#WrestlePontevedra

U20 World Championships 2024 Entries

By United World Wrestling Press

PONTEVEDRA, Spain (August 26) -- The U20 World Championships begin September 2 in Pontevedra, Spain. Close to 700 wrestlers will be participating in 30 weight classes with Greco-Roman kicking off proceedings followed by Women's Wrestling and finishing with Freestyle.

The action will be live on uww.org and the UWW app from September 2.

Freestyle

57kg
Herbert AKAPIAN (AIN)
Lev PAVLOV (AIN)
Hayko GASPARYAN (AZE)
Vasif BAGHIROV (ARM)
Caio DUARTE ARON (BRA)
Alessandro IEMMA PLAZA (ESP)
Rassoul GALBOURAEV (FRA)
Luka GVINJILIA (GEO)
Leon FERNANDES ZINSER (GER)
ANKUSH (IND)
Milad VALIZADEH (IRI)
Shotaro MATSUMURA (JPN)
Myktybek UKIMETULY (KAZ)
Baiaman KERIMBEKOV (KGZ)
Marcel ANDRONACHE (MDA)
Roberto MARTINEZ (MEX)
Kabe MATJANOV (TKM)
Bekir KESER (TUR)
Artem MARTIUSHEV (UKR)
Luke LILLEDAHL (USA)

61kg
Andrei MIDLOVETS (AIN)
Edik HARUTYUNYAN (ARM)
Jamal ABBASOV (AZE)
Benjamin SOUZA ZUCKERMAN (BRA)
Blayne HELOU (CAN)
DENGBURILE (CHN)
Abdelrahman MAHMOUD (EGY)
Marc ARIAS ALVAREZ (ESP)
Tornike ASABASHVILI (GEO)
BHUVANESH (IND)
Ebrahim KHARI (IRI)
Danny LUBRANO (ITA)
Masanosuke ONO (JPN)
Abdinur NURLANBEK (KAZ)
Azat SHARSHENALIEV (KGZ)
Dohyung KIM (KOR)
Vasili LAZAREV (MDA)
Enrique OLVERA RODRIGUEZ (MEX)
Jacob BRUNNER (PUR)
Sandro HUNGERBUEHLER (SUI)
Robert MESZAROS (SVK)
Amir HAMAYUN (TKM)
Tolga OZBEK (TUR)
Viktor BOROHAN (UKR)
Marcus BLAZE (USA)

65kg
Dzmitry SHVARTS (AIN)
Adam ARKHIEV (AIN)
Miguel ANTONIO (ANG)
Arman MUSIKYAN (ARM)
Luca HARTMANN (AUT)
Aykhan ABDULLAZADA (AZE)
Xin WANG (CHN)
Felipe FERRUSOLA MILLA (ESP)
Khizir DASIYEV (FRA)
Nikoloz BESHIDZE (GEO)
Zoltan MIZSEI (HUN)
Nikhil PILANAGOILA (IND)
Ali KHORRAMDEL (IRI)
Alessandro NINI (ITA)
Makoto HOSOKAWA (JPN)
Shattyk ALAIDAR (KAZ)
Zalkarbek TABALDIEV (KGZ)
Ion BERGHI (MDA)
Diego PERAZA AGUILAR (MEX)
Kaige BROWN (NZL)
Dominik JAGUSZ (POL)
Rafael GARCIA MORALES (PUR)
Daniel SANDU (ROU)
Abdullah TOPRAK (TUR)
Valentyn HRYHORYSHYN (UKR)
Bowen BASSETT (USA)

70kg
Aliaksandr KAMBAYEU (AIN)
Magomed BAITUKAEV (AIN)
Abderrahmane BENHAMADI (ALG)
Manaceu NGONDA (ANG)
Vladimir AZARYAN (ARM)
Alexander SEIWALD (AUT)
Ramik HEYBATOV (AZE)
Sehajpal SIDHU (CAN)
Youhua LIN (CHN)
Omar MOURAD (EGY)
Denis KODAKOV GIL (ESP)
Goga OTINASHVILI (GEO)
Rostislav LEICHT (GER)
Georgios IOAKEIMIDIS (GRE)
Alex GOMBOS (HUN)
Nilesh NADIPARWALE (IND)
Ali KARAMPOUR (IRI)
Daniel KORKIN (ISR)
Daniele GUBBIOTTI (ITA)
Ryoya YAMASHITA (JPN)
Aikyn BOLATULY (KAZ)
Aden SAKYBAEV (KGZ)
Alexandr GAIDARLI (MDA)
Gabriel SANCHEZ ZEPEDA (MEX)
Ankh Erdene ALTANGEREL (MGL)
Zelimkhan MUTSUKHAEV (POL)
Umut ERDOGAN (TUR)
Bohdan OLIINYK (UKR)
Peter DUKE (USA)

