#WrestleTokyo

#WrestleTokyo Olympic Games Preview: 86kg

Thursday, July 29, 2021 - 19:15 By Eric Olanowski

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TOKYO, Japan (July 20) – Returning world and Olympic champion Hassan YAZDANICHARATI (IRI) is on the verge of becoming Iran’s first-ever two-time Olympic gold medalist, but his path to that historic feat will likely go through his biggest rival, David TAYLOR (USA).

The duo of headlining superstars are on a collision course for a third career meeting. Taylor earned hand-raining performances in each of their two colossal matchups.

Their first meeting took place at the ‘17 World Cup in front of an Iranian-friendly crowd in Kermanshah. The then-relatively unknown American gassed Yazdani in the second period and scored a stunning fall over the Iranian -- sparking one of the sport’s biggest rivalries. A year later, Taylor proved the Kermanshah match wasn't a fluke. After trailing by four points after the first period, Taylor outscored Yazdani 9-0 in the second period of their opening-round clash at the ‘18 World Championships en route to winning his world title.

But Yazdani, known as “The Greatest,'' reclaimed 86kg supremacy at the ‘19 World Championships after Taylor underwent season-ending surgery after tearing his ACL in an exhibition bout.

He easily blew through the 86kg bracket at the ‘19 World Championships. The 27-year-old picked up a pair of falls and technical superiority wins before earning an injury default in the gold-medal final against Deepak PUNIA (IND). It was Yazdani’s second world gold and fourth overall world medal. He won a silver medal in ‘15 and a bronze medal in ‘18. He backed that up with a 30-0 thumping of his three opponents at the Asian Championships. 

Tailing Yazdani in the other seeded positions will be Deepak PUNIA (IND), Myles AMINE (SMR) and Artur NAIFONOV (RUS). 

India’s 22-year-old phenom Punia is seeded second. A month after winning a junior world title, Punia shockingly reached the world finals with four wins before injury defaulting out of the gold medal match. 

When third-seeded Amine takes the mat, it’ll be the first time a wrestler from San Mario has competed at the Olympic Games. 

Naifonov rounds out the top four seeds at 86kg. The Ossetian-born 24-year-old has finished with a medal in his last ten competitions -- eight of which were golds -- and only dropped two matches during those ten tournaments. He fell to Yazdani en route to his world bronze medal finish and dropped his Russian National finals match against Dauren KURUGLIEV (RUS). Outsides of those losses, he’s won a pair of European and Russian National titles.

Outside of Taylor and the top-four seeded wrestlers, two guys to keep an eye on are Ali SHABANAU (BLR) and Boris MAKOEV (SVK). 

Shabanau, the 31-year-old Kizilyurt, Dagestan native, will return to the Olympic Games for the first time since the London Olympic Games. He’s a four-time world bronze medalist. His most recent medal finish was at the ‘18 World Championships.

Makoev is another guy with high-level experience that could cause an unexpected shakeup. He fell to Yazdani in the ‘17 world finals.

Wrestling at the Tokyo Olympic Games kicks off August 1-7 at the Makuhari Messe with 86kg action beginning on August 4.

86kg
No. 1 Hassan AliazamYAZDANICHARATI (IRI)
No. 2 Deepak PUNIA (IND)
No. 3 Myles Nazem AMINE (SMR)
No. 4 Artur NAIFONOV (RUS)
Stefan REICHMUTH (SUI)
Carlos Arturo IZQUIERDO MENDEZ (COL)
Ekerekeme AGIOMOR (NGR)
Fateh BENFERDJALLAH (ALG)
David Morris TAYLOR III (USA)
Pool Edinson AMBROCIO GREIFO (PER)
Ali SHABANAU (BLR)
Osman GOCEN (TUR)
Javrail SHAPIEV (UZB)
Zushen LIN (CHN)
Sohsuke TAKATANI (JPN)
Boris MAKOEV (SVK)

#WrestleTokyo

#WrestleTokyo Olympic Games Entries

Wednesday, July 7, 2021 - 15:04 By Eric Olanowski

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (July 7) -- United World Wrestling has confirmed the 289 final entries and the top-four seeds for the upcoming Tokyo Olympic Games. Wrestlers from 60 different nations, along with Aker AL OBAIDI (EOR), who will compete on the IOC's Refugee Olympic Team, will compete for Olympic gold at the Makuhari Messe August 1-7.

