#WrestleTirana

U23 World Championships 2024 Entries

By United World Wrestling Press

TIRANA, Albania (September 30) -- The U23 World Championships will be held in Tirana, Albania from October 21 to 27. This is the second consecutive year that the tournament will be held in Tirana.

More than 650 wrestlers are entered to compete in the event with 240 wrestlers each in Freestyle and Greco-Roman and 184 wrestlers in Women's Wrestling. The tournament will begin with Greco-Roman, followed by Women's Wrestling and Freestyle at the end.

The matches will be live on uww.org and the UWW App.

*Note: The entry list is subject to change 72 hours before the official draw of each style

57kg
Herbert AKAPIAN (AIN)
Iunus IAVBATIROV (AIN)
Manvel KHNDZRTSYAN (ARM)
Vasif BAGHIROV (AZE)
Ivaylo TISOV (BUL)
DENGBURILE (CHN)
Luka GVINJILIA (GEO)
CHIRAG (IND)
Ali Hossein MOMENIJOUJADEH (IRI)
Rocco TERRANOVA (ITA)
Gakuto OZAWA (JPN)
Allan ORALBEK (KAZ)
Abdymalik KARACHOV (KGZ)
Jiguur SARANTUYA (MGL)
Stojanche STOJKOV (MKD)
Thomas EPP (SUI)
Muhammet KARAVUS (TUR)
Vladyslav ABRAMOV (UKR)
Maxwell GALLAGHER (USA)

61kg
Bashir MAGOMEDOV (AIN)
Endrio AVDYLI (ALB)
Levik MIKAYELYAN (ARM)
Ruslan ABDULLAYEV (AZE)
Fotis PAPADOPOULOS (CAN)
Jiliang BAI (CHN)
Elkin ESPANA SANTA (COL)
Daniel RAMIREZ (CRC)
Omar GAZASHVILI (GEO)
Lok Ming TAI (HKG)
Abhishek DHAKA (IND)
Ebrahim KHARI (IRI)
Simone PIRODDU (ITA)
Meiryu AKAMINE (JPN)
Adilet ALMUKHAMEDOV (KAZ)
Iukhan DOKTURBEK UULU (KGZ)
Vasile MARCU (MDA)
Arben SEJDI (MKD)
William BETANCOURT (PUR)
Emre KURAL (TUR)
Mykyta ABRAMOV (UKR)
Nicholas BOUZAKIS (USA)

65kg
Anatoli HRAMYKA (AIN)
Ibragim IBRAGIMOV (AIN)
Klevisi PRECI (ALB)
Hayk ABRAHAMYAN (ARM)
Rashid BABAZADE (AZE)
Shannon HANNA (BAH)
Ilyas ABDURASHIDOV (BEL)
Alibeg ALIBEGOV (BRN)
Matias MUNOZ (CHI)
Ning WANG (CHN)
Khamzat ARSAMERZOUEV (FRA)
Giorgi SHONIA (GEO)
Jonnathan PEREZ (GUA)
Chi Hin WONG (HKG)
Mohit KUMAR (IND)
Abbas EBRAHIMZADEH (IRI)
Kaiji OGINO (JPN)
Bekzat YERMEKBAY (KAZ)
Bilol SHARIP UULU (KGZ)
Pavel GRAUR (MDA)
Wilfredo LOPEZ (PAN)
Yacoub GHAITH (PLE)
Daniel KULCZYNSKI (POL)
Daniel SANDU (ROU)
Sulaiman KARGBO (SLE)
Abdullah TOPRAK (TUR)
Mykyta HONCHAROV (UKR)
Joshua SAUNDERS (USA)
Umidjon JALOLOV (UZB)

70kg
Mikita DZEMCHANKA (AIN)
Ismail KHANIEV (AIN)
Fabian KOCILERI (ALB)
Tigran GHAZARYAN (ARM)
Magomed KHANIEV (AZE)
Yves NISHIMWE (BDI)
Muhammad ABDURACHMANOV (BEL)
Georgi ZHIZGOV (BUL)
Gregor MCNEIL (CAN)
Jorge GATICA (CHI)
Chunchen LIU (CHN)
Shehabeldin MOHAMED (EGY)
Davit PATSINASHVILI (GEO)
Tsz Hei HEUNG (HKG)
SUJEET (IND)
Sina KHALILI (IRI)
Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN)
Yernur NURGAZY (KAZ)
Kanat KERIMBEKOV (KGZ)
Egzon XHONI (KOS)
Constantin CHIRILOV (MDA)
Tugsjargal ERDENEBAT (MGL)
Muhamed FERUKI (MKD)
Faisal DANA (PLE)
Mateusz LUSZCZYNSKI (POL)
Eligh RIVERA (PUR)
Mustafo AKHMEDOV (TJK)
Yasin YESIL (TUR)
Narek POHOSIAN (UKR)
John WILEY (USA)