74kg
Muslim MAKHMUDAU (AIN)
Tamir ESHINIMAEV (AIN)
Samvel GEVORGYAN (ARM)
Trent JAEGGI (AUS)
Muhamed BEKTEMIROV (AUT)
Aghanazar NOVRUZOV (AZE)
Paulo GONCALVES (BRA)
Nicholas HOOPER (CAN)
Ning WANG (CHN)
Khaled MOHAMED (EGY)
Fabricio REYES (ESP)
Nikolai TARASSOV (EST)
Seyfulla ITAEV (FRA)
Giorgi RIGVAVA (GEO)
Theocharis KOUGIOUMTSIDIS (GRE)
GAURAV (IND)
Ali Abbas REZAEI (IRI)
Raul CASO (ITA)
Shingo ANDO (JPN)
Yegor ANCHUGIN (KAZ)
Baitemir TULEBERDIEV (KGZ)
Egzon XHONI (KOS)
Ion MARCU (MDA)
Tolui MUNKHBAT (MGL)
Antoni MAJCHRZAK (POL)
Gigi SUBTIRICA (ROU)
Kakamyrat ASHYROV (TKM)
Yi Jie LIN (TPE)
Ibrahim YAPRAK (TUR)
Rostyslav PRUS (UKR)
Ladarion LOCKETT (USA)

79kg
Dzmitry LUKASHUK (AIN)
Said SAIDULOV (AIN)
Houssem OUCIF (ALG)
Aren ISRAYELYAN (ARM)
Mukhammad INSHAPIEV (AUT)
Emin GOJAYEV (AZE)
Bogdan DJANDIGOV (BEL)
Leandro ARAUJO (BRA)
Radomir STOYANOV (BUL)
Jinju LI (CHN)
Moises BELLO ALVAREZ (ESP)
Adam KAKHRIEV (FRA)
Giorgi GOGRITCHIANI (GEO)
Gregor EIGENBRODT (GER)
AMIT (IND)
Mahdi YOUSEFIHA (IRI)
Ryunosuke KAMIYA (JPN)
Yerkhan BEXULTANOV (KAZ)
Adilet AKYLBEKOV (KGZ)
Youmin JANG (KOR)
Paulius LESCAUSKAS (LTU)
Ion MARCU (MDA)
Bartlomiej NOWAKOWSKI (POL)
Kevin OLAVARRIA (PUR)
Alp BEGENJOV (TKM)
Bekir OVEC (TUR)
Oleksandr MAMROSH (UKR)
Zackary RYDER (USA)

86kg
Aliaksei KULAKOU (AIN)
Ibragim KADIEV (AIN)
Sadig MUSTAFAZADE (AZE)
Rohit BAL (CAN)
Pengcheng WANG (CHN)
Matteo MONTEIRO (CPV)
Azael GARCIA (ESP)
Vladislav RJABTSEV (EST)
Mohammad UMKHADJIEV (FRA)
Tornike SAMKHARADZE (GEO)
Peter ZSIVNOVSZKI (HUN)
SACHIN (IND)
Abolfazl RAHMANI (IRI)
Gabriele NICCOLINI (ITA)
Ryogo ASANO (JPN)
Navruz AKHMEDKHANOV (KAZ)
Akhmat ZHAPPUEV (KGZ)
Ho Yeon HWANG (KOR)
Alexandru BORS (MDA)
Batbilguun NAADAMBAT (MGL)
Dovletgeldi MYRADOV (TKM)
Ahmet YAGAN (TUR)
Illia PLAKHTYR (UKR)
Joshua BARR (USA)

