#WrestleParis

Which nations have qualified in Greco-Roman for Paris Olympics

By Eric Olanowski

PARIS, France (May 3) -- The ultra-competitive and uber-emotional final stage of the Paris Olympic Qualifiers is set to take place in Istanbul, Turkiye, May 9-12.

After next week’s Battle on the Bosporus -- which is the sixth and final event on the Olympic qualification calendar -- all 288 tickets to Paris 2024 will be booked and the nations wrestling in Paris will be set. 

Breakdown of quotas allocations for Paris 2024:
- World Championships = 30 freestyle, 30 women’s wrestling and 30 Greco-Roman = 90 quotas
- Continental Olympic Qualifiers (x4 continents) = 12 freestyle, 12 women’s wrestling and 12 Greco-Roman = 36 
- World Olympic Qualifier = 18 freestyle, 18 women’s wrestling and 18 Greco-Roman = 54
- Total = 96 freestyle, 96 women’s wrestling and 96 Greco-Roman = 288 wrestlers in Paris

It’s worth noting, and as you’ll see below, the induvial wrestler who earns the ticket to the Olympic Games does not own the right to compete in Pairs. Ultimately, it’s the National Olympic Committee / country who selects their entry for the Games.

For example: David TAYLOR (USA), through his world-title winning performance in Belgrade, punched the United States’ ticket at 86kg. But after going through their Olympic Trails, and with Taylor falling in the finals, the Stars and Stripes will send Aaron BROOKS (USA) to Paris at 86kg.

Over the last 290 days, wrestles have gone through two of three stages vying for their opportunity to earn their nation’s berth to Pairs.

The beginning stages of the qualification process took place last September at the 2023 World Championships, in Belgrade, Serbia, where there was a total of 90 quotas up for the taking. Wrestlers who won a medal--gold, silver or bronze (x2)-- earned a ticket for their country. 

Additionally, the two losers of the bronze-medal matches faced off in an Olympic playoff match, determining the fifth allocation in Belgrade.

Then came the Continental Olympic Qualifiers, where 36 quotas per continent were handed out.

Those athletes who reached the finals of their respective weight classes at the Pan-American, African & Oceania, European and Asian Olympic Qualifiers booked their nation’s ticket to Paris.

Now, after traveling through Belgrade, Acapulco, Alexandria, Baku and Bishkek, we’ve reached Istanbul for the “Last Chance Qualifier.”

There will be a slight adjustment to the number of allocations given in Istanbul, where in addition to the finalists earning berths to Paris, there will be an Olympic playoff between the winners of the bronze-medal matches to determine the final entries for the Olympic Games.

The draws for the World Olympic Qualifier will take place on May 8, with wrestling beginning the following day. Greco-Roman will compete live on UWW+ on May 9-10, women’s wrestling on May 10-11 and freestyle on May 11-12.

Here are the Greco-Roman nations that have qualified for the Paris Olympics before the start of the World Olympic Qualifier (May 9-12).

60kg
From World Championships
Kyrgyzstan (Zholaman SHARSHENBEKOV)
Japan (Kenichiro FUMITA)
China (Liguo CAO)
Uzbekistan (Islomjon BAKHRAMOV)
Iran (Mehdi MOHSEN NEJAD)

From Pan-Am OG Qualifier
Venezuela (Raiber RODRIGUEZ)
Cuba (Kevin DE ARMAS)

From African & Oceania OG Qualifier
Algeria (Abdelkarim FERGAT)
Egypt (Moamen MOHAMED)

From European OG Qualifier
Moldova (Victor CIOBANU)
Turkiye (Enes BASAR)

From Asian OG Qualifier
Kazakhstan (Aidos SULTANGALI)
DPR Korea (Se Ung RI)

From World Olympic Qualifier
Sadyk LALAEV as Individual Neutral Athlete
Azerbaijan (Murad MAMMADOV)
Serbia (Georgij TIBILOV)

67kg
From World Championships

Cuba (Luis ORTA)
Azerbaijan (Hasrat JAFAROV)
Iran (Mohammadreza GERAEI)
Serbia (Mate NEMES)
Armenia (Slavik GALSTYAN)

From Pan-Am OG Qualifier
Chile (Nestor ALMANZA)
Ecuador (Andres MONTANO)