The final entry list includes the names of the athletes who qualified their respective nations for the Olympic Games and who have been confirmed by their NOCs. The changes between the athlete who qualified their NOC's spot and the athlete registered by his/her NOC are listed in bold. Please note: The Late Athlete Replacement (LAR) process is in place, which means the current registered athletes could still be replaced.

As the entries sit, there are 11 Rio Olympic champions who'll be looking to defend their titles in Tokyo. Freestyle and women's wrestling each have a quartet of '16 champions, while Greco-Roman returns three champions -- including Cuba's Mijain LOPEZ NUNEZ who is on a quest to become the first male wrestler to win four Olympic gold medals.

Freestyle returning champs:
86kg - Hassan YAZDANICHARATI (IRI) 
97kg - Abdulrashid SADULAEV (RUS) 
97kg - Kyle Frederick SNYDER (USA)
125kg - Taha AKGUL (TUR)

Greco-Roman returning champs:
67kg - Ismael BORRERO MOLINA
97kg - Artur ALEKSANYAN
130kg - Mijain LOPEZ NUNEZ

Women's Wrestling returning champs:
57kg - Risako KAWAI (JPN)
57kg - Helen Louise MAROULIS (USA)
68kg - Sara DOSHO (JPN)
76kg - Erica WIEBE (CAN)

Freestyle
57kg
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 Ahmadali ATRINAGHARCHI (IRI)
Diamantino IUNA FAFE (GBS)
Abdelhak KHERBACHE (ALG)
Thomas Patrick GILMAN (USA)
Oscar Eduardo TIGREROS URBANO (COL)
Arsen HARUTYUNYAN (ARM)
Georgi Valentinov VANGELOV (BUL)
Gulomjon ABDULLAEV (UZB)
Minghu LIU (CHN)
Yuki TAKAHASHI (JPN)
Bekhbayar ERDENEBAT (MGL)

65kg
No. 1 Gadzhimurad RASHIDOV (RUS)
No. 2 Bajrang BAJRANG (IND)
No. 3 Daulet NIYAZBEKOV (KAZ)
No. 4 Iszmail MUSZUKAJEV (HUN)
Takuto OTOGURO (JPN)
Tulga TUMUR OCHIR (MGL)
Adama DIATTA (SEN)
Haithem DAKHLAOUI (TUN)
Alejandro Enrique VALDES TOBIER (CUB)
Agustin Alejandro DESTRIBATS (ARG)
Vazgen TEVANYAN (ARM)
Haji ALIYEV (AZE)
Ernazar AKMATALIEV (KGZ)
Morteza Hassanali GHIASI CHEKA (IRI)
Magomedmurad GADZHIEV (POL)
Georgios PILIDIS (GRE)

74kg
No. 1 Frank CHAMIZO MARQUEZ (ITA)
No. 2 Daniyar KAISANOV (KAZ)
No. 3 Zaurbek SIDAKOV (RUS)
No. 4 Mostafa Mohabbali HOSSEINKHANI (IRI)
Kyle Douglas DAKE (USA)
Keisuke OTOGURO (JPN)
Kamil RYBICKI (POL)
Amr Reda Ramadan HUSSEN (EGY)
Augusto MIDANA (GBS)
Jeandry GARZON CABALLERO (CUB)
Franklin GOMEZ MATOS (PUR)
Avtandil KENTCHADZE (GEO)
Turan BAYRAMOV (AZE)
Bekzod ABDURAKHMONOV (UZB)
Mahamedkhabib KADZIMAHAMEDAU (BLR)
Vasyl MYKHAILOV (UKR)