92kg
Vadzim BANDARKOU (AIN)
Mustafagadzhi MALACHDIBIROV (AIN)
Hamza KACEDI (ALG)
Anar JAFARLI (AZE)
Sali SALIEV (BUL)
Kai QIU (CHN)
Mykola TOLMACHOV (ESP)
Konstantine PETRIASHVILI (GEO)
Grigorios SARIDIS (GRE)
Musza ARSUNKAEV (HUN)
Amit SINGH (IND)
Amirreza DALIRI (IRI)
Nikita GOUBARETS (ISR)
Sorato KANAZAWA (JPN)
Kamil KURUGLIYEV (KAZ)
Iakov CHAPLIN (KGZ)
Grigori TOMAILI (MDA)
Delgerdalai DEMBEREL (MGL)
David JAKSIK (SVK)
Soltan BEGENJOV (TKM)
Fatih ALTUNBAS (TUR)
Oleh KUZMENKO (UKR)
Connor MIRASOLA (USA)

97kg
Shakhman NUKHAEV (AIN)
Miles DALY (AUS)
Ravan MUSAYEV (AZE)
Tejvir DHINSA (CAN)
Tuxige TUXIGE (CHN)
Enrique JIMENEZ (ESP)
Ramini GULITASHVILI (GEO)
Nikolaos KARAVANOS (GRE)
Bence VERESS (HUN)
Sahil JAGLAN (IND)
Abolfazl BABALOO (IRI)
Genki HOKI (JPN)
Rizabek AITMUKHAN (KAZ)
Aitenir MAKSATOV (KGZ)
Constantin BUZA (MDA)
Adam JAKSIK (SVK)
Rifat GIDAK (TUR)
Kostiantyn ZADOIANCHUK (UKR)
Justin RADEMACHER (USA)

125kg
Stsiapan MANDRYK (AIN)
Khabib DAVUDGADZHIEV (AIN)
Khachatur KHACHATRYAN (ARM)
Yusif DURSUNOV (AZE)
Omogbai ASEKOMHE (CAN)
Yiwei ZHUANG (CHN)
Aleksandre ABRAMISHVILI (GEO)
Jaspooran SINGH (IND)
Amirreza MASOUMI (IRI)
Hosei FUJITA (JPN)
Alikhan KUSSAINOV (KAZ)
Baejoon JANG (KOR)
Ralfs LUKINS (LAT)
Nicolae STRATULAT (MDA)
Nambardagva BATBAYAR (MGL)
Ethan VERGARA (PUR)
Hakan BUYUKCINGIL (TUR)
Ivan MYROSHNYCHENKO (UKR)
Benjamin KUETER (USA)

Sowaka UCHIDA (JPN)Sowaka UCHIDA (JPN) will make her U20 debut in Pontevedra. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Women's Wrestling

50kg
Sviatlana KATENKA (AIN)
Violetta BIRIUKOVA (AIN)
Aysel MAMMADZADA (AZE)
Shahreen GULACHA (CAN)
Yu ZHANG (CHN)
Maria CAZALLA (ESP)
MUSKAN (IND)
Haruna MORIKAWA (JPN)
Laura GANIKYZY (KAZ)
Yorlenis MORAN (PAN)
Joanna SAMSONOWICZ (POL)
Nipuni WASANA (SRI)
Svenja JUNGO (SUI)
Fatma KIZMAZ (TUR)
Aida KERYMOVA (UKR)
Anaya FALCON (USA)

53kg
Valeryia MIKITSICH (AIN)
Olga OVCHINNIKOVA (AIN)
Fatima BOUCHIBI (ALG)
Asmar JANKURTARAN (AZE)
Nikol KRUMOVA (BUL)
Jin ZHANG (CHN)
Carla JAUME SOLER (ESP)
Liliana KAPUVARI (HUN)
JYOTI (IND)
Saki YUMIYA (JPN)
Yengilik KABYLBEK (KAZ)
Yusneiry AGRAZAL (PAN)
Ilona VALCHUK (POL)
Shammilka MIRANDA (PUR)
Ana ROTARU (ROU)
Nethmi AHINSA (SRI)
Reka HEGEDUS (SVK)
Ya Hsin CHEN (TPE)
Hava KONCA (TUR)
Sofiia MARCHENKO (UKR)
Brianna GONZALEZ (USA)