From African & Oceania OG Qualifier
Tunisia (Souleymen NASR)
Algeria (Ishak GHAIOU)

From European OG Qualifier
Ukraine (Parviz NASIBOV)
France (Mamadassa SYLLA)

From Asian OG Qualifier
Japan (Kyotaro SOGABE)
Kyrgyzstan (Amantur ISMAILOV)

From World Olympic Qualifier
Moldova (Valentin PETIC)
Georgia (Ramaz ZOIDZE)
Egypt (Mohamed ELSAYED)

77kg
From World Championships
Kyrgyzstan (Akzhol MAKHMUDOV)
Azerbaijan (Sanan SULEYMANOV)
Armenia (Malkhas AMOYAN)
Japan (Nao KUSAKA)
Uzbekistan (Aram VARDANYAN)

From Pan-Am OG Qualifier
Cuba (Yosvanys PENA)
Colombia (Jair CUERO)

From African & Oceania OG Qualifier
Algeria (Abd Elkrim OUAKALI)
Egypt (Mahmoud ABDELRAHMAN)

From European OG Qualifier
Turkiye (Burhan AKBUDAK)
Finland (Jonni SARKKINEN)

From Asian OG Qualifier
Kazakhstan (Demeu ZHADRAYEV)
Iran (Amin KAVIYANI)

From World Olympic Qualifier
Sergei KUTUZOV as Individual Neutral Athlete
Bulgaria (Aik MNATSAKANIAN)
Hungary (Zoltan LEVAI)

87kg
From World Championships
Turkiye (Ali CENGIZ)
Hungary (David LOSONCZI)
Ukraine (Zhan BELENIUK)
Bulgaria (Semen NOVIKOV)
Kazakhstan (Nursultan TURSYNOV)

From Pan-Am OG Qualifier
United States (Spencer WOODS)
Colombia (Carlos MUNOZ)

From African & Oceania OG Qualifier
Algeria (Bachir SID AZARA)
Egypt (Mohamed METWALLY)

From European OG Qualifier
Serbia (Aleksandr KOMAROV)
Milad ALIRZAEV as Individual Neutral Athlete

From Asian OG Qualifier
Iran (Alireza MOHAMDIPIANI)
China (Haitao QIAN)

From World Olympic Qualifier
Azerbaijan (Rafig HUSEYNOV)
Kiryl MASKEVICH as Individual Neutral Athlete
Poland (
Arkadiusz KULYNYCZ)

97kg
From World Championships
Cuba (Gabriel ROSILLO)
Armenia (Artur ALEKSANYAN)
Iran (Mohammadhadi SARAVI)
Czech Republic (Artur OMAROV)
Abubakar KHASLAKHANAU as Individual Neutral Athlete

From Pan-Am OG Qualifier
Honduras (Kevin MEJIA)
United States (Alan VERA GARCIA)

From African & Oceania OG Qualifier
Algeria (Fadi ROUABAH)
Egypt (Mohamed GABR)

From European OG Qualifier
Georgia (Roberti KOBLIASHVILI)
Lithuania (Mindaugas VENCKAITIS)

From Asian OG Qualifier
Uzbekistan (Rustam ASSAKALOV)
Korea (Seungjun KIM)

From World Olympic Qualifier
Finaland (Arvi SAVOLAINEN)
Artur SARGSIAN as Individual Neutral Athlete

Kyrgyzstan (Uzur DZHUZUPBEKOV)

130kg
From World Championships

Iran (Amin MIRZAZADEH)
Turkiye (Riza KAYAALP)
Cuba (Oscar PINO)
Egypt (Adellatif MOHAMED)
China (Lingzhe MENG)

From Pan-Am OG Qualifier
United States (Cohlton SCHULTZ)
Chile (Yasmani ACOSTA)

From African & Oceania OG Qualifier
Tunisia (Amine GUENNICHI)
Morocco (Oussama ASSAD)

From European OG Qualifier
Germany (Jello KRAHMER)
Sergei SEMENOV as Individual Neutral Athlete

From Asian OG Qualifier
Kazakhstan (Alimkhan SYZDYKOV)
Korea (Seungchan LEE)

From World Olympic Qualifier
Romania (Alin ALEXUC CIURARIU)
Azerbaijan (Sabah SHARIATI)
Pavel HLINCHUK as Individual Neutral Athlete

#WrestleAthens

Wrestling U17 World Championships: Day 6 Freestyle Live

By Vinay Siwach

ATHENS, Greece (August 2) -- The final full day of the U17 World Championships will see the final five weight classes in Freestyle. Wrestling will continue in 45kg, 51kg, 60kg, 71kg and 92kg.

