#WrestleTirana

World Championships Non-Olympic Weights 2024 Entries

By United World Wrestling Press

TIRANA, Albania (October 2) -- The World Championships in Non-Olympic Weight Classes is making a return after eight years and will be held in Tirana, Albania from October 28 to 31.

The wrestlers who participated in the 2024 Paris Olympics cannot compete at this World Championships. Close to 300 wrestlers will be in Tirana competing in 12 weight classes in Freestyle, Women's Wrestling and Greco-Roman.

Freestyle competition will be in 61kg, 70kg 79kg and 92kg. Women's Wrestling will be in 55kg, 59kg, 65kg and 72kg and Greco-Roman will compete in 55kg, 63kg, 72kg and 82kg.

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

Note: The entries are subject to change as a few countries are yet to hold their selections

Freestyle

61kg
Aryan TSIUTRYN (AIN)
Zavur UGUEV (AIN)
Endrio AVDYLI (ALB)
Mezhlum MEZHLUMYAN (ARM)
Nuraddin NOVRUZOV (AZE)
Christopher MERLO (CAN)
Weiyu LI (CHN)
Rabby KILANDI (COD)
Peter HAMMER CUDE (CRC)
Joshua KRAMER (ECU)
Arman ELOYAN (FRA)
Giorgi GONIASHVILI (GEO)
Niklas STECHELE (GER)
Gamzatgadzsi HALIDOV (HUN)
UDIT (IND)
Reza Hossein MOMENIJOUJADEH (IRI)
Masanosuke ONO (JPN)
Assyl AITAKYN (KAZ)
Taiyrbek ZHUMASHBEK UULU (KGZ)
Leomid COLESNIC (MDA)
Tsogbadrakh TSEVEENSUREN (MGL)
Besir ALILI (MKD)
Joseph SILVA (PUR)
Razvan KOVACS (ROU)
Azamat TUSKAEV (SRB)
Nils LEUTERT (SUI)
Tolga OZBEK (TUR)
Andrii DZHELEP (UKR)
Vitali ARUJAU (USA)

70kg
Niurgun SKRIABIN (AIN)
Magomed MAGOMAEV (AIN)
Eriglent PRIZRENI (ALB)
Arman ANDREASYAN (ARM)
Ali RAHIMZADE (AZE)
Ramazan RAMAZANOV (BUL)
Peiman BIABANI (CAN)
Shijian ZHOU (CHN)
Norvil BUKASA (COD)
Anthony WESLEY (CPV)
Akaki KEMERTELIDZE (GEO)
Manish GOSWAMI (IND)
Amirmohammad YAZDANI (IRI)
Mitchell FINESILVER (ISR)
Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN)
Nurkozha KAIPANOV (KAZ)
Alibek OSMONOV (KGZ)
Nicolai GRAHMEZ (MDA)
Temuulen ENKHTUYA (MGL)
Fati VEJSELI (MKD)
Patryk OLENCZYN (POL)
Stefan COMAN (ROU)
Abdulmazhid KUDIEV (TJK)
Umut ERDOGAN (TUR)
Vasyl SHUPTAR (UKR)
James GREEN (USA)

79kg
Inalbek SHERIEV (AIN)
Orges LILA (ALB)
Chems FETAIRIA (ALG)
Arman AVAGYAN (ARM)
Orkhan ABASOV (AZE)
Khidir SAIPUDINOV (BRN)
Mihail GEORGIEV (BUL)
Adam THOMSON (CAN)
Nan CAO (CHN)
Andy MUKENDI (COD)
Zelimkhan KHADJIEV (FRA)
Avtandil KENTCHADZE (GEO)
Lucas KAHNT (GER)
Murad KURAMAGOMEDOV (HUN)
Parvinder SINGH (IND)
Mohammad NOKHODI (IRI)
RAFFAELE MATRULLO (ITA)
Kota TAKAHASHI (JPN)
Daulet YERGESH (KAZ)
Alans AMIROVS (LAT)
Traian CAPATINA (MDA)
Suldkhuu OLONBAYAR (MGL)
Ahmad MAGOMEDOV (MKD)
Andrzej SOKALSKI (POL)
Shane JONES (PUR)
Zurab KAPRAEV (ROU)
Akhsarbek GULAEV (SVK)
Magomet EVLOEV (TJK)
Ahmet YAGAN (TUR)
Valentyn BABII (UKR)
Jordan BURROUGHS (USA)
Mirzo KHAYITOV (UZB)

