#BudaWrestle2018

Wrestling Elects New Bureau Members, Announces Host Cities Through 2021

By Tim Foley

BUDAPEST (October 19) – The United World Wresting Bureau and Congress held meetings and elections this week ahead of the 2018 Wrestling World Championships in Budapest, covering a range of important topics, including the allocation of host cities through 2021.

The Congress, who met Friday, began with a minute of silence in remembrance for the victims of last month’s Maiwand Wrestling Club in Kabul. Lalovic also announced the organization would dedicate significant resources to the club’s rebuilding effort.

“We must never accept these cowardly acts,” said Lalovic “We must stand together in support of our family members.”

The Congress gathers bi-annually to discuss a range of topics. The 2018 Congress focused on a complete financial review, new initiatives in women’s wrestling, media outreach, and the promotion of associated styles. Congressional representatives also voted for new bureau members, with a total of seven positions available. Six seats were up for election based on it being the end of their six-year term. The seventh had been vacated earlier in the year with the departure of Rasoul KHADEM (IRI).

Zamel Sayyaf Al SHAHRANI (QAT), Daulet TURLAKANOV (KAZ), and vice presidents Stan DZIEDIC (USA) and Natalia YARYGIN (RUS) were each re-elected and to serve six-year terms. Newly elected bureau members Pedro SILVA (POR) and Peter BACSA (HUN) will also serve until 2024.

Ms. ZHANG Xia of China was elected to replace Khadem and will serve until 2022.

Mr. Lalovic, As part of an ongoing dialogue supported by the Olympic movement, also oversaw a friendly handshake between representatives for the Republic of Korea and Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, with the sides trading kind words and wishing each other good luck during the world championships.

The United World Wrestling bureau met Thursday and approved a series of guidelines aimed to improve the sportsmanship of coaches and athletes.

Coaches and athletes who receive two yellow cards in a match will now be given a red card and face immediate disqualification from the tournament. They are also encouraged to celebrate gold medal victories but are asked to refrain from bronze medal celebrations and elaborate religious gestures while on the field of play.

It was also announced that plans were being constructed so that in the future coaches would be required to attain a United World Wrestling license to coach athletes at events.

In an effort to stabilize the calendar and allow national federations and host cities the proper time to prepare for championships, the Bureau also announced the allocation of several continental and world championships for 2019-2021.

2019 World C’Ships

Senior: Astana, KAZ

U23: Budapest, HUN

Junior: Tallinn, EST

Cadet: Sofia, BUL

Veterans: Tblisi, Geo


2020 World Championships

U23: Tampere, FIN

Junior: Belgrade, SRB

Cadet: Tatabanya, HUN

Veteran: Athens, GRE


2021 World C’Ships

Senior: Oslo, NOR

Cadet: Budapest, HUN


2019 European C’Ships

Senior: Bucharest, ROM

U23: Novi Sad, SRB

Junior: Pontevedra, ESP

Cadet: Faenza, ITA


2020 European C’Ships

U23: Salzburg, AUT

Junior: Skopje, MKD

Cadet: Chisinau, MDA


2021 African C’Ships

All: Marrakech, MAR


2019 Pan-American C’Ships

Senior: Buenos Aires, ARG

Junior: Guatemala City, GUA

Cadet: Morelia, MEX


2020 African C’Ships

All: Alger, ALG


2021 Asian C’Ships

Senior: Almaty, KAZ


2019 Asian C'Ships

Senior: Xi’an, CHN

Junior: Beirut, LBN

Cadet: Taichung, TPE
 

2020 Africa/Oceania Olympic

All: El Jadida, MAR
 

2019 African C’Ships

All: Tunis, TUN

 

 



 

 

#WrestleZagreb

Zagreb Open 2026 Day 1: Gamkrelidze beats Valencia; Sujeet, Lee in finals

By Vinay Siwach

ZAGREB, Croatia (February 4) -- The Zagreb Open 2026 begins with six weight classes in Freestyle -- 57kg, 61kg, 65kg, 70kg, 74kg and 86kg. Stars like Zahid ZALENCIA (USA),  Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN), AMAN (IND) are in action.

Please read the 2026 SEASON PREVIEW on uww.org

WATCH LIVE | LIVE MATCH ORDER | PREVIEW

Here's a recap of the morning session: 61kg medalists are already decided with Austin DESANTO (USA) winning gold and AMAN (IND) finishing with silver. 

Spencer LEE (USA) and Roman BRAVO YOUNG (MEX) will face each other in the 57kg gold medal bout. SUJEET (IND) won two bouts via technical superiority and will now wrestle for gold at 65kg. At 74kg, a big final is set as David CARR (USA) and Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN) will clash. And at 86kg, world champion Zahid VALENCIA (USA) and 79kg world champion Georgios KOUGIOUMTSIDIS (GRE), who is now up at 86kg dropped their opening bouts. However, with Vladimeri GAMKRELIDZE (GEO) making it to the final, Valencia is pulled back while Kougioumtsidis has been knocked out.

13:38: Vladimeri GAMKRELIDZE (GEO), who defeated Zahid VALENCIA (USA) in the opening bout at 86kg, scores a late stepout to take a 2-2 criteria lead and beat Abolfazl SHAMSIPOUR (IRI) at 86kg semifinals. Gamkrelidze will wrestle Parker KEKEISEN (USA) for gold after he scored a 9-5 victory over Ali SAVADKOUHI (IRI) in the other semifinal.

