#WrestleZagreb

Tazhudinov in search for answers despite bronze medal

Thursday, September 18, 2025 - 08:45 By Vinay Siwach

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ZAGREB, Croatia (September 16) -- A World Championships medal might be a career milestone for most wrestlers, but for Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN), the bronze he won in Zagreb is a prize he hopes to forget.

Coming into the tournament in Zagreb, Tazhudinov was considered as the best wrestler in the world and the favorite to win the gold medal at the 97kg. He had built a reputation of a wrestler who bulldozes anyone who stands in his path, as he did to win the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

But Tazhudinov was anything but an Olympic and world champion in Zagreb.

He almost dropped his quarterfinal match with Mogomed KURBANOV (UWW), needing a front headlock roll to survive. The thrill of victory was short lived, as Amirali AZARPIRA (IRI) showed that Tazhudinov is indeed human, winning their semifinal 5-2 to end Tazhudinov's golden run.

"My initial goal was the gold medal," Tazhudinov said. "I wanted to become a two-time world champion. Unfortunately, it didn't happen -- maybe it was meant to be this way. It's very painful to lose."

As he searched for answers for his performance, Tazhudinov said that recent shoulder surgery may have affected his wrestling at the World Championships.

"I was coming back after surgery, after a serious injury," Tazhudinov said. "Maybe that had an effect, I don't even know. It took me a very long time to get myself together. At the beginning, training sessions were very difficult."

Tazhudinov returned from surgery to win two gold medals in a one-month span -- first at the Spain Grand Prix and then at the Budapest Ranking Series in June.

After the semifinal loss to Azarpira, Tazhudinov returned the next night for the bronze-medal bout with 34-year-old Akhmed MAGAMAEV (BUL), which only further put Tazhudinov under the scanner despite winning the match.

Magamaev was on the activity clock when he bodylocked Tazhudinov and slammed him for four points just before the 30 seconds elapsed. Tazhudinov rebounded with a takedown to make it 4-2 at the break.

He began the second period with another takedown to make it 4-4, but Magamaev continued the scramble and both wrestlers were awarded two exposure points each, putting the Bulgarian ahead 6-6 on criteria.

A counter lift to exposure gave Tazhudinov the lead for the first time, 8-6, and as Magamaev tried doing the counter lift, he gave up two as Tazhudinov blocked him. The final scramble, which gave Tazhudinov an 11-10 win, was challenged by Bulgaria. Eventually, it was scored 13-10.

Despite winning the bout, Tazhudinov shook his head as he left the mat, perhaps surprised himself by his lackluster performance.

"Honestly, I don't even know what went wrong," he said. "It means I wasn't well enough prepared. It means I wasn't in my best shape. It means I need to work even more."

Tazhudinov said he had difficulty preparing mentally for the bronze-medal bout after the loss to Azarpira.

"After the semifinal loss, I couldn't motivate myself at all for the bronze-medal match," he said. "I don't even know how I stepped onto the mat. I wasn't mentally ready to wrestle at all, and that's why the match was so difficult.

"But I will not give up -- I'll go home, work on my mistakes, and train even harder to come back stronger."

#WrestleZagreb

World Championships 2025 Greco-Roman Seeds and Entries

Tuesday, August 19, 2025 - 13:05 By United World Wrestling Press

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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)