86kg
No. 1 Hassan AliazamYAZDANICHARATI (IRI)
No. 2 Deepak PUNIA (IND)
No. 3 Myles Nazem AMINE (SMR)
No. 4 Artur NAIFONOV (RUS)
Stefan REICHMUTH (SUI)
Carlos Arturo IZQUIERDO MENDEZ (COL)
Ekerekeme AGIOMOR (NGR)
Fateh BENFERDJALLAH (ALG)
David Morris TAYLOR III (USA)
Pool Edinson AMBROCIO GREIFO (PER)
Ali SHABANAU (BLR)
Osman GOCEN (TUR)
Javrail SHAPIEV (UZB)
Zushen LIN (CHN)
Sohsuke TAKATANI (JPN)
Boris MAKOEV (SVK)

97kg
No. 1 Abdulrashid SADULAEV (RUS)
No. 2 Kyle Frederick SNYDER (USA)
No. 3 Alisher YERGALI (KAZ)
No. 4 Magomedgadji NUROV (MKD)
Sharif SHARIFOV (AZE)
Elizbar ODIKADZE (GEO)
Mohamed SAADAOUI (TUN)
Mohammed FARDJ (ALG)
Reineris SALAS PEREZ (CUB)
Jordan STEEN (CAN)
Aliaksandr HUSHTYN (BLR)
Suleyman KARADENIZ (TUR)
Mohammadhossein Askari MOHAMMADIAN (IRI)
Magomed Idrisovitch IBRAGIMOV (UZB)
Abraham de Jesus CONYEDO RUANO (ITA)
Albert SARITOV (ROU)

125kg
No. 1 Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO)
No. 2 Yusup BATIRMURZAEV (KAZ)
No. 3 Taha AKGUL (TUR)
No. 4 Oleksandr KHOTSIANIVSKYI (UKR)
Zhiwei DENG (CHN)
Amir Hossein ZARE (IRI)
Egzon SHALA (KOS)
Diaaeldin Kamal Gouda ABDELMOTTALEB (EGY)
Djahid BERRAHAL (ALG)
Gable Dan STEVESON (USA)
Amarveer DHESI (CAN)
Dzianis KHRAMIANKOU (BLR)
Gennadij CUDINOVIC (GER)
Lkhagvagerel MUNKHTUR (MGL)
Sergei KOZYREV (RUS)
AiaalLAZAREV(KGZ)

Mijain LOPEZ NUNEZ (CUB) heads into Tokyo looking to become the first male to win four Olympic gold medals. (Photo: Tony Rotundo)

Greco-Roman

60kg
No. 1 Kenichiro FUMITA (JPN)
No. 2 Sergey EMELIN (RUS)
No. 3 Kerem KAMAL (TUR)
No. 4 Ali Reza Ayat Ollah NEJATI (IRI)
Mirambek AINAGULOV (KAZ)
Lenur TEMIROV (UKR)
Elmurat TASMURADOV (UZB)
Haithem Mahmoud Ahmed Fahmy MAHMOUD (EGY)
Abdelkarim FERGAT (ALG)
Luis Alberto ORTA SANCHEZ (CUB)
Ildar HAFIZOV (USA)
Etienne KINSINGER (GER)
Zholaman SHARSHENBEKOV (KGZ)
Sailike WALIHAN (CHN)
Victor CIOBANU (MDA)
Armen MELIKYAN (ARM)

67kg 
No. 1 Ismael BORRERO MOLINA (CUB)
No. 2 Mohamed Ibrahim Elsayed Ibrahi ELSAYED (EGY)
No. 3 Artem SURKOV (RUS)
No. 4 Mate NEMES (SRB)
Frank STAEBLER(GER)
Fredrik Holmquist BJERREHUUS (DEN)
Souleymen NASR (TUN)
Abdelmalek MERABET (ALG)
Julian Stiven HORTA ACEVEDO (COL)
Alejandro SANCHO (USA)
Ramaz ZOIDZE (GEO)
Balint KORPASI (HUN)
Mohammadreza Abdolhamid GERAEI (IRI)
Hansu RYU (KOR)
Karen ASLANYAN (ARM)
Parviz NASIBOV (UKR)
Aker AL OBAIDI (EOR)