92kg
Yaraslau IADKOUSKI (AIN)
Abdulrashid SADULAEV (AIN)
Marjus MALKO (ALB)
Igor SARKISIAN (ARM)
Aslan ABAKAROV (AZE)
Akhmed MAGAMAEV (BUL)
Andrew JOHNSON (CAN)
Zushen LIN (CHN)
Miriani MAISURADZE (GEO)
Lars SCHAEFLE (GER)
Balazs JUHASZ (HUN)
Sandeep MANN (IND)
Kamran GHASEMPOUR (IRI)
Matthew FINESILVER (ISR)
Benjamin HONIS (ITA)
Takashi ISHIGURO (JPN)
Nurdaulet BEKENOV (KAZ)
Egzon SHALA (KOS)
Ivars SAMUSONOKS (LAT)
Domantas PAULIUSCENKO (LTU)
Ivan ICHIZLI (MDA)
Gankhuyag GANBAATAR (MGL)
Dejan MITROV (MKD)
Filip ROGUT (POL)
Samuel SCHERRER (SUI)
Batyrbek TSAKULOV (SVK)
Bekir Talip OVEC (TUR)
Illia ARCHAIA (UKR)
David TAYLOR (USA)

Risako KINJO (JPN)Former Olympic and world champion Risako KINJO (JPN) will be eyeing another world title, first since 2019. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Women's Wrestling

55kg
Iryna KURACHKINA (AIN)
Olga KHOROSHAVTSEVA (AIN)
Irena BINKOVA (BUL)
Karla GODINEZ (CAN)
Jin ZHANG (CHN)
Maria BAEZ (ESP)
Tatiana DEBIEN (FRA)
Nina HEMMER (GER)
Ramona GALAMBOS (HUN)
KIRTI (IND)
Moe KIYOOKA (JPN)
Zulfiya YAKHYAROVA (KAZ)
Iulia LEORDA (MDA)
Zeltzin HERNANDEZ (MEX)
Otgontuya CHINBOLD (MGL)
Jowita WRZESIEN (POL)
Elvira KAMALOGLU (TUR)
Oleksandra KHOMENETS (UKR)
Areana VILLAESCUSA (USA)

59kg
Svetlana LIPATOVA (AIN)
Alyona KOLESNIK (AZE)
Ana PEREIRA FRANCA (BRA)
Evelina NIKOLOVA (BUL)
Laurence BEAUREGARD (CAN)
Yongxin FENG (CHN)
Elena BRUGGER (GER)
Erika BOGNAR (HUN)
MANSI (IND)
Risako KINJO (JPN)
Diana KAYUMOVA (KAZ)
Mariana CHERDIVARA (MDA)
Alejandra RIVERA ARRIAGA (MEX)
Tserenchimed SUKHEE (MGL)
Esther KOLAWOLE (NGR)
Othelie HOEIE (NOR)
Magdalena GLODEK (POL)
Kateryna ZHYDACHEVSKA (ROU)
Evelina HULTHEN (SWE)
Sevim AKBAS (TUR)
Solomiia VYNNYK (UKR)
Jacarra WINCHESTER (USA)

65kg
Veranika IVANOVA (AIN)
Valeriia DONDUPOVA (AIN)
Albina DRAZHI (ALB)
Elis MANOLOVA (AZE)
Olivia DI BACCO (CAN)
Jia LONG (CHN)
Kendra DACHER (FRA)
MANISHA (IND)
Aurora CAMPAGNA (ITA)
Eldarah BROWN (TON)
Miwa MORIKAWA (JPN)
Irina KAZYULINA (KAZ)
Elma ZEIDLERE (LAT)
Alexis GOMEZ (MEX)
Enkhjin TUVSHINJARGAL (MGL)
Natalia KUBATY (POL)
Kateryna ZELENYKH (ROU)
Duygu GEN (TUR)
Iryna BONDAR (UKR)
Macey KILTY (USA)

72kg
Anastasiya ZIMIANKOVA (AIN)
Vusala PARFIANOVICH (AIN)
Thamires MARTINS MACHADO (BRA)
Aleah NICKEL (CAN)
Qian JIANG (CHN)
Rosie TABORA (COD)
Adela HANZLICKOVA (CZE)
Pauline LECARPENTIER (FRA)
Noémi SZABADOS (HUN)
BIPASHA (IND)
Ami ISHII (JPN)
Zhamila BAKBERGENOVA (KAZ)
Emilia CRECIUN (MDA)
Bolortungalag ZORIGT (MGL)
Alexandra ANGHEL (ROU)
Tindra SJOEBERG (SWE)
Nazar BATIR (TUR)
Anastasiya ALPYEYEVA (UKR)
Kylie WELKER (USA)

Greco-Roman

55kg
Emin SEFERSHAEV (AIN)
Bajram SINA (ALB)
Manvel KHACHATRYAN (ARM)
Eldaniz AZIZLI (AZE)
Stefan GRIGOROV (BUL)
Haifeng ZHANG (CHN)
Giorgi TOKHADZE (GEO)
SANJEEV (IND)
Poya DAD MARZ (IRI)
Kagetora OKAMOTO (JPN)
Amangali BEKBOLATOV (KAZ)
Ulan MURATBEK UULU (KGZ)
Artiom DELEANU (MDA)
Denis MIHAI (ROU)
Servan CINAR (TUR)
Koriun SAHRADIAN (UKR)
Brady KOONTZ (USA)

