Women's Wrestling

Wrestler Yasemin Adar Wins Mustafa Koç Sports Award

By GİLA BENMAYOR

Mustafa Koç, the late Turkish businessman who we lost too soon, was a leading advocate of the United Nations’ “HeForShe” initiative, which aims to get the support of men for gender equality. If he could have seen who won the second Mustafa V. Koç Sports Award, organized by Holding and the Turkish Olympics Committee, he would surely have been very pleased.

Designed by the famous designer Ivan Chermayeff, and presented by Caroline Koç, the wife of the late businessman, the award trophy was received this year by 2018 World Wrestling Champion Yasemin Adar.

She is Turkey’s first woman world champion wrestler. Adar, who also earned a 200,000 Turkish Lira prize, is a three-time successive (2016-2017-2018) world champion. When top jury Caroline Koç announced the award, she described Adar as “determined, hardworking and disciplined.” After an emotional introductory film, Adar’s speech revealed the determination of a woman who chose wrestling, widely considered a “sports for men.”
 

Do women ever wrestle? 

“When I started wrestling, there were many prejudices. I was often told I should not do this sport and that I could not do it. As a woman, I proved what I could achieve by ignoring what was being said, by never giving up, believing in myself, never stopping and by practicing with passion.”

Adar is a role model for all women in Turkey who wish to take up wrestling.

In many cities of Turkey, there are “women’s wrestling clubs” which were opened after Adar’s successes.

There are many girls who wish to follow her and achieve success just like her. Adar already stressed this in her speech. “I now believe that my struggle was for the new generation of wrestler girls. I stepped on that mat in order to lead their way.”

A legendary name in the Olympics

Another meaningful speech during the ceremony was made by another woman who thought exactly the same as Adar years ago in the sense of leading the way for women. The first African Muslim female athlete who managed to win a gold medal in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics: Nawal El Moutawakel from Morocco.

El Moutawakel, who used to be a vice president in the International Olympics Committee and who became Morocco’s sports and youth minister twice, is one of the legendary figures of the Olympics. Today, she is one of the leading figures of the international Olympics community.

“When I participated in the 1984 Olympics, nobody knew me and nobody believed in me,” she said in her speech.

During her successful career, El Moutawakel struggled for women’s liberation in sports.

“I am where I stand now thanks to the sports,” she said. El Moutawakel, who led the way for Muslim female athletes in the 1980s, and Adar, who leads the way for the female wrestling sports in Turkey, came together due to the Mustafa Koc Sports Awards. Watching and listening to them was a pleasure for all ceremony attendees.

#WrestleZagreb

World Championships 2025 Freestyle Entries, Seeds

By United World Wrestling Press

ZAGREB, Croatia (August 14) -- The Freestyle entries for the World Championships are set. In total, close to 900 wrestlers are participating in the September 13-21 tournament in Zagreb.

In Freestyle, 326 wrestlers are entered to compete at the World Championships that will begin with Freestyle action on September 13. The competition will also see 12 Paris Olympic medalist compete including two gold medalists.

Note: These are preliminary entries and subject to change 72 hours before the Freestyle draw at the World Championships. For latest entries, refer to uww.org

WOMEN'S WRESTLING ENTRIES | GRECO-ROMAN ENTRIES

Zagreb

57kg

Seeded
Spencer LEE (USA) #1
Gulomjon ABDULLAEV (UZB) #2
AMAN (IND) #3
Roman BRAVO YOUNG (MEX) #4
Darian CRUZ (PUR) #5
Bekzat ALMAZ UULU (KGZ) #6
Islam BAZARGANOV (AZE) #7
Munkh Erdene BATKHUYAG (MGL) #8

Unseeded
Salah KATEB (ALG)
Arsen HARUTYUNYAN (ARM)
Ivaylo TISOV (BUL)
Garette SAUNDERS (CAN)
Chengtao WANG (CHN)
Roland TAMBI NFORSONG (CMR)
Rabby KILANDI (COD)
Peter HAMMER CUDE (CRC)
Guesseppe REA VILLARROEL (ECU)
Roberti DINGASHVILI (GEO)
Niklas STECHELE (GER)
Ali Hossein MOMENI (IRI)
Husein ALBEHADILALBORS (IRQ)
Rin SAKAMOTO (JPN)
Adilet ALMUKHAMEDOV (KAZ)
Sunggwon KIM (KOR)
Vladimir EGOROV (MKD)
Chongsong HAN (PRK)
Azamat TUSKAEV (SRB)
Thomas EPP (SUI)
Aiaal BELOLYUBSKII (TJK)
Yusuf DEMIR (TUR)
Vladyslav ABRAMOV (UKR)
Musa MEKHTIKHANOV (UWW)
Aryan TSIUTRYN (UWW)