74kg
Nikita DMITRIJEVS (AIN)
Arslan BAGAEV (AIN)
Klevis KOCEKU (ALB)
Narek HARUTYUNYAN (ARM)
Bradley FULMER (AUS)
Dzhabrail GADZHIEV (AZE)
Cesar BORDEAUX (BRA)
Magomedrasul ASLUEV (BRN)
Patrik LEDER (CAN)
Xiaobing ZHU (CHN)
Luka CHKHITUNIDZE (GEO)
Stas WOLF (GER)
Sukhpal JINJALA (IND)
Ali REZAEI (IRI)
Kota TAKAHASHI (JPN)
Murat DZHAKUPOV (KAZ)
Orozobek TOKTOMAMBETOV (KGZ)
Rayanne ESSAIDI (MAR)
Vlad STRATAN (MDA)
Batbayar BATSUKH (MGL)
Ibrahim YAPRAK (TUR)
Mykyta MORHUN (UKR)
Mitchell MESENBRINK (USA)

79kg
Artsiom BELAVUSAU (AIN)
Arsen BALAIAN (AIN)
Arjan DANAJ (ALB)
Hayk PAPIKYAN (ARM)
Ali TCOKAEV (AZE)
Radomir STOYANOV (BUL)
Nelson OBROU (CAF)
Owen MARTIN (CAN)
Feng LU (CHN)
Juan CARDOZO (COL)
Mohamed ABDELHADY (EGY)
Joona VUOTI (FIN)
Otari ADEISHVILI (GEO)
Sahil DALAL (IND)
Mahdi YOUSEFI (IRI)
RAFFAELE MATRULLO (ITA)
Masaki SATO (JPN)
Zhengis KANYBEKOV (KAZ)
Mukhammad ABDULLAEV (KGZ)
Gheorghi CARA (MDA)
Mateusz PEDZICKI (POL)
Krisztian BIRO (ROU)
Alie SESAY (SLE)
Umar MAVLAEV (SUI)
Bekir OVEC (TUR)
Vladyslav BODORIAK (UKR)
Patrick KENNEDY (USA)

86kg
Ilya KHAMTSOU (AIN)
Ibragim KADIEV (AIN)
Altin GANCI (ALB)
Fateh BENFERDJALLAH (ALG)
Razmik YEPREMYAN (ARM)
Arsenii DZHIOEV (AZE)
Taran GORING (CAN)
Hui CHEN (CHN)
Gabriel IGLESIAS (ESP)
Miko ELKALA (FIN)
Rakhim MAGAMADOV (FRA)
Vladimeri GAMKRELIDZE (GEO)
Joshua MORODION (GER)
Cesar UBICO ESTRADA (GUA)
DEEPAK (IND)
Abolfazl RAHMANI (IRI)
Aaron AYZEROV (ISR)
Yudai TAKAHASHI (JPN)
Nurzhan ISSAGALIYEV (KAZ)
Bekzat RAKHIMOV (KGZ)
Eugeniu MIHALCEAN (MDA)
Kweli HERNANDEZ (PUR)
Joshua ALOFIPO (SAM)
Michal VERES (SVK)
Emre CIFTCI (TUR)
Denys BYKOV (UKR)
John GUNDERSON (USA)
Steven RODRIGUEZ (VEN)

92kg
Aliaksei PARKHOMENKA (AIN)
Mustafagadzhi MALACHDIBIROV (AIN)
Knyaz IBOYAN (ARM)
Abduljalil SHABANOV (AZE)
Aiden STEVENSON (CAN)
Junpeng ZHOU (CHN)
Mukhammedsultan KOPBAYEV (ESP)
Adlan VISKHANOV (FRA)
Andro MARGISHVILI (GEO)
Gkivi BLIATZE (GRE)
Musza ARSUNKAEV (HUN)
SUMIT (IND)
Amirhossein FIROUZPOUR (IRI)
Satoshi MIURA (JPN)
Bekzat AMANGALI (KAZ)
Davids PIROZNIKS (LAT)
Ion DEMIAN (MDA)
Filip SZUCKI (POL)
Nicolaas DE LANGE (RSA)
Fatih ALTUNBAS (TUR)
Denys SAHALIUK (UKR)
Jacob CARDENAS (USA)

