#Zagreb2019

Zagreb Open Rosters Released

By Eric Olanowski

ZAGREB, Croatia (February 4) - The Zagreb Open, United World Wrestlings first Greco-Roman Ranking Series event, starts this Saturday in Zagreb, Croatia. Nearly 40 age-group and senior-level world medalists, along with London Olympic champion KIM Hyeonwoo (KOR) and Rio Olympic bronze medalist Elmurat TASMURADOV (UZB) are set to compete for the all-important Ranking Series points.  

This will be the first Greco-Roman Ranking Series event where the revamped point structure will be used. This tournament is especially important because the seeding process at the 2019 Astana World Championships takes into account the number of points competitors accumulate from last year's World Championships, along with the Continental Championships and the Ranking Series events.  

The number of points awarded at a competition will also be impacted by the number of wrestlers entered in each bracket. For weight categories with 10 or fewer entries, an additional six (6) points will be added. For categories with 11-20 wrestlers entered an additional eight (8) points will be added. Ten (10) points will be added to any weight category with more than 20 entries.

The three remaining Greco-Roman Ranking Series events are the Hungarian Grand Prix (February 23)the Sassari (May 24), and the Oleg Karavaev (July 26). 

2019 Ranking Series Point Structure
GOLD - 8 points  
SILVER - 6 points 
BRONZE - 4 points
Fifth - 2 points 

*Please note that these are unofficial entries and are subject to change. Entry will not be official until 24 hours before the competition starts. This goes for every pre-entry list released by United World Wrestling. 

55kg 
Jozsef ANDRASI (HUN)
Poya Soulat DAD MARZ (IRI)
Alexandru Vasile BOTEZ (ROU)
Cihat Ahmet LIMAN (TUR)
Ekrem OZTURK (TUR)
Dogus AYAZCI (TUR)

60kg 
Avgustin Boyanov SPASOV (BUL)
Sandro FRANKOL (CRO)
Tony BRALA (CRO)
Ivan LIZATOVIC (CRO)
Mikkel LASSEN (DEN)
Daniel BOBILLO VIGIL (ESP)
Erik TORBA (HUN)
Milad Ali REZANEZHAD HOSSEINVAND (IRI)
LEE Jungbaik (KOR)
CHUNG Hanjae (KOR)
KIM Seunghak (KOR)
Ardit FAZLJIJA (SWE)
Kerem KAMAL (TUR)
Dalton James ROBERTS (USA)
Xavier Tramain JOHNSON (USA)
Ildar HAFIZOV (USA)
Javokhir MIRAKHMEDOV (UZB)
Islomjon BAKHRAMOV (UZB)
Ilkhom BAKHROMOV (UZB)

63kg 
Nikolay Ivanov VICHEV (BUL)
Luka PRIHISTAL (CRO)
Mohsen Fathollah MADHANI (IRI)
Michal Jacek TRACZ (POL)
Dawid Andrzej ERSETIC (POL)
Przemyslaw PIATEK (POL)
Virgil MUNTEANU (ROU)
Virgil Alexander BICA (SWE)
Rahman BILICI (TUR)
Abdullah TOPRAK (TUR)
Erhan KARAKUS (TUR)
Travis Michael RICE (USA)
Firuz TUKHTAEV (UZB)


Korea's two-time world champion RYU Hansu (KOR) will wrestle at 67kg. (Photo: Tony Rotundo)  

67kg 
Cristobal Alonso TORRES NUNEZ (CHI)
Danijel JANECIC (CRO)
Luka MALOBABIC (CRO)
Alejandro Ruslan CONCEPCION CASTILLO (ESP)
Otto LOSONCZI (HUN)
Mate KRASZNAI (HUN)
Krisztian Istvan VANCZA (HUN)
Mohammad Reza Hojatollah MOKHTARI (IRI)
RYU Hansu (KOR)
KIM Dohyeong (KOR)
Haavard JOERGENSEN (NOR)
Morten THORESEN (NOR)
Mihai Radu MIHUT (ROU)
Tamas NAD (SRB)
Danielo Giuseppe DI FEOLA (SWE)
Abdul Samet BASAR (TUR)
Enes BASAR (TUR)
Volkan CAKIL (TUR)
Elmurat TASMURADOV (UZB)
Mirzobek RAKHMATOV (UZB)