13:20: 74kg semifinals - David CARR (USA) with another technical superiority win at 74kg. He advances to the final after beating Giorgi ELBAKIDZE (GEO) 12-1. Four different takedowns and two gut-wrenches in that win for the American. A huge final coming up as world champion at 70kg Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN) hangs on for a 4-3 win over Seyfulla ITAEV (FRA). The French wrestlers was up 2-1 but Aoyagi scored a stepout and takedown before giving up a stepout but managed to win the bout.

13:05: 70kg semifinals - Sina KHALILI (IRI), U23 world silver medalist, rolls to a 10-0 victory over ABHIMANYOU (IND) using gut-wrenches. He makes it to the final and will wrestle Akaki KEMERTELIDZE (GEO) for the gold medal. The Georgian defended his lead against Caleb HENSON (USA) to win 6-3. After leading 6-0, Kemertelidze gave up a takedown and then a stepout to Henson. But the American could not score the four points needed to win the semifinals.

12:55: 65kg semifinals - SUJEET (IND) continues his dominance at 65kg, beating Joseph MCKENNA (USA), 11-0 in the semifinal in semifinal. He will now wrestle for gold against Peyman NEMATI (IRI) who scored a comeback win over Gamzatgadzhi KHALIDOV (HUN). The Hungarian had a 2-0 lead before Nemati managed to turn it around and complete a 4-2 win

12:40: 57kg semifinals - Spencer LEE (USA) completes a dominant 10-2 victory over Fuga SASAKI (JPN). He managed an early 6-2 and then continued to dominate the match, eventually winning 12-2. He will face Roman BRAVO YOUNG (MEX) for the gold medal after the Mexican defeated Milad VALIZADEH (IRI). Bravo Young kept his false attacks and change of direction was excellent throughout the bout

Semifinals begin at 12:30 local time

So far, world champion Zahid VALENCIA (USA) has suffered a technical superiority loss at 86kg while Takara SUDA (JPN), moving up from 61kg to 65kg, dropped his match against Joseph MCKENNA (USA). At 61kg, Austin DESANTO (USA) has captured the gold medal after winning three bouts in a Nordic bracket

12:15: In what was a virtual final at 61kg, Austin DESANTO (USA) not only needed a victory over AMAN (IND), he also need to win via technical superiority or fall. He does exactly that by pinning Aman after taking an 8-0 lead and win the gold medal at 61kg. Aman finishes with a silver medal.

12:12: U23 world champion SUJEET (IND) finishes his quarterfinal at 65kg with a 10-0 victory over Khamzat ARSAMERZOUEV (FRA) and sets up a quarterfinal against Joseph MCKENNA (USA) who defeated Takara SUDA (JPN) 7-0 in the other quarterfinal.

12:08: Sina KHALILI (IRI) took a 9-1 lead over Ian PARKER (USA) but was gave a stepout with a minute remaining. However, he had little trouble holding on to his 9-3 lead and win his bout at 70kg.

12:00: Olympic silver medalist Spencer LEE (USA) hangs on for an easy 4-0 victory over European silver medalist Azamat TUSKAEV (SRB) at 57kg. He moves into the semifinals in which he will wrestle Fuga SASAKI (JPN)

11:55: Fuga SASAKI (JPN) hangs on for a 7-1 victory over ANKUSH (IND) in 57kg quarterfinals. Sasaki goes for three takedown and one stepout in his win over Ankush who failed to get any attacks going.

11:50: Akaki KEMERTELIDZE (GEO) shuts down Iszmail MUSZUKAJEV (HUN) at 70kg for a 3-0 win. Not much action in the match but Kemertelidze is happy with the win here.

11:45: Roman BRAVO-YOUNG (MEX) continues his excellent form and wins his quarterfinal against Anthony KNOX (USA), 12-2. He will wrestle in the semifinal at 57kg.

11:35: World champion Zahid VALENCIA (USA), who did not concede a single point at the World Championships, drops his quarterfinal against Vladimir GAMKRELIDZE (GEO), 11-0. Gut-wrench from par terre for Gamkrelidze

11:25: Former U20 world bronze medalist ANKUSH (IND) uses the Figure 4 turn to great effect to beat Ali YAHYAPOUR (IRI), 11-0, at 57kg. Ankush has long been seen as the biggest challenge to Olympic bronze medalist AMAN (IND) at the weight class

11:15: Zahid VALENCIA (USA) off to solid starts at 86kg as he takes out Sandeep MANN (IND) 11-0 in the opening bout at 86kg. Valencia is the world champion at 86kg, a title he won at the same Arena Zagreb in September last year

11:05: Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN), world champion at 70kg, makes his 74kg debut with a controlled 6-1 victory over James GREEN (USA). Aoyagi scored a stepout to lead 2-1 before scoring two counter takedowns to finish the bout as the winner.

10:55: David CARR (USA) took his own time to get going but he manages a victory via fall over Aliakbar FAZLI (IRI) after building a 13-2 lead at 74kg.

10:45: World champion at 79kg Georgios KOUGIOUMTSIDIS (GRE) seemed in complete control of his first bout at 86kg against Abolfazl SHAMSIPOUR (IRI), leading 6-1 with a minute remaining. However, Shamsipour mounts a comeback, scoring six points in the final minute and beat the Greek world champion 7-6  

10:40: First period technical superiority, 10-0, win for AMAN (IND) against Giorgi GONIASHVILI (GEO) who is in action for the first time since winning a gold medal at the Ulaanbaatar Open in June last year.

10:30: Welcome to the Zagreb Open Ranking Series. Day one of the competition and we have six Freestyle weight classes in action. Multiple Olympic and world medalists in action today.