BuchaWrestU23

Reigning U23 World Champion Cengiz and Cataraga Reach Semifinals

By Eric Olanowski

BUCHAREST, Romania (November 12) – The opening day semifinals at the 2018 U23 World Championships are set and four different nations will have a pair of wrestlers competing for a spot in tomorrow night’s finals. The four nations that have two wrestlers taking the mat tonight are Georgia, Moldova, Russia, and Turkey. 

Georgia is led by the five-time age level world champion, Zviadi PATARIDZE (GEO). Pataridze, who is coming off a thirteenth-place finish at the senior-level world championships is looking to improve on his runner-up finish at last year’s U23 World Championships where he was defeated in the finals by 2018 world champion, Sergey SEMENOV (RUS). 

In the 130kg semifinals, Pataridze will wrestle Finland’s Konsta MAEENPAEAE (FIN), who is looking to become his nations second U23 world finalist ever. 

Georgia’s second semifinalist is 2018 world bronze medalist, Nugzari TSURTSUMIA (GEO). He'll take on Balbai DORDOKOV (KGZ) for a spot in the 55kg finals.

Daniel CATARAGA (MDA) celebrates after making the U23 World semifinals (Photo by Max Rose-Fyne)

Moldova’s pair of finalists are Alexandru BICIU (MDA) and Daniel CATARAGA (MDA). 

In a rematch of the U23 European Championship finals, Biciu will try to avenge that loss to Mihai MIHUT (ROU) with a spot in the 63kg finals on the line, while reigning U23 world champion Daniel Cataraga will see Sajan SAJAN (IND) in the 77kg semifinals.

Russian National champion, Vitalii KABALOEV (RUS), and U23 European bronze medalist, Gazi KHALILOV (RUS), will wrestle in the 55kg and 87kg semifinals respectively. 

At 55kg, Kabaloev will wrestle 2015 junior world bronze medalist Amangali BEKBOLATOV (KAZ), and Khalilov will scrap against Cuba’s 2018 senior-level world team member, Daniel GREGORICH HECHAVARRIA (CUB), in the semifinals at 87kg. 

Meanwhile, Turkey’s reigning U23 world champion Fatih CENGIZ (TUR) and two-time U23 European finalist Osman YILDIRIM (TUR) will also wrestle for a spot in tomorrow night’s finals. 

In the 87kg semifinals, Cengiz will have to get past Rajbek BISULTANOV (DEN), while Yildirim will be pitted against Egypt's Abdellatif MOHAMED (EGY) in the 130kg semifinals.

The semifinals are set to begin at 18:00 PM local time at Bucharest’s Polyvalent Hall.

Semifinal Match-ups 
55kg
Balbai DORDOKOV (KGZ) vs. Nugzari TSURTSUMIA (GEO) 
Amangali BEKBOLATOV (KAZ) vs. Vitalii KABALOEV (RUS)

63kg
Katsuaki ENDO (JPN) vs. Meysam Karamali DALKHANI (IRI) 
Alexandru BICIU (MDA) vs. Mihai Radu MIHUT (ROU)

77kg
Rajbek Alvievich BISULTANOV (DEN) vs. Fatih CENGIZ (TUR) 
Sajan SAJAN (IND) vs. Daniel CATARAGA (MDA)

87kg
Semen NOVIKOV (UKR) vs. Islam ABBASOV (AZE) 
Daniel GREGORICH HECHAVARRIA (CUB) vs. Gazi KHALILOV (RUS)

130kg
Zviadi PATARIDZE (GEO) vs. Konsta MAEENPAEAE (FIN) 
Osman YILDIRIM (TUR) vs. Abdellatif Ahmed MOHAMED (EGY)

#WrestleZagreb

World Championships 2025 Greco-Roman Seeds and Entries

By United World Wrestling Press

ZAGREB, Croatia (August 19) -- The World Championships in Zagreb, Croatia will see 306 Greco-Roman wrestlers compete for the world titles.

The Greco-Roman competition will be towards in the end of the World Championships. For full schedule, click here.