55kg
Aliaksandra BULAVA (AIN)
Ekaterina CHIKANOVA (AIN)
Nargiz SAMADOVA (AZE)
Madisyn GROF (CAN)
Liuxuan CHEN (CHN)
Pau GIMENO FRANCO (ESP)
Dhanshri FAND (IND)
Karina HONDA (JPN)
Aliana MAKHAMBETOVA (KAZ)
Josefina RAMIREZ (MEX)
Khaliun BYAMBASUREN (MGL)
Amelia TOMALA (POL)
Milica SEKULOVIC (SRB)
Yu Syun CHEN (TPE)
Tuba DEMIR (TUR)
Diana KOTVYTSKA (UKR)
Cristelle RODRIGUEZ (USA)

57kg
Marta HETMANAVA (AIN)
Dolzhon TSYNGUEVA (AIN)
Annika FINES (CAN)
Xinyue LU (CHN)
Ainara PORTILLO GARCIA (ESP)
Romaissa EL KHARROUBI (FRA)
Marie TRAYER (GER)
Gerda TEREK (HUN)
NEHA (IND)
Sowaka UCHIDA (JPN)
Shugyla OMIRBEK (KAZ)
Yubeen LEE (KOR)
Bertha ROJAS (MEX)
Nomin Erdene MYAGMARSUREN (MGL)
Nikola WISNIEWSKA (POL)
Georgiana LIRCA (ROU)
Jana PETROVIC (SRB)
Lara GORCS (SVK)
Pei Ying LIAO (TPE)
Gulsum BINGOL (TUR)
Alina FILIPOVYCH (UKR)
Carissa QURESHI (USA)

59kg
Uladzislava KUDZIN (AIN)
Elena KUROVA (AIN)
Ruzanna MAMMADOVA (AZE)
Yifan ZHU (CHN)
Rosa MOLINA RODRIGUEZ (ESP)
Luna ROTHENBERGER (GER)
Viktoria BORSOS (HUN)
KOMAL (IND)
Sakura ONISHI (JPN)
Angelina PERVUKHINA (KAZ)
Aitolkun MEDET KYZY (KGZ)
Anna TIELIEGINA (LTU)
Madalina PRISACARI (MDA)
Nicola WASILEWSKA (POL)
Sevim AKBAS (TUR)
Anna KARBOVSKA (UKR)
Alexis JANIAK (USA)

62kg
Marharyta KOUSH (AIN)
Olga IATSENKO (AIN)
Hiunai HURBANOVA (AZE)
Bronwyn MACGREGOR (CAN)
Shuang HAN (CHN)
Tereza MRACKOVA (CZE)
Farah HUSSEIN (EGY)
Candela CASTRO GREDIAGA (ESP)
Naemi LEISTNER (GER)
Anna FOTIADOU (GRE)
NITIKA (IND)
Immacolata DANISE (ITA)
Nagisa ITO (JPN)
Sofya ZMAZNEVA (KAZ)
Tancholpon KYBALBEKOVA (KGZ)
Seoyeon BAE (KOR)
Melanie JIMENEZ (MEX)
Khulan BYAMBASUREN (MGL)
Nicola WASILEWSKA (POL)
Annatina LIPPUNER (SUI)
Karin SAMUELSSON (SWE)
Yen Yi LI (TPE)
Selvi ILYASOGLU (TUR)
Iryna BONDAR (UKR)
Cadence DIDUCH (USA)

65kg
Aliaksandra ZHUK (AIN)
Margarita SALNAZARIAN (AIN)
Sofia VEMBA (ANG)
Zaixue RUI (CHN)
Mouda HAMDOUN (EGY)
Elvira MARTINEZ-BARQUERO (ESP)
Eniko ELEKES (HUN)
SARIKA (IND)
Nana IKEHATA (JPN)
Korlan AMANOVA (KAZ)
Michelle OLEA RUIZ (MEX)
Odgerel ERDENE OCHIR (MGL)
Alicja NOWOSAD (POL)
Masa PEROVIC (SRB)
Viktoria FOELDESIOVA (SVK)
Beyza AKKUS (TUR)
Yuliia PAKHNIUK (UKR)
Reese LARRAMENDY (USA)

