Amateur Championships [women's competition is open to university students as well] last week.

Konami ONO (JPN)Konami ONO (JPN), left, won a silver medal at the 2023 U17 World Championships. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Being coached by 2004 Athens Olympic bronze medalist Chikara TANABE and Kaori ICHO, she described herself as being in "the best environment."

Ono had been suffering from pain in the right shoulder and had to undergo a surgery in June last year. She had initially aimed for a comeback last year at the All Japan Championships [Emperor's Cup] in December, but was forced to withdraw. She returned to competition in April of this year at the Junior Queen's Cup U20, where she won one match, but lost the next match to a junior from high school by technical superiority.

"There were times when my shoulder would dislocate just by walking. It was a frustrating year," said Ono with her voice becoming teary, as if the pain had returned. "I'm happy because I was injured and couldn't wrestle for a while," she said but added, "I realized I need to practice more and get stronger."

Inspiration from brother Ono

While she was off the mat, Konami watched her brother Masanosuke win the gold medal at the U20 World Championships in 2024 and later become the world champion at 61kg at the Non-Olympic World Championships.

"It's not something I could ever imitate," she says, and although he is someone she should "admire" rather than "target," he is also someone close to her, having competed alongside since childhood. "I want to study hard and catch up," she says.

Konami ONO (JPN)Konami ONO (JPN) with world and Olympic champion Jordan BURROUGHS (USA). (Photo courtesy: Masaharu Ono) 

Earlier in spring, Konami accompanied her older brother to the United States, where he trains at Pennsylvania State University. She was still recovering and was unable to train, but she watched her brother's win against 2024 Paris Olympic silver medalist Spencer LEE (USA).

"I thought American wrestling was really amazing. It was inspiring," she said.

What made the biggest impression on Konami was how much fun her brother seemed to be having wrestling, even though he was in a foreign country.

"He really enjoys wrestling," she said. "I was amazed that there are people who love wrestling that much [laughs].

"My brother is my role model," she said. "I often watch his techniques and aspire to be like him."

What she finds particularly impressive is his speed, and the way he unconsciously develops his techniques. She herself sometimes has trouble deciding what to do next during a match, but her brother's body moves without a second thought. "I need to be able to come out with techniques one after the other," she said.

Training with Fujinami, Onishi

While Ono found his path in the United States, Konami is thinking of firmly establishing herself in Japan.

"I think that if I stay at Nippon Sport Science University, I will become really strong," she says, believing that his current environment is the place where she can develop the skills to compete on the world stage.

Not only is there an impressive coaching staff, but there are also world-class athletes such as 2024 Olympic champion Akari FUJINAMI (JPN) and Asian champion Sakura ONISHI (JPN) in the 57kg and 59kg weight class, respectively. Fujinami won gold at the Olympics in 53kg.

"I practice with Akari every day. She's really strong..." she said, admiringly, and when she's not sparring, she's always following Fujinami's movements to study them.

Since they are both in the 57kg weight class, could she challenge Fujinami as early as the All Japan Championships in December? To that question, she gave no clear answer, saying, "I'm not at the level where I can fight yet..." and said that she might move up a weight class as her body grows, so it's still up in the air, but perhaps the day is approaching when the middleweight trio, including Onishi, will take to the world stage.

Rather than setting big goals, her current goal is to "compete in many matches and enjoy wrestling." She says that she is actually enjoying it, so perhaps she is getting closer to her brother's level. Her next concrete goal is the All Japan Women's Open Championships in October.

She vowed to make a leap forward, saying, "I want to train both my body and mind and become even stronger. I want to become a star from Shimane Prefecture!"