FREESTYLE ENTRIES | WOMEN'S WRESTLING

Note: The entry are subject to change. Please refer to uww.org for latest updates

Zagreb

55kg

Seeded
No. 1 -- Eldaniz AZIZLI (AZE)
No. 2 -- Emin SEFERSHAEV (UWW)
No. 3 -- Denis MIHAI (ROU)
No. 4 -- Manvel KHACHATRYAN (ARM)
No. 5 -- Artiom DELEANU (MDA)
No. 6 -- Ulan MURATBEK UULU (KGZ)
No. 7 -- Ikhtiyor BOTIROV (UZB)
No. 8 -- Vakhtang LOLUA (GEO)

Unseeded
Huoying SHI (CHN)
Anil MOR (IND)
Payam AHMADI (IRI)
Sajjad ALBIDHAN (IRQ)
Taiga ONISHI (JPN)
Marlan MUKASHEV (KAZ)
Junsik YU (KOR)
Alexander CUEVAS (SGP)
Emin CAKIR (TUR)
Koriun SAHRADIAN (UKR)
Jayden RANEY (USA)

60kg

Seeded
No. 1 -- Se ung RI (PRK)
No. 2 -- Georgij TIBILOV (SRB)
No. 3 -- Nihat MAMMADLI (AZE)
No. 4 -- Sadyk LALAEV (UWW)
No. 5 -- Amiran SHAVADZE (GEO)
No. 6 -- Enes BASAR (TUR)
No. 7 -- Alisher GANIEV (UZB)
No. 8 -- Victor CIOBANU (MDA)

Unseeded
Abdelkarim FERGAT (ALG)
Hrachya POGHOSYAN (ARM)
Marat GARIPOV (BRA)
Huangsheng WU (CHN)
Rabby KILANDI (COD)
SURAJ (IND)
Ali AHMADI VAFA (IRI)
Melkamu FETENE (ISR)
Kaito INABA (JPN)
Aidos SULTANGALI (KAZ)
Akyl SULAIMANOV (KGZ)
Dahyun KIM (KOR)
Justas PETRAVICIUS (LTU)
Angel SEGURA (MEX)
Olivier SKRZYPCZAK (POL)
Vladyslav KUZKO (UKR)
Maxwell BLACK (USA)
Jamal VALIZADEH (UWW)

63kg

Seeded
No. 1 -- Karen ASLANYAN (ARM)
No. 2 -- Vitalie ERIOMENCO (MDA)
No. 3 -- Yerzhet ZHARLYKASSYN (KAZ)
No. 4 -- Kerem KAMAL (TUR)
No. 5 -- Mohammad KESHTKAR (IRI)
No. 6 -- Aytjan KHALMAKHANOV (UZB)
No. 7 -- Ellis COLEMAN (USA)
No. 8 -- Hanjae CHUNG (KOR)

Unseeded
Abdeldjebar DJEBBARI (ALG)
Murad MAMMADOV (AZE)
Nikolay VICHEV (BUL)
Baosheng HUANG (CHN)
Godefroid KALUBI (COD)
Ivan LIZATOVIC (CRO)
Andres MONTANO (ECU)
Moamen MOHAMED (EGY)
Stefan CLEMENT (FRA)
Leri ABULADZE (GEO)
Sunny KUMAR (IND)
Manato NAKAMURA (JPN)
Baiaman KARIMOV (KGZ)
Hector SANCHEZ (MEX)
Morten THORESEN (NOR)
Chan KIM (PRK)
Aref MOHAMMADI (QAT)
Azatjan ACHILOV (TKM)
Oleksandr HRUSHYN (UKR)
Sergey EMELIN (UWW)

67kg

Seeded
No. 1 -- Saeid ESMAEILI (IRI)
No. 2 -- Valentin PETIC (MDA)
No. 3 -- Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE)
No. 4 -- Luis ORTA (CUB)
No. 5 -- Joni KHETSURIANI (GEO)
No. 6 -- Slavik GALSTYAN (ARM)
No. 7 -- Razzak BEISHEKEEV (KGZ)
No. 8 -- Haavard JOERGENSEN (NOR)

Unseeded
Gjete PRENGA (ALB)
Tsuchika SHIMOYAMADAA (AUS)
Aker SCHMID (AUT)
Nestor ALMANZA (CHI)
Libin DING (CHN)
Roland KALAMBAYI (COD)
Julian HORTA (COL)
Dominik ETLINGER (CRO)
Gagik SNJOYAN (FRA)
Witalis LAZOVSKI (GER)
ANIL (IND)
Kyotaro SOGABE (JPN)
Din KOSHKAR (KAZ)
Minseong KWON (KOR)
Kristupas SLEIVA (LTU)
Osvaldo YANEZ SILVA (MEX)
Arslanbek SALIMOV (POL)
Man Gwang SON (PRK)
Sebastian NAD (SRB)
Andreas VETSCH (SUI)
Niklas OEHLEN (SWE)
Murat FIRAT (TUR)
Maksym YEVTUSHENKO (UKR)
Alston NUTTER (USA)
Daniial AGAEV (UWW)
Hleb MAKARANKA (UWW)
Shermukhammad SHARIBJANOV (UZB)
Neiser MARIMON HIDALGO (VEN)

