#WrestleTokyo

#WrestleTokyo Olympic Games Preview: 57kg

Thursday, July 29, 2021 - 15:08 By Eric Olanowski

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TOKYO, Japan (July 20) – Zaur UGUEV (RUS) has been the gold standard at 57kg since he bolstered his resume with a pair of world titles in '18 and '19. The 26-year-old Khasavyurt, Dagestan native heads into the Tokyo Olympic Games with 15 men chasing down the head-topping crown he's held since '18. He's riding a five-tournament 16-match win streak and is seeded second at 57kg, one spot behind Serbia's history-making Olympian, Stevan MICIC (SRB).

Micic, Serbia's first-ever freestyle Olympian, won the tight-knit race for the 57kg top seed after claiming gold at the final Ranking Series event of the season, the Poland Open. He earned 62 Ranking Series points and finished two points ahead of Uguev.

Uguev dropped to an uncharacteristic 23rd-place finish at the '17 World Championships but has since terrorized the rest of the 57kg field on his way to winning back-to-back world titles. Since that loss, the spry and agile lightweight has medaled at 15 consecutive events and has podium-topping finishes in 12 of those appearances.

His last loss came at the '19 European Games, where he fell to eventual champion Mahir AMIRSLANOV (AZE). But Uguev won't have to worry about the young Azeri, as he failed to qualify for the Tokyo Olympic Games.

Uguev's path to joining fellow Russian lightweight Olympic champions Mavlet BATIROV (' 04) and Djamal OTARSULTANOV (' 12) will have to go through an insanely loaded tier-two field. That group is highlighted by fellow world champion Yuki TAKAHASHI (JPN) and world medalists Suleyman ATLI (TUR), Bekhbayar ERDENEBAT (MGL), Thomas GILMAN (USA), Kumar RAVI (IND) and Nurislam SANAYEV (KAZ).

Takahashi has been on a rollercoaster ride filled with mixed emotions since grabbing world supremacy in Paris in '17. He regressed to a bronze medal finish in Budapest and had a tenth-placing showing in Nur-Sultan, but capitalized on his opportunity to qualify Japan for the Olympic Games after he won the '21 World Olympic Qualifier. Then, in early June, the 27-year-old punched his ticket to Tokyo with a special playoff win over Rio Olympic silver medalist Rei HIGUCHI (JPN).

Turkey's ever-improving Atli has been a regular fixture on the 57kg podium over the last few years. The third-seed at 57kg made his world-level debut on the Turkish roster at the '17 World Championships and has since claimed a pair of world medals. Since his breakout performance in Budapest, the 27-year-old has compiled an 8-2 world championship record en route to bronze and silver medal finishes, respectively, at the '18 and '19 World Championships.

Atli will be on the bottom side of the bracket with second-seeded Uguev.

India's Ravi is the fourth-seeded guy at 57kg, so he'll be positioned on the top side of the bracket with Micic.

Ravi, the 24- year-old Haryana product, surprised the field in Nur-Sultan with four presence-announcing wins in his first senior-level world appearance. He dropped a close one in the semifinals against Uguev, but fought back and scored four wins, including top-notch wins over world champion Takahashi and European champion Arsen HARUTYUNYAN (ARM) route to a bronze-medal finish.

Other non-seeded past world-meal threats include Erdenebat, Gilman and Sanayev. 

Sanayev is only two World Championships removed from falling to Uguev by two points in the gold-medal match. Although it was a slight step down, the Chadan, Russian-born Kazakh grasped a second world medal in '19. He fell to Atli in the semifinals but bounced back to beat Micic for world gold.

Erdenebat, a two-time world bronze medalist ('15 and '17), is set to make his second Olympic appearance. The 28-years-old from Ulan Bator punched his ticket to Tokyo with a decisive 6-2 semifinal win over three-time European champion Giorgi EDISHERASHVILI (AZE) at the World Olympic Qualifier in Sofia. He's now looking to improve on his 16th place from Rio.

America's 27-year-old '17 world runner-up Gilman will return to America's world-level roster for the first time since finishing in fifth place at the '18 World Championships. He lost his starting spot to Daton FIX (USA) in '19 but rebounded to his winning ways in '20. The two-time Ranking Series champion won the 57kg title at the '20 Pan American Olympic Qualifier and qualified the USA for Tokyo. He earned his spot on America's Tokyo roster with two wins over '19 junior world silver medalist Vitali ARUJAU (USA) in the U.S. Olympic Trial finals.

Other rising stars who can make some noise at 57kg are Arsen Harutyunyan and Diamantino IUNA FAFE (GBS).

After struggling with the massive weight cut, Harutyunyan returned to his attack-first mindset. Since that disappointing 16th place finish in Nur-Sultan, the '19 European champion at 61kg has three 57kg medals -- including a gold at the European Olympic Qualifier and a silver medal finish at the Individual World Cup where he dropped the gold-medal match to Uguev.

Iuna Fafe heads into Tokyo riding a two tournament win streak. The 20-year-old stole the show in Hammamet at the Africa and Oceania Olympic Qualifier after beating African silver medalist Gamal MOHAMED (EGY), three-time Commonwealth Games silver-medalist Ebikewenimo WELSON (NGR) and 2016 Rio Olympian Chakir ANSARI (MAR), the 19-year-old pinned two-time African champion Abdelhak KHERBACHE (ALG) in just 57 seconds en route to the 57kg title. He followed that up with a gold-medal performance at the City of Sassari Tournament at the end of June.