97kg
Uladzislau KAZLOU (AIN)
Sergei KOZYREV (AIN)
Sergey SARGSYAN (ARM)
Aslan ABAKAROV (AZE)
Callum KNOX (CAN)
Aman WULAHATI (CHN)
Merab SULEIMANISHVILI (GEO)
Emmanuel OSEI SARFO (GHA)
VICKY (IND)
Mahdi HAJILOUEIAN (IRI)
Yuta SASAKI (JPN)
Rizabek AITMUKHAN (KAZ)
Radu LEFTER (MDA)
Taron SHAHINYAN (POL)
Rifat GIDAK (TUR)
Ivan PRYMACHENKO (UKR)
Massoma ENDENE (USA)

125kg
Pavel DZIATLAU (AIN)
Abdulla KURBANOV (AIN)
Lyova GEVORGYAN (ARM)
Yusif DURSUNOV (AZE)
Alen KHUBULOV (BUL)
Jorawar DHINSA (CAN)
Jinhai WANG (CHN)
Solomon MANASHVILI (GEO)
Anirudh KUMAR (IND)
Amirreza MASOUMI (IRI)
Toyoki HAMADA (JPN)
Omarkhan NADIROV (KAZ)
Nicolae STRATULAT (MDA)
Batmagnai ENKHTUVSHIN (MGL)
Michal DUBOWSKI (POL)
Jonovan SMITH (PUR)
Omar Ihab SAREM (SYR)
Hakan BUYUKCINGIL (TUR)
Volodymyr KOCHANOV (UKR)
Lucas STODDARD (USA)

Umi ITO (JPN)Umi ITO (JPN) is the returning champion at 50kg. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Women's Wrestling

50kg
Natallia VARAKINA (AIN)
Natalia PUDOVA (AIN)
Elnura MAMMADOVA (AZE)
Kelyn YOUNG (CAN)
Linjie DENG (CHN)
Justine VIGOUROUX (FRA)
KOMAL (IND)
Umi ITO (JPN)
Laura GANIKYZY (KAZ)
Vestina DANISEVICIUTE (LTU)
Zineb ECH CHABKI (MAR)
Munkhgerel MUNKHBAT (MGL)
Yusneiry AGRAZAL (PAN)
Natalia WALCZAK (POL)
Ana PIRVU (ROU)
Svenja JUNGO (SUI)
Khrystyna BASYCH (SVK)
Yi Hui LIN (TPE)
Chahrazed AYACHI (TUN)
Zehra DEMIRHAN (TUR)
Nataliia KLIVCHUTSKA (UKR)
Sage MORTIMER (USA)
Mariana ROJAS (VEN)

53kg
Viktoryia VOLK (AIN)
Venera NAFIKOVA (AIN)
Esmeralda NELA (ALB)
Serena DI BENEDETTO (CAN)
Xiaomin XIE (CHN)
Yusmy CHAPARRO URREGO (COL)
Anastasia BLAYVAS (GER)
Hansika LAMBA (IND)
Yu SAKAMOTO (JPN)
Zeinep BAYANOVA (KAZ)
Otgontuya CHINBOLD (MGL)
Ellen OESTMAN (SWE)
Sila AYKUL (TUR)
Liliia MALANCHUK (UKR)
Elena IVALDI (USA)

55kg
Aliaksandra BULAVA (AIN)
Ekaterina KARPUSHKINA (AIN)
Gultakin SHIRINOVA (AZE)
Victoria SEAL (CAN)
Antonia VALDES ARRIAGADA (CHI)
Ying LU (CHN)
Amory ANDRICH (GER)
Roza SZENTTAMASI (HUN)
Bhavika PATEL (IND)
Neon GOMI (JPN)
Ainur ASHIMOVA (KAZ)
Aruuke KADYRBEK KYZY (KGZ)
Mihaela SAMOIL (MDA)
Zeltzin HERNANDEZ (MEX)
Otgontuya BAYANMUNKH (MGL)
Emma MALMGREN (SWE)
Elvira KAMALOGLU (TUR)
Oleksandra KHOMENETS (UKR)
Amani JONES (USA)

57kg
Aryna MARTYNAVA (AIN)
Anastasiia KOZLOVA (AIN)
Zhala ALIYEVA (AZE)
Mia FRIESEN (CAN)
Shuang HAN (CHN)
Neha SHARMA (IND)
Ruka NATAMI (JPN)
Shugyla OMIRBEK (KAZ)
Bertha ROJAS (MEX)
Patrycja STRZELCZYK (POL)
Jana PETROVIC (SRB)
Sevim AKBAS (TUR)
Alina FILIPOVYCH (UKR)
Sofia MACALUSO (USA)

