Top Stories of the Decade

Wrestling Expands to Include Cadet, U23 and U15 World Championship Events

By Andrew Hipps

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (December 25) -- Over the past decade, United World Wrestling has continued to expand its world championship events, reinstating the world championships for cadet wrestlers and adding world championship events for U23 and U15 wrestlers.

The first Cadet World Championships took place in 1975. However, it did not become an annual event on the competition calendar until 1987. Starting in 1987, the Cadet World Championships were contested for 13 consecutive years before being removed from the competition calendar after 1999. After a dozen years, the event was reinstated in 2011 and has once again become an annual world championship event that attracts the world's top 17-and-under wrestlers.

In 2017, United World Wrestling announced the addition of the U23 World Championships to its official competition calendar. The inaugural event took place that same year in Bydgoszcz, Poland. The U23 World Championships event was created following the success of the U23 European Championships in 2016 where more than 400 wrestlers from 34 nations competed for the continental gold. The large turnout was attributed to a desire by many national federations to give their top prospects a chance to compete in a meaningful federation-based championship.

Wrestling success tends to favor the young, with the average age of 2016 Olympic champion being just 23.1 years old for freestyle wrestling, 24.6 years in women’s wrestling and 27.5 years old in Greco-Roman.

In 2019, United World Wrestling held the World School Combat Games, the first-ever world championship event for U15 wrestlers, in Budapest, Hungary. Ten nations competed in freestyle and Greco-Roman, while seven competed in women’s wrestling. 

U-15 continental championship events were also held for Asia, Europe and the Americas.

#WrestleZagreb

World Championships 2025 Greco-Roman Seeds and Entries

By United World Wrestling Press

ZAGREB, Croatia (August 19) -- The World Championships in Zagreb, Croatia will see 306 Greco-Roman wrestlers compete for the world titles.

The Greco-Roman competition will be towards in the end of the World Championships. For full schedule, click here.

FREESTYLE ENTRIES | WOMEN'S WRESTLING

Note: The entry are subject to change. Please refer to uww.org for latest updates

Zagreb

55kg

Seeded
No. 1 -- Eldaniz AZIZLI (AZE)
No. 2 -- Emin SEFERSHAEV (UWW)
No. 3 -- Denis MIHAI (ROU)
No. 4 -- Manvel KHACHATRYAN (ARM)
No. 5 -- Artiom DELEANU (MDA)
No. 6 -- Ulan MURATBEK UULU (KGZ)
No. 7 -- Ikhtiyor BOTIROV (UZB)
No. 8 -- Vakhtang LOLUA (GEO)

Unseeded
Huoying SHI (CHN)
Anil MOR (IND)
Payam AHMADI (IRI)
Sajjad ALBIDHAN (IRQ)
Taiga ONISHI (JPN)
Marlan MUKASHEV (KAZ)
Junsik YU (KOR)
Alexander CUEVAS (SGP)
Emin CAKIR (TUR)
Koriun SAHRADIAN (UKR)
Jayden RANEY (USA)

60kg

Seeded
No. 1 -- Se ung RI (PRK)
No. 2 -- Georgij TIBILOV (SRB)
No. 3 -- Nihat MAMMADLI (AZE)
No. 4 -- Sadyk LALAEV (UWW)
No. 5 -- Amiran SHAVADZE (GEO)
No. 6 -- Enes BASAR (TUR)
No. 7 -- Alisher GANIEV (UZB)
No. 8 -- Victor CIOBANU (MDA)

Unseeded
Abdelkarim FERGAT (ALG)
Hrachya POGHOSYAN (ARM)
Marat GARIPOV (BRA)
Huangsheng WU (CHN)
Rabby KILANDI (COD)
SURAJ (IND)
Ali AHMADI VAFA (IRI)
Melkamu FETENE (ISR)
Kaito INABA (JPN)
Aidos SULTANGALI (KAZ)
Akyl SULAIMANOV (KGZ)
Dahyun KIM (KOR)
Justas PETRAVICIUS (LTU)
Angel SEGURA (MEX)
Olivier SKRZYPCZAK (POL)
Vladyslav KUZKO (UKR)
Maxwell BLACK (USA)
Jamal VALIZADEH (UWW)