63kg
Hleb MAKARANKA (AIN)
Sadyk LALAEV (AIN)
Jurgen UKU (ALB)
Hrachya POGHOSYAN (ARM)
Nihat MAMMADLI (AZE)
Abu AMAEV (BUL)
Haodong TAN (CHN)
Stefan CLEMENT (FRA)
Leri ABULADZE (GEO)
CHETAN (IND)
Iman Hossein MOHAMMADI (IRI)
Ayata SUZUKI (JPN)
Yerzhet ZHARLYKASSYN (KAZ)
Dastan KADYROV (KGZ)
Munthir JANDU (KSA)
Aleksandrs JURKJANS (LAT)
Vitalie ERIOMENCO (MDA)
Michal TRACZ (POL)
Servet ANGI (TUR)
Oleksandr HRUSHYN (UKR)
Ildar HAFIZOV (USA)

72kg
Mikita MURASHKA (AIN)
Aslan VISAITOV (AIN)
Gjete PRENGA (ALB)
Hayk MELIKYAN (ARM)
Ulvu GANIZADE (AZE)
Ivo ILIEV (BUL)
Ji LENG (CHN)
Reangan NDOMBASI (COD)
Dominik ETLINGER (CRO)
Mikko PELTOKANGAS (FIN)
Ibrahim GHANEM (FRA)
Otar ABULADZE (GEO)
Michael WIDMAYER (GER)
Amadeusz VITEK (HUN)
Ankit GULIA (IND)
Mohammadreza GERAEI (IRI)
Kensuke SHIMIZU (JPN)
Meiirzhan SHERMAKHANBET (KAZ)
Yryskeldi KHAMZAEV (KGZ)
Ahmed BARAHMAH (KSA)
Mihai PETIC (MDA)
Haavard JOERGENSEN (NOR)
Mateusz BERNATEK (POL)
Ali ARSALAN (SRB)
Andreas VETSCH (SUI)
Per Albin OLOFSSON (SWE)
Selcuk CAN (TUR)
Ihor BYCHKOV (UKR)
Benjamin PEAK (USA)
Abdullo ALIEV (UZB)

82kg
Stanislau SHAFARENKA (AIN)
Islam ALIEV (AIN)
Kevin KUPI (ALB)
Karen KHACHATRYAN (ARM)
Gurban GURBANOV (AZE)
Sosruko KODZOKOV (BRA)
Rosian DERMANSKI (BUL)
Pengcheng WANG (CHN)
Karlo KODRIC (CRO)
Michal ZELENKA (CZE)
Artem SHAPOVALOV (FIN)
Gela BOLKVADZE (GEO)
Pascal EISELE (GER)
Erik SZILVASSY (HUN)
Rohit DAHIYA (IND)
Mohammadali GERAEI (IRI)
Matteo MAFFEZZOLI (ITA)
Taizo YOSHIDA (JPN)
Yevgeniy POLIVADOV (KAZ)
Azat SALIDINOV (KGZ)
Hassan BARNAWI (KSA)
Mihail BRADU (MDA)
Patryk BEDNARZ (POL)
Ramon BETSCHART (SUI)
Per Albin OLOFSSON (SWE)
Alperen BERBER (TUR)
Ruslan ABDIIEV (UKR)
Aliaksandr KIKINIOU (USA)
Jalgasbay BERDIMURATOV (UZB)

#WrestleParis

10 seeded showdowns we need to see at Paris 2024 (No. 1-5)

By Eric Olanowski

PARIS, France (July 18) --- Yesterday, we launched the No. 6-10 must-watch seeded matches that could take place in the quarterfinals and semifinals of the upcoming Paris Olympic Games. We continue the series with the top five matchups that could be between seeded athletes in the quarterfinals and semifinals.

SCHEDULE | PARIS 2024 EVENT PAGE 

The top eight Ranking Series point scorers from the 2023 World Championships, 2024 Continental Championships, and the Croatian and Hungarian Ranking Series events earned a top eight seed in Paris. The remaining eight wrestlers will be randomly drawn into their respective brackets.

Here are the top-five seeded showdowns that can take place in Paris:

5. 97kg SEMIFINAL – No. 1 Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM) vs. No. 4 Gabriel ROSILLO (CUB)
If you were to rank the ten Greco-Roman favorites expected to win gold at last year’s World Championships, Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM) would have been either at the top or second on that list.

Unfortunately (or fortunately), no one told Gabriel Rosillo that the list existed.

