#WrestleZagreb

World Championships 2025 Greco-Roman Seeds and Entries

By United World Wrestling Press

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)

2026 World Championships

Yazdani Returns to World Championships After Beating Azarpira

By Vinay Siwach

KEMRAN, Iran (July 19) -- Hassan YAZDANI (IRI) made his World Championships debut at 70kg in 2015. The Olympic champion will be at 97kg for his eighth World Championships, 11 years later.

Yazdani, a three-time world champion, booked his spot on Iran's team for the 2026 World Championships after beating world silver medalist Amirali AZARPIRA (IRI) in two straight matches in Kemran on Friday.

Azarpira needed to win only one bout to earn his spot as he was a returning world medalist but Yazdani secured two wins, 4-2 and 5-3, to end Azarpira's hopes. 

According to selection criteria set by Iran, a returning world medalist needed to win only one bout while the opponent needed two straight wins to claim the spot.

Hassan YAZDANI (IRI)Hassan YAZDANI (IRI), blue, shakes hands with Amirali AZARPIRA (IRI) after beating him in the second bout. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

In the first bout, Yazdani scored three stepouts and a point for passivity while Azarpira managed a takedown to the lead but he could not find another takedown or two one-point scoring actions needed to win.

An hour later, the two wrestlers returned for their second bout. Azapira, needed just a win to secure his place, led 3-3 on criteria in the second period. After Yazdani led 3-0, Azarpira fired back a takedown and stepout to earn the criteria.

In the final minute, Azarpira pressured Yazdani towards the zone and just went it seemed that he has scored a stepout, Yazdani circled back and scored a takedown to take a 5-3 lead. A shocked Azarpira protested the decision but he had no challenge left as he had used and lost the challenge in the first period.

Amirali AZARPIRA (IRI)Amirali AZARPIRA (IRI) tries to score on Hassan YAZDANI (IRI) during the 97kg bout. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

Yazdani, with all his experience, managed to hold on to his two point lead and confirm that he will return to the World Championships three years later. The Iranian will be chasing his eighth medal as he already has medals from every edition he has participated in.

The 31-year-old began with a silver medal at 70kg in 2015, won gold at 86kg in 2017, 2019 and 2021, and won bronze in 2018. At the 2022 and 2023 World Championships, he finished silver medals, losing those finals to David TAYLOR (USA).

This, however, won't be Yazdani's debut at 97kg. He wrestled at the Zagreb Open Ranking Series in February and reached the final before Stephen BUCHANAN (USA) defeated him, 13-3.

Yazdani's next challenge will be to win a medal at the October 24-November 1 World Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan. The 97kg weight class will most likely have returning world champion Kyle SNYDER (USA), Paris Olympic champion and world bronze medalist Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN) and world bronze medalist Arash YOSHIDA (JPN).

Former Olympic and world champion Abdulrashid SADULAEV (RUS) will also be in the mix if he makes the Russian team. Olympic silver medalist Givi MATCHARASHVILI (GEO), former world champion Rizabek AITMUKHAN (KAZ), will also be challenging for the three-time Olympic medalist Iranian.

Yazdani, Firouzpour Win

Two other weight classes, 74kg and 97kg, were also contested to confirm the Iran Freestyle team for the World Championships.

Former world silver medalist Amirmohammad YAZDANI (IRI) defeated Yones EMAMI (IRI) in two straight bouts to clinch the spot at 74kg, a weight class that Emami has ruled in Iran for quite a few years now.

In two high-scoring bouts, Yazdani won 10-6 and 11-7, mostly using his counters in the zone to book his spot.

At 92kg, world bronze medalist Amirhossein FIROUZPOUR (IRI) defeated Mobin AZIMI (IRI), 2-1, in the second bout of the series to claim the spot. As he was the returning world medalist, Firouzpour needed only one win to qualify.

Azimi won the first bout 2-2 on criteria, scoring a late stepout after three points were awarded for passivity. However, there was no such comeback in the second bout as Firouzpour kept his lead.

On Tuesday, a wrestle-off was held in Greco-Roman in which Fardin HEDAYATI (IRI) defeated world champion Amin MIRZAZADEH (IRI), 5-1, at 130kg to secure his spot for the World Championships.

Iran's Freestyle Team for 2026 World Championships

57kg: Milad VALIZADEH (IRI)
61kg: Ahmad JAVAN (IRI)
65kg: Rahman AMOUZAD (IRI)
70kg: Sina KHALILI (IRI)
74kg: Amirmohammad YAZDANI (IRI)
79kg: Mohammad NOKHODI (IRI)
86kg: Kamran GHASEMPOUR (IRI)
92kg: Amirhossein FIROUZPOUR (IRI)
97kg: Hassan YAZDANI (IRI)
125kg: Amir Hossein ZARE (IRI)