59kg
Alesia HETMANAVA (AIN)
Anastasiia SIDELNIKOVA (AIN)
Gular HABIBOVA (AZE)
Gabriela CROSS (CAN)
Hong LIANG (CHN)
Alexa CUERO (COL)
Tsz Ying HEUNG (HKG)
ANJLI (IND)
Aurora RUSSO (ITA)
Himeka TOKUHARA (JPN)
Guldana BEKESH (KAZ)
Sezim ZHUMANAZAROVA (KGZ)
Gabriele DILYTE (LTU)
Zineb HASSOUNE (MAR)
Khulan BYAMBASUREN (MGL)
Othelie HOEIE (NOR)
Julia NOWICKA (POL)
Duygu GEN (TUR)
Solomiia VYNNYK (UKR)
Skye REALIN (USA)

62kg
Nadzeya BULANAYA (AIN)
Ekaterina KOSHKINA (AIN)
Ruzanna MAMMADOVA (AZE)
Gloria NIYONKURU (BDI)
Jolie BRISCO (CAN)
Hanying ZHANG (CHN)
Viktoria VESSO (EST)
Iris THIEBAUX (FRA)
NITIKA (IND)
Nayu UCHIDA (JPN)
Tynys DUBEK (KAZ)
Kalmira BILIMBEKOVA (KGZ)
Ineta DANTAITE (LTU)
Khongorzul BOLDSAIKHAN (MGL)
Esther KOLAWOLE (NGR)
Olha PADOSHYK (POL)
Karoline ORTIZ (PUR)
Selvi ILYASOGLU (TUR)
Iryna BONDAR (UKR)
Macey KILTY (USA)
Astrid MONTERO (VEN)

65kg
Kseniya TSIARENIA (AIN)
Alina KASABIEVA (AIN)
Kleona SHABANI (ALB)
Angelina ELLIS TODDINGTON (CAN)
Yuqi RAO (CHN)
Karolina POK (HUN)
SHIKSHA (IND)
Laura GODINO (ITA)
Rin TERAMOTO (JPN)
Guldana OSSERBAY (KAZ)
Dilnaz SAZANOVA (KGZ)
Irina RINGACI (MDA)
Gantsetseg BATSUKH (MGL)
Ingrid SKARD (NOR)
Kateryna ZELENYKH (ROU)
Masa PEROVIC (SRB)
Hsin Ping PAI (TPE)
Nesrin BAS (TUR)
Sofiia KUSHNIR (UKR)
Adaugo NWACHUKWU (USA)

68kg
Alina SHAUCHUK (AIN)
Elizaveta PETLIAKOVA (AIN)
Aleah NICKEL (CAN)
Yati GU (CHN)
Nicoll PARRADO (COL)
Veronika VILK (CRO)
Sophia SCHAEFLE (GER)
Noémi SZABADOS (HUN)
MONIKA (IND)
Ami ISHII (JPN)
Beibit SEIDUALY (KAZ)
Nurzat NURTAEVA (KGZ)
Luciana BEDA (MDA)
Enkhjin TUVSHINJARGAL (MGL)
Maria PANTIRU (ROU)
Emilija JAKOVLJEVIC (SRB)
Zsuzsanna MOLNAR (SVK)
Ayse ERKAN (TUR)
Manola SKOBELSKA (UKR)
Brooklyn HAYS (USA)

72kg
Viktoryia RADZKOVA (AIN)
Olesia BEZUGLOVA (AIN)
Vianne ROULEAU (CAN)
Yufei GAO (CHN)
Maria CEBALLOS (COL)
Milla ANDELIC (CRO)
Lilly SCHNEIDER (GER)
Kritika JAMWAL (IND)
Vincenza AMENDOLA (ITA)
Yuka FUJIKURA (JPN)
Anastassiya PANASSOVICH (KAZ)
Tsogzolmaa DORJSUREN (MGL)
Daniela TKACHUK (POL)
Haticenur SARI (TUR)
Anastasiya ALPYEYEVA (UKR)
Kylie WELKER (USA)

76kg
Valeriia TRIFONOVA (AIN)
Brianna FRASER (CAN)
Shuiyan CHENG (CHN)
Marta PAJULA (EST)
Laura KUEHN (GER)
Zsofia VIRAG (HUN)
PRIYA (IND)
Nodoka YAMAMOTO (JPN)
Alina YERTOSTIK (KAZ)
Sandra GUERRERO (PUR)
Elmira YASIN (TUR)
Mariia ORLEVYCH (UKR)
Yelena MAKOYED (USA)

