Development

United World Wrestling Wins MBR Creative Sports Award, $250k for Development Work

By United World Wrestling Press

DUBAI (November 27) – United World Wrestling has won the "MBR Creative Sports Award" for best initiative for an International Summer Olympic International Federation. The award, one of Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, was in recognition of United World Wrestling’s development program “More than Medals” a Cadet-level wrestling initiative active on five continents in 2018.

The award, worth $250,000, was announced as part of the MBR Creative Sports Award 10th annual award and is the “primary sports award dedicated to inspiring creativity in sports in the UAE, Arab countries, and worldwide.”

“We are very grateful for this recognition and see it as sign that our hard work in reaching young athletes is having a positive effect,” said United World Wrestling president and IOC executive board member, Nenad Lalovic. “The MBR Creative Sports Award will go far in helping expand the reach of our development department.”

A young athlete waits for additional training during a session at the More than Medals camp last summer in Zagreb. (Photo: Max Rose-Fyne)


Mustapha Larfaoui, Member of the Award's Board of Trustees, and Chairman of the Arbitration Committee thanked all participating nations, athletes and federations.

"We are pleased with the growth achieved in the number of candidates locally, at Arab level and internationally, as well as the keenness of sports institutions and federation to participate through its initiatives and programs dedicated for youth.”

The 2018 More than Medals program ran from February to July and impacted more than 200 young wrestlers and coaches to qualify for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The "MBR Creative Sports Award" award is named for His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Chairman of Dubai Sports Council, Patron of the Award and H.H Sheikh Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the UAE National Olympic Committee. The award was created and increase and strengthen innovation and creativity in sports at the Arab level and internationally through honoring the innovators and excellency in sports work.

#WrestleParis

Paris 2024 Olympics Freestyle Entries

By United World Wrestling Press

PARIS (July 11) -- The Olympic Games in Paris will see 97 Freestyle wrestlers competing for six gold medals. None of the Tokyo Olympic champions are entered which guarantees history books will be rewritten in Paris.

But former Olympic champions Hassan YAZDANI (IRI), Taha AKGUL (TUR) and Kyle SNYDER (USA) are looking for their second titles at the Games. The United States and Azerbaijan are the only countries to qualify all six weight classes for Paris 2024. Apart from the regular 96 competitors, Iman MAHDAVI (EOR) will be part of the Olympic Refugee Team at 74kg, making it a 17-man bracket.

Apart from the aforementioned Olympic champions, former Olympic medalists entered include Rei HIGUCHI (JPN), Haji ALIYEV (AZE), Frank CHAMIZO (ITA), Kyle DAKE (USA), Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO) and Amir Hossein ZARE (IRI) are entered.

PARIS 2024 SCHEDULE | PARIS 2024 NEWS | PARIS 2024 WOMEN'S WRESTLING ENTRIES | PARIS 2024 GRECO-ROMAN ENTRIES

57kg
Zelimkhan ABAKAROV (ALB)
Arsen HARUTYUNYAN (ARM)
Aliabbas RZAZADE (AZE)
Wanhao ZOU (CHN)
Gamal MOHAMED (EGY)
Diamantino IUNA FAFE (GBS)
AMAN (IND)
Rei HIGUCHI (JPN)
Meirambek KARTBAY (KAZ)
Bekzat ALMAZ UULU (KGZ)
Roman BRAVO YOUNG (MEX)
Vladimir EGOROV (MKD)
Darian CRUZ (PUR)
Stevan MICIC (SRB)
Spencer LEE (USA)
Gulomjon ABDULLAEV (UZB)

65kg
Islam DUDAEV (ALB)
Vazgen TEVANYAN (ARM)
Georgii OKOROKOV (AUS)
Haji ALIYEV (AZE)
Alejandro VALDES TOBIER (CUB)
Goderdzi DZEBISASHVILI (GEO)
Iszmail MUSZUKAJEV (HUN)
Rahman AMOUZAD (IRI)
Kotaro KIYOOKA (JPN)
Ernazar AKMATALIEV (KGZ)
Maxim SACULTAN (MDA)
Austin GOMEZ (MEX)
Tulga TUMUR OCHIR (MGL)
Sebastian RIVERA (PUR)
Gaku AKAZAWA (SAM)
Zain RETHERFORD (USA)

74kg
Mahamedkhabib KADZIMAHAMEDAU (AIN)
Chermen VALIEV (ALB)
Turan BAYRAMOV (AZE)
Feng LU (CHN)
Geandry GARZON CABALLERO (CUB)
Amr HUSSEN (EGY)
Iman MAHDAVI (EOR)
Bacar NDUM (GBS)
Georgios KOUGIOUMTSIDIS (GRE)
Yones EMAMI (IRI)
Frank CHAMIZO (ITA)
Daichi TAKATANI (JPN)
Hetik CABALOV (SRB)
Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK)
Viktor RASSADIN (TJK)
Kyle DAKE (USA)
Razambek JAMALOV (UZB)
Anthony MONTERO CHIRINOS (VEN)

86kg
Fateh BENFERDJALLAH (ALG)
Jayden LAWRENCE (AUS)
Osman NURMAGOMEDOV (AZE)
Magomed RAMAZANOV (BUL)
Alexander MOORE (CAN)
Vladimeri GAMKRELIDZE (GEO)
Dauren KURUGLIEV (GRE)
Hassan YAZDANI (IRI)
Hayato ISHIGURO (JPN)
Azamat DAULETBEKOV (KAZ)
Bat Erdene BYAMBASUREN (MGL)
Ethan RAMOS (PUR)
Myles AMINE (SMR)
Vasyl MYKHAILOV (UKR)
Aaaron BROOKS (USA)
Javrail SHAPIEV (UZB)

97kg
Magomedkhan MAGOMEDOV (AZE)
Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN)
Awusayiman HABILA (CHN)
Arturo SILOT TORRES (CUB)
Luis PEREZ SOSA (DOM)
Mostafa ELDERS (EGY)
Givi MATCHARASHVILI (GEO)
Erik THIELE (GER)
Amirali AZARPIRA (IRI)
Alisher YERGALI (KAZ)
Radu LEFTER (MDA)
Zbigniew BARANOWSKI (POL)
Nicolaas DE LANGE (RSA)
Ibrahim CIFTCI (TUR)
Murazi MCHEDLIDZE (UKR)
Kyle SNYDER (USA)

125kg
Giorgi MESHVILDISHVILI (AZE)
Amarveer DHESI (CAN)
Zhiwei DENG (CHN)
Diaaeldin ABDELMOTTALEB (EGY)
Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO)
Daniel LIGETI (HUN)
Amir Hossein ZARE (IRI)
Yusup BATIRMURZAEV (KAZ)
Aiaal LAZAREV (KGZ)
Lkhagvagerel MUNKHTUR (MGL)
Ashton MUTUWA (NGR)
Robert BARAN (POL)
Jonovan SMITH (PUR)
Taha AKGUL (TUR)
Oleksandr KHOTSIANIVSKYI (UKR)
Mason PARRIS (USA)

Note:
Shamil MAMEDOV (AIN) was initially entered at 65kg but he subsequently withdrew. He is replaced by Maxim SACULTAN (MDA)

* Mahamedkhabib KADZIMAHAMEDAU was entered at 74kg

* Serbia replaced Ali ARSALAN (SRB) with Hetik CABALOV (SRB) at 74kg

* Ukraine replaced Yurii IDZINSKYI (UKR) with Oleksandr KHOTSIANIVSKYI (UKR) at 125kg