68kg
Viktoryia RADZKOVA (AIN)
Alina SHEVCHENKO (AIN)
Vanessa KEEFE (CAN)
Maria CIVANTOS VILCHEZ (ESP)
SRISHTI (IND)
Seia MOCHINAGA (JPN)
Beibit SEIDUALY (KAZ)
Gulnura TASHTANBEKOVA (KGZ)
Luciana BEDA (MDA)
Karolina DOMASZUK (POL)
Maria PANTIRU (ROU)
Emilija JAKOVLJEVIC (SRB)
Yan Ju JIANG (TPE)
Ayse ERKAN (TUR)
Anna POSHTAR (UKR)
Caitlyn DAVIS (USA)

72kg
Krystsina KURKINA (AIN)
Kristina BRATCHIKOVA (AIN)
Tehani BLAIS (CAN)
Yuqi LIU (CHN)
Gia KASTELAN (CRO)
Yasmin ALONSO EZ ZAHIR (ESP)
Noemi OSVATH NAGY (HUN)
MANJU (IND)
Ai SAKAI (JPN)
Zhibekzhan SABYRZHANOVA (KAZ)
Kaiyrkul SHARSHEBAEVA (KGZ)
Edna JIMENEZ (MEX)
Tselmuun OTGONBAT (MGL)
Karolina JAWORSKA (POL)
Elvira ERSSON (SWE)
Haticenur SARI (TUR)
Iryna ZABLOTSKA (UKR)
Jasmine ROBINSON (USA)

76kg
Diana TITOVA (AIN)
Meile ZHANG (CHN)
Veronika NYIKOS (HUN)
Jyoti BERWAL (IND)
Chisato YOSHIDA (JPN)
Alina YERTOSTIK (KAZ)
Tuvshinjargal TARAV (MGL)
Patrycja CUBER (POL)
Elmira YASIN (TUR)
Mariia ORLEVYCH (UKR)
Naomi SIMON (USA)

Achiko BOLKVADZE (GEO)Achiko BOLKVADZE (GEO) will look to defend his 87kg gold in Greco-Roman. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Jake Kirkman)

Greco-Roman

55kg
Alibek AMIROV (AIN)
Adel FEGAS (ALG)
Armen GEVORGYAN (ARM)
Rahim HASANOV (AZE)
Huoying SHI (CHN)
Filip BARTOSIK (CZE)
James CASTANO ARTEAGA (ESP)
Giorgi KOCHALIDZE (GEO)
Panteleimon PISSAKIS (GRE)
Peter TOTOK (HUN)
Anil MOR (IND)
Ali AHMADI VAFA (IRI)
Daisuke MORISHITA (JPN)
Aibek AITBEKOV (KAZ)
Barsbek ASANKOZHOEV (KGZ)
Hassan ALHARTHI (KSA)
Maxim SARMANOV (MDA)
Servan CINAR (TUR)
Ivan STEFANSKYI (UKR)
Isaiah CORTEZ (USA)

60kg
Papik DZHAVADIAN (AIN)
Armen SUKIASYAN (ARM)
Tural AHMADOV (AZE)
Kristiyan MILENKOV (BUL)
Yunlong HU (CHN)
Ahmed SHABAN (EGY)
David DIAZ SANCHEZ (ESP)
Lucas LO GRASSO (FRA)
Tamazi GLONTI (GEO)
Ilias ZAIRAKIS (GRE)
Edmond DOMOKOS (HUN)
Mohit NARWAL (IND)
Mohammadmehdi GHOLAMPOUR (IRI)
Kohaku KANAZAWA (JPN)
Ongdassyn KHAMITOV (KAZ)
Said TURATBEK UULU (KGZ)
Munthir JANDU (KSA)
Alin MURARU (MDA)
Daniel GUEVARA PIMENTEL (MEX)
Dominik PARTYKA (POL)
Eli KIRK (PUR)
Adam SILVERIN (SWE)
Servet ANGI (TUR)
Yevhen POKOVBA (UKR)
Cory LAND (USA)