77kg 
No. 1 Tamas LORINCZ(HUN)
No. 2 Alex Michel BJURBERG KESSIDIS (SWE)
No. 3 Karapet CHALYAN (ARM)
No. 4 Mohammadali Abdolhamid GERAEI (IRI)
Jalgasbay BERDIMURATOV (UZB)
Demeu ZHADRAYEV (KAZ)
Lamjed MAAFI (TUN)
ZiedAIT OUAGRAM (MAR)
Yosvanys PENA FLORES (CUB)
Alfonso Antonio LEYVA YEPEZ (MEX)
Aleksandr CHEKHIRKIN (RUS)
Bozo STARCEVIC (CRO)
Akzhol MAKHMUDOV (KGZ)
Shohei YABIKU (JPN)
Aik MNATSAKANIAN (BUL)
Rafig HUSEYNOV (AZE)

87kg 
No. 1Viktor LORINCZ (HUN)
No. 2 Zhan BELENIUK (UKR)
No. 3 Rustam ASSAKALOV (UZB)
No. 4 Daniel GREGORICH HECHAVARRIA (CUB)
Denis Maksymilian KUDLA (GER)
Kiryl MASKEVICH (BLR)
Atabek AZISBEKOV (KGZ)
Mohamed Moustafa Ahmed Abdall METWALLY (EGY)
Bachir SID AZARA (ALG)
John Walter STEFANOWICZ JR (USA)
Islam ABBASOV (AZE)
Lasha GOBADZE (GEO)
Nursultan TURSYNOV (KAZ)
Fei PENG (CHN)
Ivan HUKLEK (CRO)
Zurabi DATUNASHVILI (SRB)

97kg
No. 1 Musa EVLOEV (RUS)
No. 2 Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM)
No. 3 Mohammadhadi Abdollah SARAVI (IRI)
No. 4 Tadeusz MICHALIK (POL)
Mihail KAJAIA (SRB)
Cenk ILDEM (TUR)
Giorgi MELIA (GEO)
Adem BOUDJEMLINE (ALG)
Haikel ACHOURI (TUN)
Gabriel Alejandro ROSILLO KINDELAN (CUB)
Tracy Gangelo HANCOCK (USA)
Arvi Martin SAVOLAINEN (FIN)
Kiril Milenov MILOV (BUL)
Uzur DZHUZUPBEKOV (KGZ)
Alex Gergo SZOKE (HUN)
Artur OMAROV (CZE)

130kg
No. 1 Riza KAYAALP (TUR)
No. 2 Abdellatif Mohamed Ahmed MOHAMED (EGY)
No. 3 Muminjon ABDULLAEV (UZB)
No. 4 Amin Mohammadzaman MIRZAZADEH (IRI)
Mijain LOPEZ NUNEZ (CUB)
Artur VITITIN (EST)
Iakobi KAJAIA (GEO)
Eduard POPP (GER)
Amine GUENNICHI (TUN)
Yasmani ACOSTA FERNANDEZ (CHI)
Eduard SOGHOMONYAN (BRA)
Sergey SEMENOV (RUS)
Mantas KNYSTAUTAS (LTU)
Minseok KIM (KOR)
Alin ALEXUC CIURARIU (ROU)
Elias KUOSMANEN (FIN)

Defending Olympic champion Risako KAWAI (JPN) headlines the women's wrestling entries at the Olympic Games. (Photo: Tony Rotundo)

Women's Wrestling
50kg
No. 1 Mariya STADNIK (AZE)
No. 2 Emilia Alina VUC (ROU)
No. 3 Oksana LIVACH (UKR)
No. 4 Valentina Ivanovna ISLAMOVA BRIK (KAZ)
Stalvira ORSHUSH (RUS)
Yanan SUN (CHN)
Sarra HAMDI (TUN)
Adijat Avorshai IDRIS (NGR)
Yusneylis GUZMAN LOPEZ (CUB)
Sarah Ann HILDEBRANDT (USA)
Miglena Georgieva SELISHKA (BUL)
Evin DEMIRHAN (TUR)
Yui SUSAKI (JPN)
Namuuntsetseg TSOGT OCHIR (MGL)
Seema SEEMA (IND)
Lucia Yamileth YEPEZ GUZMAN (ECU)