72kg

Seeded
No. 1 -- Ulvi GANIZADE (AZE)
No. 2 -- Ali ARSALAN (SRB)
No. 3 -- Ibrahim GHANEM (FRA)
No. 4 -- Abdullo ALIEV (UZB)
No. 5 -- Iuri LOMADZE (GEO)
No. 6 -- Danial SOHRABI (IRI)
No. 7 -- Mihai PETIC (MDA)
No. 8 -- Krisztian VANCZA (HUN)

Unseeded
Abdelmalek MERABET (ALG)
Gor KHACHATRYAN (ARM)
Deyvid DIMITROV (BUL)
Xin CHEN (CHN)
Norvil BUKASA (COD)
Pavel PUKLAVEC (CRO)
Dalgat MAGOMEDOV (CZE)
Matias LIPASTI (FIN)
Luis BARRIOS ROCHEZ (HON)
Ankit GULIA (IND)
Taishi NARIKUNI (JPN)
Merey MAULITKANOV (KAZ)
Amantur ISMAILOV (KGZ)
Yeonghun NOH (KOR)
Aleksander MIELEWCZYK (POL)
Rafeeq ELNATSHEH (QAT)
Michael PORTMANN (SUI)
Didar ORAZBERDIYEV (TKM)
Selcuk CAN (TUR)
Parviz NASIBOV (UKR)
Alejandro SANCHO (USA)
Dmitrii ADAMOV (UWW)
Aliaksandr LIAVONCHYK (UWW)

77kg

Seeded
No. 1 -- Aram VARDANYAN (UZB)
No. 2 -- Sanan SULEYMANOV (AZE)
No. 3 -- Malkhas AMOYAN (ARM)
No. 4 -- Nao KUSAKA (JPN)
No. 5 -- Demeu ZHADRAYEV (KAZ)
No. 6 -- Ahmet YILMAZ (TUR)
No. 7 -- Yryskeldi MAKSATBEK UULU (KGZ)
No. 8 -- Sergei KUTUZOV (UWW)

Unseeded
Chawki DOULACHE (ALG)
Calebe CORREA FERREIRA (BRA)
Stoyan KUBATOV (BUL)
Chunyang PAN (CHN)
Harryson NSIAMAZA (COD)
Antonio KAMENJASEVIC (CRO)
Marcos SANCHEZ SILVA (ESP)
Jonni SARKKINEN (FIN)
Tigran GALUSTYAN (FRA)
Ramaz ZOIDZE (GEO)
Idris IBAEV (GER)
Robert FRITSCH (HUN)
AMAN (IND)
Alireza ABDEVALI (IRI)
Hyeonjin KANG (KOR)
Vilius SAVICKAS (LTU)
Alexandrin GUTU (MDA)
Mateusz BERNATEK (POL)
Saoud ALMEFQAEY (QAT)
Aleksa ILIC (SRB)
Albin OLOFSSON (SWE)
Lai Hsing YAO (TPE)
Ihor BYCHKOV (UKR)
Kamal BEY (USA)
Arman KARAPETYAN (UWW)

82kg

Seeded
No. 1 -- Erik SZILVASSY (HUN)
No. 2 -- Gela BOLKVADZE (GEO)
No. 3 -- Gurban GURBANOV (AZE)
No. 4 -- Mihail BRADU (MDA)
No. 5 -- Karlo KODRIC (CRO)
No. 6 -- Taizo YOSHIDA (JPN)
No. 7 -- Jalgasbay BERDIMURATOV (UZB)
No. 8 -- Ramon BETSCHART (SUI)

Unseeded
Samvel GRIGORYAN (ARM)
Ibrahim TABAEV (BEL)
Qingzhe LI (CHN)
Andy MUKENDI (COD)
Marek VRBA (CZE)
RAHUL (IND)
Gholamreza FAROKHI (IRI)
Luca DARIOZZI (ITA)
Almir TOLEBAYEV (KAZ)
Bekzat ORUNKUL UULU (KGZ)
Wonjong SUN (KOR)
Diego MACIAS (MEX)
Gabriel DINETTE (PHI)
Shahin BADAGHIMOFRAD (QAT)
Alexander JOHANSSON (SWE)
Alperen BERBER (TUR)
Ruslan ABDIIEV (UKR)
Beka MELELASHVILI (USA)
Adlet TIULIUBAEV (UWW)