63kg
Erzu ZAKRIEV (AIN)
Yurik HOVEYAN (ARM)
Mahammad SHUKURZADE (AZE)
Hristo VALENTINOV (BUL)
Zhiyu WANG (CHN)
Matej REBIC (CRO)
Matous JANKOVIC (CZE)
Adham ELSAYED (EGY)
Mario TRUJILLO CORDERO (ESP)
Ilian AINAOUI (FRA)
Anri KHOZREVANIDZE (GEO)
NISHANT (IND)
Erfan JARKANI (IRI)
Shina YASUMI (JPN)
Bagdat SABAZ (KAZ)
Emirlan DUISHENALIEV (KGZ)
Byeonggi SEO (KOR)
Pavel DENISENCO (MDA)
Zachary MARRERO (PUR)
Dejan BERKEC (SRB)
Mathias MARTINETTI (SUI)
William EKEROT (SWE)
Enes ULKU (TUR)
Maksym CHUHUIEV (UKR)
Otto BLACK (USA)

67kg
Grair OGANESIAN (AIN)
Gaspar TERTERYAN (ARM)
Isa BEKTEMIROV (AUT)
Tavakgul HAZIYEV (AZE)
Dimitar GEORGIEV (BUL)
Kang ZHEN (CHN)
Daniel CAMPOS PEREZ (ESP)
Artur JEREMEJEV (EST)
Rati KHOZREVANIDZE (GEO)
Attila JOZSA (HUN)
Sachin SACHIN (IND)
Ahmadreza MOHSEN NEZHAD (IRI)
Kojiro HASEGAWA (JPN)
Yussuf ASHRAPOV (KAZ)
Baiaman KARIMOV (KGZ)
Kipras PUIKIS (LTU)
Vladimir PASCARI (MDA)
Piotr SKALIK (POL)
Iosif IONESCU (ROU)
Fritz REBER (SUI)
Tim EKLUND BERGFALK (SWE)
Sunat ABDULLOEV (TJK)
Ramazan Can AKTAS (TUR)
Imed KHUDZHADZE (UKR)
Joel ADAMS (USA)

72kg
Illia VALEUSKI (AIN)
Zaur BESLEKOEV (AIN)
Ashot KHACHATRYAN (ARM)
Ruslan NURULLAYEV (AZE)
Wenhao HU (CHN)
Luka IVANCIC (CRO)
Dalgat MAGOMEDOV (CZE)
Moustafa ALAMELDIN (EGY)
Gonzalo CAPARROS DIEGUEZ (ESP)
Max HRISTJUK (EST)
Luka KAJANNE (FIN)
Nika GLONTI (GEO)
Magomed KARTOJEV (GER)
Arionas KOLITSOPOULOS (GRE)
Aakash PUNIA (IND)
Ahoura BOUVEIRI PIANI (IRI)
Hajime KIKUTA (JPN)
Alikhan DURSUNOV (KAZ)
Abdulaziz ASKARBEKOV (KGZ)
Gunhee LEE (KOR)
Rokas CEPAUSKAS (LTU)
Vasile ZABICA (MDA)
Hubert SIDORUK (POL)
Leonard IURASCU (ROU)
Zalan PEK (SRB)
Denny CHJAN (SWE)
Muhammed Ali GOCMEN (TUR)
Petro SHAFRANSKYI (UKR)
Patrick Thomas BRACKETT (USA)

77kg
Magomed IARBILOV (AIN)
Mohamed MAMMERI (ALG)
Henrik GEVORGYAN (ARM)
Davud MAMMADOV (AZE)
Ibrahim TABAEV (BEL)
Spartak VALENTINOV (BUL)
Jixin YU (CHN)
Mihael LUKAC (CRO)
Jose TESO SOBA (ESP)
Vikke TARKKIO (FIN)
Tornike MIKELADZE (GEO)
Levente LEVAI (HUN)
Nishant PHOGAT (IND)
Alireza ABDEVALI (IRI)
Yujin TAKAHASHI (JPN)
Dias SEITKALIYEV (KAZ)
Nurel DUISHONBEKOV (KGZ)
Alexandru SOLOVEI (MDA)
Iulian LUNGU (ROU)
Ognjen JAKOVLJEVIC (SRB)
Karl BAFF (SWE)
Erkan TUGCU (TUR)
Irfan MIRZOIEV (UKR)
Aydin MCELHINNEY (USA)