Turpal BISULTANOV (DEN)Paris Olympic bronze medalist Turpal BISULTANOV (DEN) is entered at 87kg. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

Greco-Roman

55kg
Maksim STUPAKEVICH (AIN)
Adam ULBASHEV (AIN)
Andi MUCA (ALB)
Arayik TOPALYAN (ARM)
Rashad MAMMADOV (AZE)
Huoying SHI (CHN)
Cristopher VERASTEGUI (COL)
Tamazi GLONTI (GEO)
Vishvajit MORE (IND)
Ali AHMADI VAFA (IRI)
Kohei YAMAGIWA (JPN)
Yerbol KAMALIYEV (KAZ)
Leonid MOROZ (MDA)
Emre MUTLU (TUR)
Ivan STEFANSKYI (UKR)
William SULLIVAN (USA)

60kg
Uladzislau DUBROUSKI (AIN)
Dinislam BAMMATOV (AIN)
Suren AGHAJANYAN (ARM)
Nihad GULUZADE (AZE)
Ziyue XI (CHN)
Ronaldo SANCHEZ (COL)
Pridon ABULADZE (GEO)
Georgios SCARPELLO (GER)
Ilias ZAIRAKIS (GRE)
SURAJ (IND)
Mohammadmehdi GHOLAMPOUR (IRI)
Yasuhito MORI (JPN)
Doszhan UTEPKALIYEV (KAZ)
Akyl SULAIMANOV (KGZ)
Hassan ALHARTHI (KSA)
Olivier SKRZYPCZAK (POL)
Denis MIHAI (ROU)
Mert ILBARS (TUR)
Bohdan HRYSHYN (UKR)
Maxwell BLACK (USA)
Alisher GANIEV (UZB)

63kg
Talibsho KHAIBARAU (AIN)
Astemir BIZHOEV (AIN)
Amarildo LASKA (ALB)
Arman VARDANYAN (ARM)
Ziya BABASHOV (AZE)
Yunlong HU (CHN)
Ronaldo SANCHEZ RAMIREZ (COL)
Tino OJALA (FIN)
Romeo BERIDZE (GEO)
Ankit ANKIT (IND)
Erfan JARKANI (IRI)
Komei SAWADA (JPN)
Nursultan BAZARBAYEV (KAZ)
Mukhammed KALBAEV (KGZ)
Munthir JANDU (KSA)
Vitalie ERIOMENCO (MDA)
Hector SANCHEZ (MEX)
Bredi SLINKERS (NED)
Mairbek SALIMOV (POL)
Adrian ANTON (ROU)
Bekir ATES (TUR)
Vasyl MYSHANYCH (UKR)
Jonathan GURULE (USA)

67kg
Viachaslau ZHEHALAU (AIN)
Daniial AGAEV (AIN)
Daniel DAJANI (ALB)
Fayssal BENFREDJ (ALG)
Sahak HOVHANNISYAN (ARM)
Farid KHALILOV (AZE)
Hristo VALENTINOV (BUL)
Gavin ELDRIDGE (CAN)
Nestor ALMANZA (CHI)
Kang ZHEN (CHN)
William REENBERG (DEN)
Artur JEREMEJEV (EST)
Yanis NIFRI (FRA)
Diego CHKHIKVADZE (GEO)
Adam POHILEC (HUN)
SACHIN (IND)
Ahmadreza MOHSEN NEZHAD (IRI)
Shon NADORGIN (ISR)
Andrea SETTI (ITA)
HARUTO YABE (JPN)
Din KOSHKAR (KAZ)
Razzak BEISHEKEEV (KGZ)
Adomas GRIGALIUNAS (LTU)
Alexandr GURALI (MDA)
Arslanbek SALIMOV (POL)
Niklas Jan OEHLEN (SWE)
Azat SARIYAR (TUR)
Oleh KHALILOV (UKR)
Robert PEREZ (USA)