72kg 
Stoyan Stoychev KUBATOV (BUL)
Aik MNATSAKANIAN (BUL)
Dominik ETLINGER (CRO)
Pavel PUKLAVEC (CRO)
Fran SACIC (CRO)
Fredrik Holmquist BJERREHUUS (DEN)
Robert Attila FRITSCH (HUN)
Martin TOTH (HUN)
Yousef Hajiali HOSSEINVAND FATHI (IRI)
Vegard JOERGENSEN (NOR)
Gevorg SAHAKYAN (POL)
Dawid KARECINSKI (POL)
Mateusz Lucjan BERNATEK (POL)
Aleksandr PAIVIN (RUS)
Mate NEMES (SRB)
Oskar Simon ERLANDSSON (SWE)
Selcuk CAN (TUR)
Murat DAG (TUR)
Cengiz ARSLAN (TUR)
Aram VARDANYAN (UZB)


Serbia's 2017 world champion Viktor NEMES is registered to compete at 77kg. (Photo: Gabor Martin)

77kg
Bozo STARCEVIC (CRO)
Antonio KAMENJASEVIC (CRO)
Laszlo SZABO (HUN)
Martin SZABO (HUN)
Zotlan LEVAI (HUN)
Mohammad Aziz NAGHOUSI (IRI)
Igor PETRISHIN (ISR)
KIM Hyeonwoo (KOR)
Per Anders KURE (NOR)
Ilie COJOCARI (ROU)
Rafael IUNUSOV (RUS)
Viktor NEMES (SRB)
Khalid KERCHIYEV (SWE)
Alex Michel BJURBERG KESSIDIS (SWE)
Serkan AKKOYUN (TUR)
Furkan BAYRAK (TUR)
Yunus Emre BASAR (TUR)
Ravaughn Richard Ravelle PERKINS (USA)
Peyton Burke WALSH (USA)
Kamal Ameer BEY (USA)
Bilan NALGIEV (UZB)

82kg 
Daniel Tihomirov ALEKSANDROV (BUL)
Filip SACIC (CRO)
Filip SMETKO (CRO)
Karlo KODRIC (CRO)
Rajbek Alvievich BISULTANOV (DEN)
Daniel TOLLAR (HUN)
Hosein Jahanbakhsh FOROUZANDEH GHOJEHBEIGLOU (IRI)
Timotej TRBULIN (SLO)
Burhan AKBUDAK (TUR)
Emrah KUS (TUR)
John Walter STEFANOWICZ JR (USA)
Jalgasbay BERDIMURATOV (UZB)

87kg 
Yoan Danielov DIMITROV (BUL)
Ivan HUKLEK (CRO)
Vjekoslav LUBURIC (CRO)
Ivan RATKOVIC (CRO)
Pedro Jacinto GARCIA PEREZ (ESP)
Viktor LORINCZ (HUN)
Erik SZILVASSY (HUN)
Bertalan PAPP (HUN)
Hasan Jahanbakhsh FOROUZANDEH GHOJEHBEIGLOU (IRI)
PARK Heageun (KOR)
KIM Junehyoung (KOR)
Tadeusz MICHALIK (POL)
Arkadiusz Marcin KULYNYCZ (POL)
Valentin CABI (SRB)
Vladimir STANKIC (SRB)
Nikolaj Georgiev DOBREV (SRB)
Aleksandar Georgije STJEPANETIC (SWE)
Kristoffer Zakarias BERG (SWE)
Ali CENGIZ (TUR)
Dogan GOKTAS (TUR)
Patrick Anthony MARTINEZ (USA)
Kevin Dewayne RADFORD JR (USA)
Muhammadali SHAMSIDDINOV (UZB)


Bulgaria's 2018 world runner-up Kiril MILOV (BUL) is expected to compete at 97kg. (Photo: Max Rose-Fyne) 

97kg
Kiril Milenov MILOV (BUL)
Adam VARGA (HUN)
Zsolt TOEROEK (HUN)
Robert ERSEK (HUN)
Abolfazl Naser SEYEDMAHDAVI (IRI)
LEE Seyeol (KOR) 
KIM Seungjun (KOR)
Ilia BORISOV (RUS)
Pontus Johan LUND (SWE)
Fatih BASKOY (TUR) 
Abdul Kadir CEBITUR)
Suleyman DEMIRCI (TUR)
Nicholas Allen BOYKIN (USA)
Daniel Collett MILLER (USA)
Tracy Gangelo HANCOCK (USA)
Jahongir TURDIEV (UZB)

130kg 
Miloslav Yuriev METODIEV (BUL)
Yasmani ACOSTA FERNANDEZ (CHI)
Marko KOSCEVIC (CRO)
Ante MILKOVIC (CRO)
Balint LAM (HUN)
Armin Mozes MAJOROS (HUN)
Aliakbar YOUSOFIAHMADCHALI (IRI)
KIM Minseok (KOR)
LEE Seungchan (KOR)
Oskar MARVIK (NOR)
Alin ALEXUC CIURARIU (ROU)
Osman YILDIRIM (TUR)
Muminjon ABDULLAEV (UZB)