87kg

Seeded
No. 1 -- David LOSONCZI (HUN)
No. 2 -- Turpal BISULTANOV (DEN)
No. 3 -- Aleksandr KOMAROV (SRB)
No. 4 -- Alireza MOHMADI (IRI)
No. 5 -- Islam ABBASOV (AZE)
No. 6 -- Exauce MUKUBU (NOR)
No. 7 -- Milad ALIRZAEV (UWW)
No. 8 -- Arkadiusz KULYNYCZ (POL)

Unseeded
Bachir SID AZARA (ALG)
Vigen NAZARYAN (ARM)
Erion RAMLJAK (AUS)
Daniel ALEKSANDROV (BUL)
Jianwen LUO (CHN)
Ivan HUKLEK (CRO)
Lasha GOBADZE (GEO)
Hannes WAGNER (GER)
Karan KAMBOJ (IND)
Soh SAKABE (JPN)
Islam YEVLOYEV (KAZ)
Asan ZHANYSHOV (KGZ)
Sanghyeok PARK (KOR)
Marcel STERKENBURG (NED)
Patrik GORDAN (ROU)
Damian VON EUW (SUI)
Hamza SERTCANLI (SWE)
Hasan KILINC (TUR)
Yaroslav FILCHAKOV (UKR)
Payton JACOBSON (USA)
Stanislau SHAFARENKA (UWW)
Mukhammadkodir RASULOV (UZB)
Luis AVENDANO ROJAS (VEN)

97kg

Seeded
No. 1 -- Mohammadhadi SARAVI (IRI)
No. 2 -- Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM)
No. 3 -- Alex SZOKE (HUN)
No. 4 -- Gabriel ROSILLO (CUB)
No. 5 -- Arvi SAVOLAINEN (FIN)
No. 6 -- Lucas LAZOGIANIS (GER)
No. 7 -- Uzur DZHUZUPBEKOV (KGZ)
No. 8 -- Giorgi MELIA (GEO)

Unseeded
Markus RAGGINGER (AUT)
Murad AHMADIYEV (AZE)
Zegang WANG (CHN)
Barthelemy TSHOSHA (COD)
Filip SMETKO (CRO)
Artur OMAROV (CZE)
Mohamed GABR (EGY)
Richard KARELSON (EST)
Kevin MEJIA (HON)
NITESH (IND)
Nikoloz KAKHELASHVILI (ITA)
Yuri NAKAZATO (JPN)
Rakhat BERZHANOV (KAZ)
Minho LEE (KOR)
Mindaugas VENCKAITIS (LTU)
Tyrone STERKENBURG (NED)
Gerard KURNICZAK (POL)
Aleksandar STJEPANETIC (SWE)
Eduard BABENOSHEV (TJK)
Amanberdi AGAMAMMEDOV (TKM)
Abdul CEBI (TUR)
Vladen KOZLIUK (UKR)
Michial FOY (USA)
Kiryl MASKEVICH (UWW)
Artur SARGSIAN (UWW)

130kg

Seeded
No. 1 -- Amin MIRZAZADEH (IRI)
No. 2 -- Hamza BAKIR (TUR)
No. 3 -- Alimkhan SYZDYKOV (KAZ)
No. 4 -- Heiki NABI (EST)
No. 5 -- Abdellatif MOHAMED (EGY)
No. 6 -- Mantas KNYSTAUTAS (LTU)
No. 7 -- Darius VITEK (HUN)
No. 8 -- Beka KANDELAKI (AZE)

Unseeded
Razmik KURDYAN (ARM)
Wenhao JIANG (CHN)
Marko KOSCEVIC (CRO)
Oscar PINO (CUB)
Elias KUOSMANEN (FIN)
Sulkhan BUIDZE (GEO)
Jello KRAHMER (GER)
Gino AVILA DILBERT (HON)
SONU (IND)
Ali AL SHARUEE (IRQ)
Danila SOTNIKOV (ITA)
Yuta NARA (JPN)
Nurmanbet RAIMALY UULU (KGZ)
Seungchan LEE (KOR)
Nambardagva BATBAYAR (MGL)
Jacob LOGAARD (SWE)
Mykola KUCHMII (UKR)
Cohlton SCHULTZ (USA)
Pavel HLINCHUK (UWW)
Sergei SEMENOV (UWW)
Moises PEREZ (VEN)