72kg
Illia VALEUSKI (AIN)
Imran ALIEV (AIN)
Ardit ZENELI (ALB)
Ashot KHACHATRYAN (ARM)
Ruslan NURULLAYEV (AZE)
Dimitar GEORGIEV (BUL)
Bin XU (CHN)
Nilson SINISTERRA (COL)
Luka IVANCIC (CRO)
Junior BENITEZ ORTIZ (ESP)
Kristo MERILAIN (EST)
Gagik SNJOYAN (FRA)
Giorgi CHKHIKVADZE (GEO)
Arionas KOLITSOPOULOS (GRE)
Krisztofer KLANYI (HUN)
Aakash PUNIA (IND)
Danial SOHRABI (IRI)
Giovanni ALESSIO (ITA)
Kensaku ONO (JPN)
Merey MAULITKANOV (KAZ)
Adilkhan NURLANBEKOV (KGZ)
Vilius SAVICKAS (LTU)
Piotr STOLARCZYK (POL)
Brandon NAVARRO (PUR)
Michael PORTMANN (SUI)
Georgios BARBANOS (SWE)
Muhammed GOCMEN (TUR)
Marian HOLUBOVSKYI (UKR)
Justus SCOTT (USA)
Abror ATABAEV (UZB)

77kg
Zakhar YANEVICH (AIN)
Ismail BARAKHOEV (AIN)
Klodjan SHEHU (ALB)
Martik PETROSYAN (ARM)
Khasay HASANLI (AZE)
Ibrahim TABAEV (BEL)
Yang CHANG (CHN)
Alonso PARRA GARCIA (COL)
Michal ZELENKA (CZE)
Frederik MATHIESEN (DEN)
Ekke LEITHAM (EST)
Temuri ORJONIKIDZE (GEO)
Samuel BELLSCHEIDT (GER)
Attila TOESMAGI (HUN)
KARAN (IND)
Ali OSKOU (IRI)
Shu YAMADA (JPN)
Temirlan KARATAY (KAZ)
Yryskeldi MAKSATBEK UULU (KGZ)
Hassan BARNAWI (KSA)
Alexandrin GUTU (MDA)
Ludvig GUNHEIM HATLAND (NOR)
Konrad KOZLOWSKI (POL)
Aryan BIN AZMAN (SGP)
Aleksa ILIC (SRB)
Simon BORKENHAGEN (SWE)
Yuksel SARICICEK (TUR)
Mykyta POLITAIEV (UKR)
Hunter GARVIN (USA)
Doniyorkhon NAKIBOV (UZB)

82kg
Vadzim PALEYENKA (AIN)
Imam ALIEV (AIN)
Teo SPIRI (ALB)
Samvel GRIGORYAN (ARM)
Elmin ALIYEV (AZE)
Kun HUANG (CHN)
Marek VRBA (CZE)
Emad ABOUELATTA (EGY)
Vladimeri KARCHAIDZE (FRA)
Data CHKHAIDZE (GEO)
Deni NAKAEV (GER)
Evangelos BOUKIS (GRE)
Miklos KIRALYHAZI (HUN)
Deepak PUNIA (IND)
Mohammad Aziz NAGHOUSI (IRI)
Leon RIVALTA (ITA)
Daizo TANIZAKI (JPN)
Almir TOLEBAYEV (KAZ)
Bekzat ORUNKUL UULU (KGZ)
Alexandru SOLOVEI (MDA)
Islam ALIEV (POL)
Vasile COJOC (ROU)
Joshua ALOFIPO (SAM)
Alexander JOHANSSON (SWE)
Yusuf GOLBASI (TUR)
Ivan CHMYR (UKR)
Beka MELELASHVILI (USA)
Samandar BOBONAZAROV (UZB)
Daniel BELLO VEGA (VEN)

87kg
Ilya MIALESHCHYK (AIN)
Aues GONIBOV (AIN)
Julijan SHEHU (ALB)
Vigen NAZARYAN (ARM)
Joju SAMADOV (AZE)
Ivaylo IVANOV (BUL)
Jie WANG (CHN)
Tomislav BRKAN (CRO)
Turpal BISULTANOV (DEN)
Achiko BOLKVADZE (GEO)
Peter DOEMOEK (HUN)
Rohit BURA (IND)
Yasin Ali YAZDI (IRI)
Yudai KOBORI (JPN)
Baglan KUANYSH (KAZ)
Asan ZHANYSHOV (KGZ)
Gabriel LUPASCO (MDA)
Marcel STERKENBURG (NED)
Exauce MUKUBU (NOR)
Adam GARDZIOLA (POL)
Samet YALDIRAN (TUR)
Vladyslav DIAHILEV (UKR)
Payton JACOBSON (USA)
Brian RUIZ MARIN (VEN)