61kg

Seeded
Zavur UGUEV (UWW) #1
Giorgi GONIASHVILI (GEO) #2
Takara SUDA (JPN) #3
UDIT (IND) #4
Leomid COLESNIC (MDA) #5
Dzmitry SHAMELA (UWW) #6
Nils LEUTERT (SUI) #7
Joshua KRAMER (ECU) #8

Unseeded
Zelimkhan ABAKAROV (ALB)
Manvel KHNDZRTSYAN (ARM)
Georgii OKOROKOVV (AUS)
Jeyhun ALLAHVERDIYEV (AZE)
Jianhao LIU (CHN)
Ndjidda BOUBA (CMR)
Godefroid KALUBI (COD)
Ahmad  JAVAN (IRI)
Simone PIRODDU (ITA)
Adil OSPANOV (KAZ)
Taiyrbek ZHUMASHBEK UULU (KGZ)
Sangboum HAN (KOR)
Tuvshintulga TUMENBILEG (MGL)
Besir ALILI (MKD)
Ali ABURUMAILA (PLE)
Kum Hyok KIM (PRK)
Dylan SHAWVER (PUR)
Emrah ORMANOGLU (TUR)
Kamil KERYMOV (UKR)
Jaxen FORREST (USA)
Ibrahim GUZAN (YEM)

65kg

Seeded
Rahman AMOUZAD (IRI) #1
Kotaro KIYOOKA (JPN) #2
Vazgen TEVANYAN (ARM) #3
Ali RAHIMZADA (AZE) #4
Khamzat ARSAMERZOUEV (FRA) #5
Sebastian RIVERA (PUR) #6
Ibragim IBRAGIMOV (UWW) #7
SUJEET (IND) #8

Unseeded
Ayub MUSAEV (BEL)
Alibeg ALIBEGOV (BRN)
Mikyay NAIM (BUL)
Peiman BIABANI (CAN)
Tao WEI (CHN)
Roland KALAMBAYI (COD)
Goderdzi DZEBISASHVILI (GEO)
Nico MEGERLE (GER)
Mohammed KAREEM (IRQ)
Colin REALBUTO (ITA)
Nachyn KUULAR (KAZ)
Ikromzhon KHADZHIMURODOV (KGZ)
Junsik YUN (KOR)
Maxim SACULTAN (MDA)
Gantulga BATBAATAR (MGL)
Stephen IZOLO (NGR)
Abdullah ASSAF (PLE)
Krzysztof BIENKOWSKI (POL)
Kwang Jin KIM (PRK)
Daniel SANDU (ROU)
Nino LEUTERT (SUI)
Abdulmazhid KUDIEV (TJK)
Cabbar DUYUM (TUR)
Andrii BILIICHUK (UKR)
Real WOODS (USA)
Islam GUSEINOV (UWW)
Umidjon JALOLOV (UZB)
Wilfredo RODRIGUEZ (VEN)

70kg

Seeded
Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN) #1
Akaki KEMERTELIDZE (GEO) #2
Nurkozha KAIPANOV (KAZ) #3
Kanan HEYBATOV (AZE) #4
Arman ANDREASYAN (ARM) #5
Austin GOMEZ (MEX) #6
Vasile DIACON (MDA) #7
Iszmail MUSZUKAJEV (HUN) #8

Unseeded
Islam DUDAEV (ALB)
Shannon HANNA (BAH)
Mihail GEORGIEV (BUL)
Michael ZALE (CAN)
Jorge GATICA (CHI)
Shuang CHEN (CHN)
Gabriel MUANDA (COD)
Anthony WESLEY (CPV)
ROHIT (IND)
Amirmohammad YAZDANI (IRI)
Ernazar AKMATALIEV (KGZ)
Yongseok JEONG (KOR)
Tulga TUMUR OCHIR (MGL)
Viktor VOINOVIC (SRB)
Viktor RASSADIN (TJK)
Khairiddine BEN TLILI (TUN)
Haydar YAVUZ (TUR)
Oleksii BORUTA (UKR)
PJ DUKE (USA)
Saiyn KAZYRYK (UWW)
Begijon KULDASHEV (UZB)