WATCH LIVE | LIVE MATCH ORDER | DAY 5 RESULTS

The semifinals of these weight classes will begin at 17:00 hours local time and medal bouts in 48kg, 55kg, 65kg, 80kg and 110kg will begin at 18:00 hours local time.

14:45: Samuel SANCHEZ (USA) is back in the semifinals, at 51kg, after taking out Temuri TUTARASHVILI (GEO) 12-1. Sanchez is chasing his second straight world title.

14:40: Mirjalol MUKAMMILOV (UZB), down 1-1 on criteria, spins behind and gets Riku FURUSAWA (JPN) down for a two-point takedown and a 3-1 win at 45kg. He will wrestle in the semifinals.

14:35: Keegan BASSETT (USA) breaks Bakdaulet AGABEK (KAZ) and gut wrenches Agabek for 15-4. He celebrates like he is breaking a stick with his knee

14:25: Yeghishe MOSESYAN (ARM) hits a front headlock in the final second to beat Omer GUL (TUR) 9-8 and enter the 71kg semifinals. Mosesyan never gave up attacking and got his win.

14:10: SITENDER (IND) with a counter attack for four and sends Arian MEHRALIZADEH (IRI) flying for four points and wins his 60kg bout 5-5. Mehralizadeh is devasted and runs off the mat.

13:30: Ulugbek RASHIDOV (UZB) is into the quarterfinals at 51kg! He blanks Ramal MIRHUSEYNOV (AZE) 11-0 using a lace. Comfortable win for the world champion!

13:20: Samuel SANCHEZ (USA) is looking extremely good at 51kg. The world 45kg champion gets past Bugra KAVAK (TUR) 9-3 and is now into the quarterfinals.

13:00: Yeghishe MOSESYAN (ARM) stuns Zubair BAGILOV (UWW) at 71kg, 8-3! Bagilov could never finish his shots and Mossyan had a huge four-pointer in the second period which changed the momentum of the match. 

12:45: In a battle of European silver medalist and bronze medalist, Omer GUL (TUR) takes out silver medalist Ihor OLIINYK (UKR) at 71kg. Gul was trailing 4-0 but front headlock for four and later another headpinch for four to win 9-4. 

12:40: Not to be for European silver medalist Hasan HASANOV (AZE) at 60kg. Rihito HIURA (JPN) blanks him 7-0 to advance to the quarterfinals. Hiura looks the one to beat at this weight class.

12:25: Nathan NASH (CAN) is absolutely ecstatic after getting a fall over Hamlet ANTONYAN (ARM) at 60kg! Nash is a Pan-Am bronze medalist this year.

11:45: European U17 champion Said PASHAYEV (AZE) must have been struggling off the mat otherwise there is no reason to explain his 5-4 win against Abderrahmane MEZITI (ALG) at 92kg. He was down 4-3 with five seconds remaining but manages to get a takedown on the edge to win 5-4.

11:30: Two world champions and two dominating wins! World 45kg champion Samuel SANCHEZ (USA) smashes Georgi SPASOV (BUL), 10-0 and then Ulugbek RASHIDOV (UZB) gut-wrenches Dhanraj JAMNIK (IND), 10-0, as well. Both Sanchez and Rashidov are at 51kg.

11:15: Hasan HASANOV (AZE), European silver medalist, keeps Fakhriddin NASRIDDINOV (UZB) at bay and wins his 51kg bout 6-2. Nasriddinov made several attempts to score points but Hasanov was solid in defense.

11:00: Arian MEHRALIZADEH (IRI) takes out returning silver medalist Frederick BACHMANN (PUR) at 51kg, 8-4. Bachmann got two takedowns in the match but Mehralizadeh was never looked in trouble.

10:50: Bekassyl ASSAMBEK (KAZ), Asian U17 champion, uses the gut-wrench and wins his 60kg bout Ashton BESMER (USA)

10:30: Welcome to another day of U17 World Championships in Athens, Greece. The five Freestyle weight class in action are 45kg, 51kg, 60kg, 71kg and 92kg.