In their lone career meeting, Rosillo, with the most perfectly timed arm drag that the wrestling world has seen in recent memory, stopped Aleksanyan from winning his fifth world gold medal. The Cuban sucked in an arm drag to Aleksanyan’s right arm, then perfectly timed a re-drag to the left side just as the Armenian pulled away, giving him the go-ahead takedown with 23 seconds left.

After the match, Aleksanyan said he relaxed at the most inopportune time and he’ll use the loss to Rosillo as motivation heading into Paris.

The second meeting between Aleksanyan and Rosillo could happen on August 6 in the 97kg semifinals.

4. 125kg SEMIFINAL – No. 1 Amir ZARE (IRI) vs. No. 4 Taha AKGUL (TUR)
Zare and Akgul have been going blow for blow for the last three years, with Zare grabbing the 2-1 advantage from his 2021 and 2023 wins, which were sandwiched between a 2022 world championship loss.

Zare picked up the biggest win of his career (at the time) with his win 4-0 shutout win over Akgul at the 2021 Oslo World Championships. Up until that point, the Iranian was looked at as a tier-two heavyweight. His win over Akgul in Norway pushed him into the ranks with Akgul, Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO) and Gable STEVESON (USA).

In the second meeting, Akgul stood tall on the United World Wrestling logo in the center of the mat and didn't budge. He evened the score at one match apiece, striking late with a counter-offensive 360 spin, moving into the world finals with a 3-3 win.

Zare regained his crown in the third meeting, with a tactical heavy-handed 4-0 win.

Zare knew Akgul wasn’t much of an offensive threat and couldn't afford to make a similar mistake as he did the year before, giving up the match-deciding takedown with no time left. He remained composed and scored a pair of stepouts and a takedown to win 4-0, giving him the 2-1 advantage heading into Paris.

The fourth meeting between world champions Zare and Akgul could happen on August 9 in the 125kg semifinals.

3. 57kg SEMIFINAL –  No. 2 Rei HIGUCHI (JPN ) vs. No. 3 Arsen HARUTYUNYAN (ARM)
Harutyunyan and Higuchi are two guys with unlimited offensive and have gas tanks that rival a nuclear submarine.

That was on display in last year’s Freestyle Match of the Year, where Harutyunyan and Higuchi put up a combined 30 points in one match—17 points in the first period and 13 in the second.

In their epic second meeting, Higuchi surrendered an early 6-0 lead, but clawed his way back before the ending whistle in the first, taking the 10-7 lead with a beautiful four-point arm-throw. Higuchi’s onslaught of attacks continued as the second period started, scoring six straight points and extending his lead to 16-8. From there, Higuchi seemingly shut it down to conserve energy for the semifinals, as he gave up six unanswered points but still won the bout, 16-14.

The second meeting between Higuchi and Harutyunyan would go down on August 8 in the 57kg semifinals.

2. 97kg SEMIFINAL – No . 2 Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN) vs. No. 3 Kyle SNYDER (USA)
Coming into the 2023 World Championships, Tazhudinov was a relatively unknown 20-year-old. The most fans knew about the 21-year-old was that he was a young guy trained by Sadulaev’s coach but left Russia to compete for Bahrain.

That all changed for Tazhudinov after his sub-three-minute quarterfinal routing of world and Olympic champion Kyle SNYDER (USA). The lengthy pupil of the Sadulaev’s School of Wrestling threw Snyder twice for four, using all four of the American’s shot attempts to score his 10 quick points.

Heading into Paris, there’s nothing more that Snyder wants more than revenge against Tazhudinov on his way to a potential third Olympic medal.

“I’m pumped about the bracket. It worked out great, in my opinion,” said Snyder in an interview with FloWrestling. “The third match of the day, that’s probably my best match. Once I start getting warm, I feel like I can wrestle forever.”

Round two of the Snyder vs. Tazhudinov rivalry will take on August 10 in the 97kg Olympic semifinals.

1. 60kg SEMIFINAL  –  No. 1 Zholaman SHARSHENBEKOV (KGZ) vs. No. 4 Kenichiro FUMITA (JPN)
The Sharshenbekov and Fumita gold-medal bout from the 2023 World Championships was voted as the 2023 Match of the Year by fans.

In their second career meeting, the pair of two-time world champions wowed the crowd from whistle to whistle, with Sharshebekov scoring the first four-pointer of the match five seconds after the referee blew the whistle.

The points continued to pile up throughout the match. The pair collectively scored 15 points in the opening 90 seconds. They ultimately scored 17 points in the six-minute bout, with Sharshenbekov taking ownership of the world title with an 11-6 victory.

Sharshenbekov and Fumita are scheduled to meet on August 5 in the 60kg semifinals.

Wrestling at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games starts August 5-11 and can be followed on www.uww.org.