53kg
No. 1 Vinesh VINESH (IND)
No. 2 Mayu MUKAIDA (JPN)
No. 3 Luisa Elizabeth VALVERDE MELENDRES (ECU)
No. 4 Qianyu PANG (CHN)
Maria PREVOLARAKI (GRE)
Joseph Emilienne ESSOMBE TIAKO (CMR)
Rckaela Maree Ramos AQUINO (GUM)
Roksana Marta ZASINA (POL)
Laura HERIN AVILA (CUB)
Jacarra Gwenisha WINCHESTER (USA)
Sofia Magdalena MATTSSON (SWE)
Vanesa KALADZINSKAYA (BLR)
Bolortuya BAT OCHIR (MGL)
Tatyana AKHMETOVA AMANZHOL (KAZ)
Olga KHOROSHAVTSEVA (RUS)
Andreea Beatrice ANA (ROU)

57kg 
No. 1 Risako KAWAI (JPN)
No. 2 Odunayo Folasade ADEKUOROYE (NGR)
No. 3 Iryna KURACHKINA (BLR)
No. 4 Ningning RONG (CHN)
Jowita Maria WRZESIEN (POL)
Anastasia NICHITA (MDA)
Siwar BOUSETA (TUN)
Fatoumata Yarie CAMARA (GUI)
Alma Jane VALENCIA ESCOTO (MEX)
Helen Louise MAROULIS (USA)
Evelina Georgieva NIKOLOVA (BUL)
Tatyana KIT (UKR)
Khongorzul BOLDSAIKHAN (MGL)
Anshu ANSHU (IND)
Valeria KOBLOVA (RUS)
Mathilde Hélène RIVIERE (FRA)

62kg 
No. 1 Aisuluu TYNYBEKOVA (KGZ)
No. 2 Taybe Mustafa YUSEIN (BUL)
No. 3 Yukako KAWAI (JPN)
No. 4 Kayla Colleen Kiyoko MIRACLE (USA)
Henna Katarina JOHANSSON (SWE)
Marianna SASTIN (HUN)
Kriszta Tunde INCZE (ROU)
Marwa AMRI (TUN)
Aminat Oluwafunmilayo ADENIYI (NGR)
Lais NUNES DE OLIVEIRA (BRA)
Iryna KOLIADENKO (UKR)
Anastasija GRIGORJEVA (LAT)
Jia LONG (CHN)
Sonam SONAM (IND)
Liubov OVCHAROVA (RUS)
Bolortuya KHURELKHUU (MGL)

68kg
No. 1 Tamyra Mariama STOCK MENSAH (USA)
No. 2 Blessing OBORUDUDU (NGR)
No. 3 Koumba Selene Fanta LARROQUE (FRA)
No. 4 Anna Carmen SCHELL (GER)
Agnieszka Jadwiga WIESZCZEK KORDUS (POL)
Battsetseg SORONZONBOLD (MGL)
Alla CHERKASOVA (UKR)
Sara DOSHO (JPN)
Enas Mostafa Youssef Khourshed AHMED (EGY)
Danielle Suzanne LAPPAGE (CAN)
Yudari SANCHEZ RODRIGUEZ (CUB)
Khanum VELIEVA (RUS)
Feng ZHOU (CHN)
Meerim ZHUMANAZAROVA (KGZ)
Mimi HRISTOVA (BUL)
Elis MANOLOVA (AZE)

76kg
No. 1 Adeline Maria GRAY (USA)
No. 2 Aline ROTTER FOCKEN (GER)
No. 3 Hiroe MINAGAWA SUZUKI (JPN)
No. 4 Elmira SYZDYKOVA (KAZ)
Epp MAEE (EST)
Qian ZHOU (CHN)
Samar Amer Ibrahim HAMZA (EGY)
Zaineb SGHAIER (TUN)
Erica Elizabeth WIEBE (CAN)
Aline DA SILVA FERREIRA (BRA)
Natalia VOROBEVA (RUS)
Vasilisa MARZALIUK (BLR)
Aiperi MEDET KYZY (KGZ)
Burmaa OCHIRBAT (MGL)
Alla BELINSKA (UKR)
Yasemin ADAR (TUR)