74kg

Seeded
Chermen VALIEV (ALB) #1
Taimuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK) #2
Yones EMAMI (IRI) #3
Orozobek TOKTOMAMBETOV (KGZ) #4
Murad KURAMAGOMEDOV (HUN) #5
Giorgi ELBAKIDZE (GEO) #6
Magomedrasul ASLUEV (BRN) #7
Feng LU (CHN) #8

Unseeded
Hrayr ALIKHANYAN (ARM)
Turan BAYRAMOV (AZE)
Ibragim VELIEV (BEL)
Renato DA SILVA (BRA)
Ramazan RAMAZANOV (BUL)
Adam THOMSON (CAN)
Norvil BUKASA (COD)
Vedran LUKETIN (CRO)
Mohammad MOTTAGHINIA (ESP)
Vikash KUMAR (IND)
Luca FINIZIO (ITA)
Kota TAKAHASHI (JPN)
Alibek ABDIKASSYMOV (KAZ)
Daegil HAN (KOR)
Egzon XHONI (KOS)
Ion MARCU (MDA)
Cristian SANTIAGO (MEX)
Tugsjargal ERDENEBAT (MGL)
Rasul SHAPIEV (MKD)
Kamil RYBICKI (POL)
Ok Chol HAN (PRK)
Soner DEMIRTAS (TUR)
Ivan KUSYAK (UKR)
David CARR (USA)
Vitali IHNATOVICH (UWW)
Zaurbek SIDAKOV (UWW)
Mirzo KHAYITOV (UZB)
Anthony MONTERO (VEN)

79kg

Seeded
Akhsarbek GULAEV (SVK) #1
Suldkhuu OLONBAYAR (MGL) #2
Vladimeri GAMKRELIDZE (GEO) #3
Magomet EVLOEV (TJK) #4
Mohammad NOKHODI (IRI) #5
Daulet YERGESH (KAZ) #6
Khidir SAIPUDINOV (BRN) #7
Zelimkhan KHADJIEV (FRA) #8

Unseeded
Abdelkader IKKAL (ALG)
Dzhabrail GADZHIEV (AZE)
Patrik LEDER (CAN)
Tu Erxun AHEIYOU (CHN)
Andy MUKENDI (COD)
Marko NIKOLIC (CRO)
Georgios KOUGIOUMTSIDIS (GRE)
AMIT (IND)
Ryunosuke KAMIYA (JPN)
Bumgue SEO (KOR)
Alans AMIROVS (LAT)
Vlad STRATAN (MDA)
Dejan MITROV (MKD)
Michael LABRIOLA (PUR)
Iakub SHIKHDZHAMALOV (ROU)
Alfred DANIEL (SLE)
Azymberdi SAPAROV (TKM)
Ibrahim YAPRAK (TUR)
Vasyl MYKHAILOV (UKR)
Levi HAINES (USA)
Akhmed USMANOV (UWW)

86kg

Seeded
Osman GOCEN (TUR) #1
Arsenii DZHIOEV (AZE) #2
Mahamedkhabib KADZIMAHAMEDAU (UWW) #3
Zahid VALENCIA (USA) #4
Rakhim MAGAMADOV (FRA) #5
Hayato ISHIGURO (JPN) #6
Batbilguun NAADAMBAT (MGL) #7
Gyeongyeon LEE (KOR) #8

Unseeded
Fateh BENFERDJALLAH (ALG)
Simon MARCHL (AUT)
Hade AYIDUSI (CHN)
Matteo MONTEIRO FURTADO (CPV)
Kreso SKUGOR (CRO)
Ahmed MAHMOUD (EGY)
Gabriel IGLESIAS RAMOS (ESP)
Avtandil KENTCHADZE (GEO)
Joshua MORODION (GER)
Mukul DAHIYA (IND)
Kamran GHASEMPOUR (IRI)
Azamat DAULETBEKOV (KAZ)
Mukhammad ABDULLAEV (KGZ)
Ivars SAMUSONOK (LAT)
Paulius LESCAUSKAS (LTU)
Traian CAPATINA (MDA)
Cezary SADOWSKI (POL)
Ethan RAMOS (PUR)
Weng CHOW (SGP)
Boris MAKOEV (SVK)
Mukhammed ALIIEV (UKR)
Ibragim KADIEV (UWW)