63kg

Seeded
No. 1 -- Karen ASLANYAN (ARM)
No. 2 -- Vitalie ERIOMENCO (MDA)
No. 3 -- Yerzhet ZHARLYKASSYN (KAZ)
No. 4 -- Kerem KAMAL (TUR)
No. 5 -- Mohammad KESHTKAR (IRI)
No. 6 -- Aytjan KHALMAKHANOV (UZB)
No. 7 -- Ellis COLEMAN (USA)
No. 8 -- Hanjae CHUNG (KOR)

Unseeded
Abdeldjebar DJEBBARI (ALG)
Murad MAMMADOV (AZE)
Nikolay VICHEV (BUL)
Baosheng HUANG (CHN)
Godefroid KALUBI (COD)
Ivan LIZATOVIC (CRO)
Andres MONTANO (ECU)
Moamen MOHAMED (EGY)
Stefan CLEMENT (FRA)
Leri ABULADZE (GEO)
Sunny KUMAR (IND)
Manato NAKAMURA (JPN)
Baiaman KARIMOV (KGZ)
Hector SANCHEZ (MEX)
Morten THORESEN (NOR)
Chan KIM (PRK)
Aref MOHAMMADI (QAT)
Azatjan ACHILOV (TKM)
Oleksandr HRUSHYN (UKR)
Sergey EMELIN (UWW)

67kg

Seeded
No. 1 -- Saeid ESMAEILI (IRI)
No. 2 -- Valentin PETIC (MDA)
No. 3 -- Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE)
No. 4 -- Luis ORTA (CUB)
No. 5 -- Joni KHETSURIANI (GEO)
No. 6 -- Slavik GALSTYAN (ARM)
No. 7 -- Razzak BEISHEKEEV (KGZ)
No. 8 -- Haavard JOERGENSEN (NOR)

Unseeded
Gjete PRENGA (ALB)
Tsuchika SHIMOYAMADAA (AUS)
Aker SCHMID (AUT)
Nestor ALMANZA (CHI)
Libin DING (CHN)
Roland KALAMBAYI (COD)
Julian HORTA (COL)
Dominik ETLINGER (CRO)
Gagik SNJOYAN (FRA)
Witalis LAZOVSKI (GER)
ANIL (IND)
Kyotaro SOGABE (JPN)
Din KOSHKAR (KAZ)
Minseong KWON (KOR)
Kristupas SLEIVA (LTU)
Osvaldo YANEZ SILVA (MEX)
Arslanbek SALIMOV (POL)
Man Gwang SON (PRK)
Sebastian NAD (SRB)
Andreas VETSCH (SUI)
Niklas OEHLEN (SWE)
Murat FIRAT (TUR)
Maksym YEVTUSHENKO (UKR)
Alston NUTTER (USA)
Daniial AGAEV (UWW)
Hleb MAKARANKA (UWW)
Shermukhammad SHARIBJANOV (UZB)
Neiser MARIMON HIDALGO (VEN)

72kg

Seeded
No. 1 -- Ulvi GANIZADE (AZE)
No. 2 -- Ali ARSALAN (SRB)
No. 3 -- Ibrahim GHANEM (FRA)
No. 4 -- Abdullo ALIEV (UZB)
No. 5 -- Iuri LOMADZE (GEO)
No. 6 -- Danial SOHRABI (IRI)
No. 7 -- Mihai PETIC (MDA)
No. 8 -- Krisztian VANCZA (HUN)