82kg
Abdurakhman ABDULKADYROV (AIN)
Dhiyaeddine REMMACHE (ALG)
Erik TER MATEVOSYAN (ARM)
Ismayil RZAYEV (AZE)
Shichang ZHENG (CHN)
Antonio LUKAC (CRO)
Jan DUSEK (CZE)
Mahmoud IBRAHIM (EGY)
Jesper HAERKAENEN (FIN)
Anri DAVITADZE (GEO)
Anton BUCHHOLZ (GER)
Odysseas ROUNGERIS (GRE)
Dominik CZUCZOR (HUN)
PRINCE (IND)
Mohammad ARJMAND (IRI)
Taizo YOSHIDA (JPN)
Islam YEVLOYEV (KAZ)
Erlan MARS UULU (KGZ)
Sukmin YOON (KOR)
Mahmoud HAWSAWI (KSA)
Stanislaw FUSSY (POL)
Razvan PAVALASC (ROU)
Milos PEROVIC (SRB)
Alperen BERBER (TUR)
Ramazan PASHAIEV (UKR)
Arian KHOSRAVY (USA)

87kg
Mansur SAITOV (AIN)
Roberto NSANGUA (ANG)
Ruben GEVORGYAN (ARM)
Joju SAMADOV (AZE)
Kauan FERREIRA GOMES (BRA)
Andrey ATANASOV (BUL)
Jie WANG (CHN)
Elias LYYSKI (FIN)
Achiko BOLKVADZE (GEO)
Eleftherios PAPPAS (GRE)
ROHIT (IND)
Mohammad Hadi SEYDI (IRI)
Reon KAKEGAWA (JPN)
Temirlan TURDAKYN (KAZ)
Asan ZHANYSHOV (KGZ)
Wojciech IWANOWSKI (POL)
Patrik GORDAN (ROU)
Ruben VAN WYK (RSA)
Andrija MIHAJLOVIC (SRB)
Hamza SERTCANLI (SWE)
Emre BACAKSIZ (TUR)
Pavlo TORIANYK (UKR)
Ryder ROGOTZKE (USA)
Brian RUIZ MARIN (VEN)

97kg
Anatolii AVERIN (AIN)
Arshak GEGHAMYAN (ARM)
Mikayil ISMAYILOV (AZE)
Qianyi SUN (CHN)
Mohamed AHMED (EGY)
Rasmus LIISMA (EST)
Saba PURTSELADZE (GEO)
Darius KIEFER (GER)
Christos CHATSATOUROV (GRE)
NAMAN (IND)
Hamidreza KESHTKAR (IRI)
Issa KIKUCHI (JPN)
Rakhat BERZHANOV (KAZ)
Bekzhan ZHUMABEKOV (KGZ)
Dorian TREJO OLGUIN (MEX)
Sebastian WARCHOL (POL)
Branko DUKIC (SRB)
Ahmet EREMEKTER (TUR)
Yehor YAKUSHENKO (UKR)
Soren HERZOG (USA)

130kg
Aleksandr MELEKHOV (AIN)
Aramayis HARUTYUNYAN (ARM)
Leonhard JUNGER (AUT)
Mazaim MARDANOV (AZE)
Alan DZABIEV (BUL)
Jorawar Singh DHINSA (CAN)
Shaoyi YANG (CHN)
Marko MILANOVIC (CRO)
Artur SARKISJAN (CZE)
Saba CHILASHVILI (GEO)
Rafail GKIRNIS (GRE)
Laszlo DARABOS (HUN)
Uttam RANA (IND)
Abolfazl FATHITAZANGI (IRI)
Kazushi IWASAKI (JPN)
Jokhar UZAROV (KAZ)
Samagan ORMONOV (KGZ)
Seunggyu MIN (KOR)
Ethan VERGARA (PUR)
Marko SUPIC (SRB)
Cemal BAKIR (TUR)
Artur BOICHUK (UKR)
Aden ATTAO (USA)

#WrestleZagreb

Rising Star Hendrickson Aims to Make Splash in Senior Worlds Debut

By Ken Marantz

ZAGREB, Croatia (September 12) -- Sitting on the opposite end of the dais from the reigning world champion, Wyatt HENDRICKSON (USA) expressed confidence that they will be meeting again soon, but in much closer quarters.