97kg
Abubakar KHASLAKHANAU (AIN)
Magomed MURTAZALIEV (AIN)
Hayk KHLOYAN (ARM)
Murad AHMADIYEV (AZE)
Zichen YANG (CHN)
Kristian LUKAC (CRO)
Richard KARELSON (EST)
Aapo VIITALA (FIN)
Lasha TVILDIANI (GEO)
Anton VIEWEG (GER)
Christos CHATSATOUROV (GRE)
Nitesh NITESH (IND)
Shayan HABIBZARE (IRI)
Riku NAKAHARA (JPN)
Beibit KORGANOV (KAZ)
Nurmanbet RAIMALY UULU (KGZ)
Tyrone STERKENBURG (NED)
Igor SHEPETUN (POL)
Luka KATIC (SRB)
Algot KAELLMAN (SWE)
Mustafa OLGUN (TUR)
Yurii DOROHAN (UKR)
Wyatt VOELKER (USA)
Juan DIAZ BLANCO (VEN)

130kg
Pavel HLINCHUK (AIN)
Dmitrii BABORYKO (AIN)
Albert VARDANYAN (ARM)
Sarkhan MAMMADOV (AZE)
Jianqun HE (CHN)
Marcel ALBINI (CZE)
Fekry EISSA (EGY)
Eerik PANK (EST)
Giorgi TSOPURASHVILI (GEO)
Nikolaos NTOUNIAS (GRE)
Koppany LASZLO (HUN)
Uttam RANA (IND)
Fardin HEDAYATI (IRI)
Koei YAMADA (JPN)
Assylbek ABDIKALYK (KAZ)
Erlan MANATBEKOV (KGZ)
Rostislav COVALI (MDA)
Tomasz WAWRZYNCZYK (POL)
Muhammet BAKIR (TUR)
Mykhailo VYSHNYVETSKYI (UKR)
Keith MILEY (USA)

#WrestleTirana

Mirzazadeh dominates his way to Tirana gold; Shiotani impresses

By Vinay Siwach

TIRANA, Albania (March 2) -- There is nothing extraordinary in the 130kg Greco-Roman final in Tirana. World champion Amin MIRZAZADEH (IRI) controls the proceedings for six minutes and wins the gold medal.

In Tirana for the Muhamet Malo Ranking Series, Mirzazadeh returned to the mat for the first time since winning bronze medal at the Paris Olympics at 130kg where he lost only to eventual champion Mijain LOPEZ (CUB).

Amin MIRZAZADEH (IRI)Amin MIRZAZADEH (IRI) defends a par terre position against Hamza BAKIR (TUR). (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kostadin Andonov)

On Sunday, all four matches Mirzazadeh wrestled followed a similar pattern. He will get the first passivity and score the turn from par terre before defending the par terre in the second period. His winning score in quarterfinal, semifinal and final read 3-1. Only in his first match against Heiki NABI (EST) did Mirzazadeh get both par terre advantages to win 4-0.

Wrestling Paris Olympian and Turkiye's next big hope at 130kg Hamza BAKIR (TUR), Mirzazadeh turned Bakir from par terre for a 3-0 lead before defending the lead and winning 3-1.

While beating Bakir, who has all three age-group world titles, did not take a toll on Mirzazadeh, the same cannot be said about another age-group world champion that Mirzazadeh is preparing domestically.

Although he will not feature in the Asian Championships, Mirzazadeh will be keen on defending his world title in Zagreb in September.

In his path for that are Fardin HEDAYATI (IRI) and Aliakbar YOUSOFI (IRI). Hedayati has been rising in the ranks and seen as the biggest threat to Mirzazadeh's place on the Iran team.

Yousofi, the 2021 world champion, returned after a sabbatical and won the Zagreb Open gold medal three weeks ago to enter the selection process. Now, teh Iran team will be clear by the third Ranking Series in Mongolia in June.

Yu SHIOTANI (JPN)Yu SHIOTANI (JPN) performing his signature reverse lift move. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kostadin Andonov)

Yu SHIOTANI (JPN), a world bronze medalist from 2022, returned to international wrestling after three years and secured the gold medal at 60kg.

"It's been a long time since I last competed, but I'm happy that we were able to finish with gold [today]," Shiotani said.

In his elements, Shiotani launched massive reverse lift throws in all his bouts, barring the final. And he only gave up points in his first bout -- against U20 and U23 world champion Ali AHMADI VAFA (IRI).

"I wasn't moving much," he said of the match against Ahmadi Vafa. "I think that's why the match turned out like that. I was probably a little nervous. Of course, the opponent was also strong, but I think I was a little nervous and couldn't play the match as well as I wanted."