92kg

Seeded
Miriani MAISURADZE (GEO) #1
Benjamin HONIS (ITA) #2
Batyrbek TSAKULOV (SVK) #3
Osman NURMAGOMEDOV (AZE) #4
Dauren KURUGLIEV (GRE) #5
Amirhossein FIROUZPOUR (IRI) #6
Lars SCHAEFLE (GER) #7
Trent HIDLAY (USA) #8

Unseeded
Benjamin GREIL (AUT)
Magomed SHARIPOV (BRN)
Ahmed BATAEV (BUL)
Andrew JOHNSON (CAN)
Jumabayi AERGEN (CHN)
Cedric ABOSSOLO (CMR)
Barthelemy TSHOSHA (COD)
Deepak PUNIA (IND)
Uri KALASHNIKOV (ISR)
Takashi ISHIGURO (JPN)
Nurdaulet BEKENOV (KAZ)
Gwanuk KIM (KOR)
Andrian GROSUL (MDA)
Demchigdorj TUMURBAATAR (MGL)
Redjep HAJDARI (MKD)
Samuel SCHERRER (SUI)
Alperen TOKGOZ (TUR)
Ivan CHORNOHUZ (UKR)
Amanula GADZHIMAGOMEDOV (UWW)
Yaraslau IADKOUSKI (UWW)

97kg

Seeded
Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN) #1
Givi MATCHARASHVILI (GEO) #2
Kyle SNYDER (USA) #3
Magomedkhan MAGOMEDOV (AZE) #4
Amirali AZARPIRA (IRI) #5
Zbigniew BARANOWSKI (POL) #6
Arash YOSHIDA (JPN) #7
Richard VEGH (HUN) #8

Unseeded
Akhmed MAGAMAEV (BUL)
Nishan Preet RANDHAWA (CAN)
Awusayiman HABILA (CHN)
Filip HUKLEK (CRO)
Arturo SILOT TORRES (CUB)
Adlan VISKHANOV (FRA)
Ertugrul AGCA (GER)
VICKY (IND)
Rizabek AITMUKHAN (KAZ)
Juhwan SEO (KOR)
Domantas PAULIUSCENKO (LTU)
Radu LEFTER (MDA)
Gankhuyag GANBAATAR (MGL)
Magomedgadji NUROV (MKD)
Adam JAKSIK (SVK)
Shatlyk HEMELYAYEV (TKM)
Resul GUNE (TUR)
David MCHEDLIDZE (UKR)
Aliaksandr HUSHTYN (UWW)
Abdulrashid SADULAEV (UWW)
Cristian SARCO (VEN)

125kg

Seeded
Giorgi MESHVILDISHVILI (AZE) #1
Amir Hossein ZARE (IRI) #2
Dzianis KHRAMIANKOU (UWW) #3
Robert BARAN (POL) #4
Lkhagvagerel MUNKHTUR (MGL) #5
Shamil SHARIPOV (BRN) #6
Solomon MANASHVILI (GEO) #7
Jonovan SMITH (PUR) #8

Unseeded
Johannes LUDESCHER (AUT)
Gabriel DE SOUSA (BRA)
Alen KHUBULOV (BUL)
BUHEEERDUN (CHN)
Filip KOSCIC (CRO)
Mohsen SIYAR (GER)
Azamat KHOSONOV (GRE)
Milan KORCSOG (HUN)
Rajat RUHAL (IND)
Taiki YAMAMOTO (JPN)
Alisher YERGALI (KAZ)
Gyeongmin KIM (KOR)
Dmitrii DUSCOV (MDA)
Omar SAREM (ROU)
Zyyamuhammet SAPAROV (TKM)
Hakan BUYUKCINGIL (TUR)
Murazi MCHEDLIDZE (UKR)
Wyatt HENDRICKSON (USA)
Abdulla KURBANOV (UWW)
Khasanboy RAKHIMOV (UZB)