Wrestling at the Tokyo Olympic Games kicks off August 1-7 at the Makuhari Messe with 57kg action beginning on August 4.

57kg Entries
No. 1 Stevan Andria MICIC (SRB)
No. 2 Zavur UGUEV (RUS)
No. 3 Suleyman ATLI (TUR)
No. 4 Kumar RAVI (IND)
Nurislam SANAYEV (KAZ)
Reza ATRINAGHARCHI (IRI)
Diamantino IUNA FAFE (GBS)
Abdelhak KHERBACHE (ALG)
Thomas GILMAN (USA)
Oscar Eduardo TIGREROS URBANO (COL)
Arsen HARUTYUNYAN (ARM)
Georgi VANGELOV (BUL)
Gulomjon ABDULLAEV (UZB)
Minghu LIU (CHN)
Yuki TAKAHASHI (JPN)
Bekhbayar ERDENEBAT (MGL)

#WrestleTirana

Kayaalp's 13: New Golden Standard Set in Europe

Tuesday, April 21, 2026 - 15:27 By United World Wrestling Press

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TIRANA, Albania (April 20) -- On Tuesday evening in Tirana, Riza KAYAALP (TUR) did something that for years existed and was expected to continue to exist only as a hypothetical.

He won his 13th European title in Tirana on Tuesday, beating Darius VITEK (HUN), 7-1, in the 130kg European Championships. 2026 joined 2023, 2022, 2021, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012 and 2010.

Riza KAYAALP (TUR)Riza KAYAALP (TUR) turns Darius VITEK (HUN) in the 130kg final. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

As the referee raised his powerfully sculpted right arm in triumph, Kayaalp raised the ceiling in Greco-Roman. He moved past the legendary Aleksandr KARELIN’s 12 European gold medals, the last of which he had won in 2000. Generations of wrestlers had competed, won and lost, knowing all the while that that number would outlast them. Until Kayaalp finally eclipsed it.

The moment itself wasn’t dramatic in the way history is often expected to be. Just a raised hand, a nod and a lap of honor around the mat with the Turkish flag around his shoulders. That’s been the story of Kayaalp’s career.

Riza KAYAALP (TUR)Riza KAYAALP (TUR) speaks to the media after winning the gold medal at the European Championships. (United World Wrestling / Jake Kirkman)

Born in Yozgat, in central Turkey, Kayaalp would have inherently understood the role of wrestling in Turkish sporting heritage and the place champions of the sport have historically held in the nation. He would have grown up in the shadow of two-time Olympic and eight-time European champion Hamza YERLIKAYA, who defined Turkish wrestling in the 1990s and like everyone else in the sport, under the global shadow of Karelin.

Slowly and methodically Kayaalp would try to match them. His career has been relentless and consistent rather than spectacular. Since his first European gold in 2010, won as a twenty-year old, Kayaalp has claimed titles across two decades. He’s adapted through rule changes, generations of opponents, and brutal physical wear and tear of time itself.

Apart from his European titles, he has five World Championships gold medals, and three Olympic medals -- a bronze in London 2012, silver in Rio 2016, bronze again in Tokyo 2020. Every time a major medal was to be decided over the past decade and a half, Kayaalp would with almost absurd reliability be counted in the mix.

Riza KAYAALP (TUR)Riza KAYAALP (TUR) with Taha AKGUL (TUR) at the medal ceremony in Tirana. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

For all of Kayaalp’s longevity, his career has always carried the one obvious gap compared to Karelin or Yerlikaya -- no Olympic gold. That absence will still be there. That gap is unlikely to close any time soon. As such the European mark became a milestone within his grasp. Or in the last few years, a milestone just out of grasp.

Indeed, for Kayaalp the title will provide a sense of closure. He had equalled Karelin’s record at the 2023 European championships in Zagreb. Prior to that tournament, he had in an interview with Anadalou Agency spoken of equalling Karelin’s record, breaking it at the 2024 European Championships and finally finishing his career on a high note with a gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

But things would not go as planned. At the 2024 European Championships, Kayaalp was pinned in the final by Sergey SEMENOV (UWW) -- only the second final he had ever lost in Europe. A few months later despite qualifying for the Olympics he was unable to compete due to a medication issue linked to treatment for persistent tinnitus. His appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport was upheld, clearing the way for his return. He would describe the period as the toughest of his career.

But the ordeal had left him with a new purpose and a desire to exit the stage on his own terms.

“For an athlete with so many titles, this was the worst thing that could happen,” he said. “Because of a simple issue, we faced a huge problem. But I always believed I would overcome it, return to my job and leave the sport on my own terms,” he had told Anadalou Agency at the start of 2026 when he made his return to international competition at the Zagreb Ranking series earlier this year.

“There was fatigue before. In this 18-month period, my desire to work came back stronger. I was already motivated to be champion. Now it is even greater. I feel renewed,” he had said.

While Kayaalp has said he would compete until the 2028 Olympics, he had also spoken of the unfinished business he had had in Europe. “I was so close,” he said. “Fourteen finals, 12 European titles, one more for the record, and then something unwanted happens. But everything is resolved. To bring that record to my country would mean a lot,” he had said then.

He had come close once and fallen short. That could have been the ending -- a near miss against an immortal number. Instead, with his 13th European title, Kayaalp gets to tell his story. He stands alone as the most decorated European wrestler of all time.

Records though exist to be broken. At some point, inevitably, another wrestler will look at Kayaalp's number and decide to chase it. But at least for some time, records exist to define limits. For over a quarter of a century that limit was Karelin’s 12. Now it’s Kayaalp’s 13.