Shiotani wrestled Amiran SHAVADZE (GEO) in the final and did not wait for any passivity warnings. He scored a takedown and went for his signature reverse left, exposing Shavadze's back on the mat for two more points. Just before the break, he scored a takedown to make it 6-0.

Just over a minute in the second period, Shiotani pressured Shavadze who stepped backwards till he was out of the zone. One point for stepout and another for fleeing resulted in Shiotani winning 8-0. Georgia challenged the fleeing but lost, giving one more point to Shiotani.

Yu SHIOTANI (JPN)Yu SHIOTANI (JPN) defeated Ali AHMADI VAFA (IRI) in the opening bout at 60kg. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kostadin Andonov)

In his first match against Ahmadi Vafa, Shiotani was in forced par terre in the first period but he didn't let give up any points. The referees were about to give Ahmadi Vafa the second par terre as well but Shiotani scored a takedown.

A reversal in the same sequence was scored one point for Ahmadi Vafa. But Shiotani with a big lift and throw for two points. Shiotani challenges and gets two more points for a foul from Ahmadi Vafa to lead 6-2. From par terre, Shiotani would score three more points and lead 9-4 with 35 seconds on the clock.

Shavadze was one of the five wrestlers to reach the finals Sunday but only one -- Iuri LOMADZE (GEO) -- managed to win the gold medal.

Lomadze wrestled four bouts and never looked in any trouble. In his first match, he defeated former world champion Ali ARSALAN (SRB) 5-1, before a 13-2 win over Kristupas SLEIVA (LTU).

Lomadze then defeated fellow countryman Otar ABULADZE (GEO) 6-3 in the semifinals, the win more or less confirming his European Championships spot on the Georgian team.

In the final, Lomadze got the better of Mehmet SAHIN (TUR), beating him 6-3 for the gold medal.

Former European champion Kiril MILOV (BUL) denied Georgi MELIA (GEO) and Georgia another chance to win a gold medal after he defetaed the Georgian 4-0 in the 97kg final bout.

Milov scored a beautiful takedown and transitioned into a gut wrench to get a 4-0 lead. There were no par terre positions in the match and Milov's move remained as the only scoring action.

Turkiye won two gold medals as Emre MUTLU (TUR) and Burhan AKBUDAK (TUR) finished on the top at 55kg and 82kg.

Mutlu denied Vakhtang LOLUA (GEO), 7-4 in the 55kg final while Akbudak won the gold medal after Gela BOLKVADZE (GEO) injury defaulted in the 82kg final.

RESULTS

55kg
GOLD: Emre MUTLU (TUR) df. Vakhtang LOLUA (GEO), 7-4

BRONZE: Yerassyl MAMYRBEKOV (KAZ) df. Andi MUCA (ALB), 9-0
BRONZE: Yersin ABYIR (KAZ) df. Ulan MURATBEK UULU (KGZ), via fall (9-1)

60kg
GOLD: Yu SHIOTANI (JPN) df. Amiran SHAVADZE (GEO), 9-0

BRONZE: Haodong TAN (CHN) df. Iskhar KURBAYEV (KAZ), 9-0 
BRONZE: Ali AHMADI VAFA (IRI) df. Akyl SULAIMANOV (KGZ), 12-3

72kg
GOLD: Iuri LOMADZE (GEO) df. Mehmet SAHIN (TUR), 8-3

BRONZE: Yryskeldi KHAMZAEV (KGZ) df. Ivo ILIEV (BUL), 10-0
BRONZE: Ali ARSALAN (SRB) df. Otar ABULADZE (GEO), 4-3

82kg
GOLD: Burhan AKBUDAK (TUR) df. Gela BOLKVADZE (GEO), via inj. def.

BRONZE: Svetoslav NIKOLOV (BUL) df. Beksultan NAZARBAEV (KGZ), 10-1
BRONZE: Erik SZILVASSY (HUN) df. Ramon BETSCHART (SUI), 3-2

97kg
GOLD: Kiril MILOV (BUL) df. Giorgi MELIA (GEO), 4-0

BRONZE: Alex SZOKE (HUN) df. Lucas LAZOGIANIS (GER), 8-2
BRONZE: Markus RAGGINGER (AUT) df. Beytullah KAYISDAG (TUR), 8-0

130kg
GOLD: Amin MIRZAZADEH (IRI) df. Hamza BAKIR (TUR), 3-1

BRONZE: Iakobi KAJAIA (GEO) df. Yuta NARA (JPN), 4-1 
BRONZE: Heiki NABI (EST) df. Wenhao JIANG (CHN), 2-2