Unseeded
Abdelmalek MERABET (ALG)
Gor KHACHATRYAN (ARM)
Deyvid DIMITROV (BUL)
Xin CHEN (CHN)
Norvil BUKASA (COD)
Pavel PUKLAVEC (CRO)
Dalgat MAGOMEDOV (CZE)
Matias LIPASTI (FIN)
Luis BARRIOS ROCHEZ (HON)
Ankit GULIA (IND)
Taishi NARIKUNI (JPN)
Merey MAULITKANOV (KAZ)
Amantur ISMAILOV (KGZ)
Yeonghun NOH (KOR)
Aleksander MIELEWCZYK (POL)
Rafeeq ELNATSHEH (QAT)
Michael PORTMANN (SUI)
Didar ORAZBERDIYEV (TKM)
Selcuk CAN (TUR)
Parviz NASIBOV (UKR)
Alejandro SANCHO (USA)
Dmitrii ADAMOV (UWW)
Aliaksandr LIAVONCHYK (UWW)

77kg

Seeded
No. 1 -- Aram VARDANYAN (UZB)
No. 2 -- Sanan SULEYMANOV (AZE)
No. 3 -- Malkhas AMOYAN (ARM)
No. 4 -- Nao KUSAKA (JPN)
No. 5 -- Demeu ZHADRAYEV (KAZ)
No. 6 -- Ahmet YILMAZ (TUR)
No. 7 -- Yryskeldi MAKSATBEK UULU (KGZ)
No. 8 -- Sergei KUTUZOV (UWW)

Unseeded
Chawki DOULACHE (ALG)
Calebe CORREA FERREIRA (BRA)
Stoyan KUBATOV (BUL)
Chunyang PAN (CHN)
Harryson NSIAMAZA (COD)
Antonio KAMENJASEVIC (CRO)
Marcos SANCHEZ SILVA (ESP)
Jonni SARKKINEN (FIN)
Tigran GALUSTYAN (FRA)
Ramaz ZOIDZE (GEO)
Idris IBAEV (GER)
Robert FRITSCH (HUN)
AMAN (IND)
Alireza ABDEVALI (IRI)
Hyeonjin KANG (KOR)
Vilius SAVICKAS (LTU)
Alexandrin GUTU (MDA)
Mateusz BERNATEK (POL)
Saoud ALMEFQAEY (QAT)
Aleksa ILIC (SRB)
Albin OLOFSSON (SWE)
Lai Hsing YAO (TPE)
Ihor BYCHKOV (UKR)
Kamal BEY (USA)
Arman KARAPETYAN (UWW)

82kg

Seeded
No. 1 -- Erik SZILVASSY (HUN)
No. 2 -- Gela BOLKVADZE (GEO)
No. 3 -- Gurban GURBANOV (AZE)
No. 4 -- Mihail BRADU (MDA)
No. 5 -- Karlo KODRIC (CRO)
No. 6 -- Taizo YOSHIDA (JPN)
No. 7 -- Jalgasbay BERDIMURATOV (UZB)
No. 8 -- Ramon BETSCHART (SUI)

Unseeded
Samvel GRIGORYAN (ARM)
Ibrahim TABAEV (BEL)
Qingzhe LI (CHN)
Andy MUKENDI (COD)
Marek VRBA (CZE)
RAHUL (IND)
Gholamreza FAROKHI (IRI)
Luca DARIOZZI (ITA)
Almir TOLEBAYEV (KAZ)
Bekzat ORUNKUL UULU (KGZ)
Wonjong SUN (KOR)
Diego MACIAS (MEX)
Gabriel DINETTE (PHI)
Shahin BADAGHIMOFRAD (QAT)
Alexander JOHANSSON (SWE)
Alperen BERBER (TUR)
Ruslan ABDIIEV (UKR)
Beka MELELASHVILI (USA)
Adlet TIULIUBAEV (UWW)

87kg

Seeded
No. 1 -- David LOSONCZI (HUN)
No. 2 -- Turpal BISULTANOV (DEN)
No. 3 -- Aleksandr KOMAROV (SRB)
No. 4 -- Alireza MOHMADI (IRI)
No. 5 -- Islam ABBASOV (AZE)
No. 6 -- Exauce MUKUBU (NOR)
No. 7 -- Milad ALIRZAEV (UWW)
No. 8 -- Arkadiusz KULYNYCZ (POL)