If all goes according to plan for both wrestlers, Hendrickson will face Amir Hossein ZARE (IRI) in the semifinals of freestyle 125kg when the World Championships get started on Saturday in Zagreb.

"This is my first senior-level World Championships and I'm very grateful for that," Hendrickson said at a press conference on Friday that was also attended by Zare. "But I also think that the opportunity presented itself because I have grown as a wrestler. I've risen to the level of my competition, and I'm ready to test myself against the best in the world."

It doesn't get much better than Zare when talk of the heavyweights comes up. The two-time Olympic medalist is gunning for his second straight world title and third overall, all still at the tender age of 24.

Hendrickson, also 24 (in fact, he is three days older than Zare), may lack the experience on the senior level, but in recent years, he has raised his game enough to join the handful of foes with the potential to knock of the great Zare.

The American said his aim is to "continue to not only just wrestle at the highest level, but prove I'm meant to be here. Wrestling is something I've been doing since I was 5 years old and all that wrestling has brought me to be here today in Zagreb."

After placing fifth at the 2021 world juniors (U20), Hendrickson struck gold at the world U23 in 2023. In May this year, he capped his senior-level debut with a victory at the Pan-Am Championships.

But his most impressive triumph, and one that made the world take notice, came in a different format of the sport. In March, he stunned Tokyo Olympic champion Gable STEVESON (USA) in the final of the NCAA Championships, denying him a third title and ending his 70-match winning streak.

Even Zare said he was aware of the upset. "I would like to congratulate you for the win over Gable, he's one of the best in this weight category," Zare said. "Some of the seconds of your match are in my mind, I remember that. But originally, I don't have too much information about this American wrestler."

Hendrickson acknowledges he has been cultivated in the American folkstyle. But he feels confident of the transition he has made to freestyle.

"I've been training to wrestle foreign styles," he said. "The majority of my wrestling has been in [American] folkstyle. But the transition I've been able to make the past couple of months has shown that I'm prepared for this. I'm ready to wrestle the best in the world."

Helping in Hendrickson's preparations has been one of the sport's legends. Hendrickson originally attended and competed collegiately at the Air Force Academy, but transferred last year to Oklahoma State, where he came under the wing of former Olympic and three-time world champion David TAYLOR (USA).

Hendrickson is one of three USA wrestlers who are members of the Cowboy RTC, the wrestling club affiliated with Oklahoma State. (Five others will be wrestling in Zagreb with three of them for other nations.)

"Coach David Taylor is very, very excited to be coaching and share with us the knowledge he has learned in the great sport of wrestling," Hendrickson said. "The knowledge that he has been able to bring to me, it's just day and night. I never understood some parts of wrestling and he filled in all of the gaps. Where I maybe have fallen short in the past at some of these tournaments, those gaps are now filled. And I just have nothing but confidence."

The draw for the freestyle weight classes came out a short time before the press conference, and Hendrickson was asked about a possible clash with Zare in the semifinals.

"I love it," he said. "Zare is an excellent wrestler. But -- I don't want to brag on myself -- but I'm also a pretty great wrestler. That's most likely the match we're going to see tomorrow evening."

Hendrickson, however, is not one to get ahead of himself, and contends that he does not concern himself with such details as his opponents in the draw. Nor does he have a certain foe whom he particularly looks forward to facing.

"I'm excited to go through every single person in this bracket," he said. "Obviously there's no one specific because I don't care what my placement is in the bracket. That's not what I look at.

"What I look at is the next opponent ahead of me. One match at a time, one point at a time, one second at a time on the wrestling mat. I'm prepared, I'm ready and tomorrow I'm going to make a splash at the World Championships."

Zare, who has taken over the leadership mantle of the Iranian team in the absence of injured star Hassan YAZDANI (IRI), has competed just once this year, winning the Tirana Ranking Series title in February.

"I have done my best during the last 13 months to be prepared and I am focused on my goal, which is to be champion of this competition," Zare said.

And should Hendrickson or any of the other top competitors, such as European champion Giorgi MESHVILDISHVILI (AZE) or two-time world medalist Lkhagvagerel MUNKHTUR (MGL), make things difficult, then all the better.

"Finally, I want to say that when the competition is tough, it's going to be more joyful for everyone," Zare said.