Unseeded
Bachir SID AZARA (ALG)
Vigen NAZARYAN (ARM)
Erion RAMLJAK (AUS)
Daniel ALEKSANDROV (BUL)
Jianwen LUO (CHN)
Ivan HUKLEK (CRO)
Lasha GOBADZE (GEO)
Hannes WAGNER (GER)
Karan KAMBOJ (IND)
Soh SAKABE (JPN)
Islam YEVLOYEV (KAZ)
Asan ZHANYSHOV (KGZ)
Sanghyeok PARK (KOR)
Marcel STERKENBURG (NED)
Patrik GORDAN (ROU)
Damian VON EUW (SUI)
Hamza SERTCANLI (SWE)
Hasan KILINC (TUR)
Yaroslav FILCHAKOV (UKR)
Payton JACOBSON (USA)
Stanislau SHAFARENKA (UWW)
Mukhammadkodir RASULOV (UZB)
Luis AVENDANO ROJAS (VEN)

97kg

Seeded
No. 1 -- Mohammadhadi SARAVI (IRI)
No. 2 -- Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM)
No. 3 -- Alex SZOKE (HUN)
No. 4 -- Gabriel ROSILLO (CUB)
No. 5 -- Arvi SAVOLAINEN (FIN)
No. 6 -- Lucas LAZOGIANIS (GER)
No. 7 -- Uzur DZHUZUPBEKOV (KGZ)
No. 8 -- Giorgi MELIA (GEO)

Unseeded
Markus RAGGINGER (AUT)
Murad AHMADIYEV (AZE)
Zegang WANG (CHN)
Barthelemy TSHOSHA (COD)
Filip SMETKO (CRO)
Artur OMAROV (CZE)
Mohamed GABR (EGY)
Richard KARELSON (EST)
Kevin MEJIA (HON)
NITESH (IND)
Nikoloz KAKHELASHVILI (ITA)
Yuri NAKAZATO (JPN)
Rakhat BERZHANOV (KAZ)
Minho LEE (KOR)
Mindaugas VENCKAITIS (LTU)
Tyrone STERKENBURG (NED)
Gerard KURNICZAK (POL)
Aleksandar STJEPANETIC (SWE)
Eduard BABENOSHEV (TJK)
Amanberdi AGAMAMMEDOV (TKM)
Abdul CEBI (TUR)
Vladen KOZLIUK (UKR)
Michial FOY (USA)
Kiryl MASKEVICH (UWW)
Artur SARGSIAN (UWW)

130kg

Seeded
No. 1 -- Amin MIRZAZADEH (IRI)
No. 2 -- Hamza BAKIR (TUR)
No. 3 -- Alimkhan SYZDYKOV (KAZ)
No. 4 -- Heiki NABI (EST)
No. 5 -- Abdellatif MOHAMED (EGY)
No. 6 -- Mantas KNYSTAUTAS (LTU)
No. 7 -- Darius VITEK (HUN)
No. 8 -- Beka KANDELAKI (AZE)

Unseeded
Razmik KURDYAN (ARM)
Wenhao JIANG (CHN)
Marko KOSCEVIC (CRO)
Oscar PINO (CUB)
Elias KUOSMANEN (FIN)
Sulkhan BUIDZE (GEO)
Jello KRAHMER (GER)
Gino AVILA DILBERT (HON)
SONU (IND)
Ali AL SHARUEE (IRQ)
Danila SOTNIKOV (ITA)
Yuta NARA (JPN)
Nurmanbet RAIMALY UULU (KGZ)
Seungchan LEE (KOR)
Nambardagva BATBAYAR (MGL)
Jacob LOGAARD (SWE)
Mykola KUCHMII (UKR)
Cohlton SCHULTZ (USA)
Pavel HLINCHUK (UWW)
Sergei SEMENOV (UWW)
Moises PEREZ (VEN)