#WrestleRome

Thursday's Matteo Pellicone finals set

By Eric Olanowski

ROME, Italy (June 23) -- After Azerbaijan dominanted day one action, winning four Greco-Roman gold medals, the Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series enters day with the remaining three Greco-Roman and four women's weight in action. A titanic clash of world champion Irina RINGACI (MDA) and Olympic silver Blessing OBORUDUDU (NGR) awaits in the 68kg semifinal.

WATCH LIVE | MATCH ORDER

Thursday's final matches (as they come in):

Women's Wrestling 
57kg - Alina HRUSHYNA AKOBIIA (UKR) vs. Elvira KAMALOGLU (TUR) 
62kg - Iryna KOLIADENKO (UKR) vs. Ilona PROKOPEVNIUK (UKR) 
68kg -  Alla BELINSKA (UKR) vs. Irina RINGACI (MDA) 
76kg - Anastasiya ALPYEYEVA (UKR) vs. Yelena Ivanovna MAKOYED (USA) 

Greco-Roman
72kg - Kristupas SLEIVA (LTU) vs. Ulvi GANIZADE (AZE) 
77kg - Zoltan LEVAI (HUN) vs. Amin Yavar KAVIYANINEJAD (IRI) 
82kg - Rasoul Sadegh GARMSIRI (IRI) vs. Mihail BRADU (MDA) 

1:15: Ana Paula GODINEZ just let a late second-period lead slip for a second time today. She was beating Olympic bronze medalist Iryna KOLIADENKO (UKR) by two points but gave up a headlock and trails 7-6 with short time left.

12:45: Are you serious? What a statement!

Ringaci stopped an Oborududu head-outside single with her judo-esk whip over and picked up the 33 second fall. She just pinned the reigning Olympic silver medalist in 33 seconds. 

12:40: Here. We. Go! It's Oborududu and Ringaci on Mat C.

12:15: The headlining matchup between world champ Ringaci and Olympic silver medalist Oborududu just got assigned to Mat C. They'll wrestle in four matches (Bout 148) 

12:11: The Hungarian 77kg world team wrestle off between Robert Attila FRITSCH (HUN) vs. Zoltan LEVAI (HUN) will take place next on Mat B.

12:05: Two of the biggest women's wrestling stars are on the Mat now. European champion Alina HRUSHYNA AKOBIIA (UKR) is wrestling now on Mat B and Olympic silver medalist Blessing OBORUDUDU (NGR) is on Mat C.

Keep in mind: if Oborududu wins, it'll set up a match against world champ Ringaci in the 68kg semifinals.

11:55: We're already calling semifinals matches to Mat B. We still have a few matches on Mats A and C, but we'll roll right into the semifinal once these quarterfinal and pool-play matches wrap up.

11:44: What is happening? Who is Yelena Makoyed and where did she come from?

Makoyed beat world bronze medalist Kuenz in the first round and just took down European champ Mae twice in 25 seconds to win, 8-6.

11:29: World No. 1 Kristupas SLEIVA (LTU) is up on now on Mat B. He's wrestling Turkey's two-time Matteo Pellicone runner-up, Selcuk CAN (TUR).

11:05: Reigning world champion Irina RINGACI (MDA) will be up in six matches on Mat B. She'll wrestle Grabriela PEDRO DA ROCHA (BRA) this round, and if she wins, she'll likely have Olympic silver medalist Blessing OBORUDUDU (NGR) in the 68kg semifinals.

11:03: Similar to the scenarios that we had yesterday with the Hungarian wrestle offs at 87kg and 97kg, Robert Attila FRITSCH (HUN) and Zoltan LEVAI (HUN) will be wrestling for the world team spot at 77kg.

10:58: Iryna KOLIADENKO (UKR) hasn't wrestled since the Tokyo Olympic Games, when she defeated Anastasija GRIGORJEVA (LAT) to win Tokyo bronze. She'll re get acclimated to the wrestling scene today against Sara Johanna LINDBORG (SWE).

*She did attend the European Championships in Budapest as a coach.

10:51: Welcome to the senior-level, Yelena Ivanovna MAKOYED (USA). The American just made her international debut, announcing her presence with a shocking 10-2 win over world bronze medalist Martina KUENZ (AUT).

Her next test: European champion Epp MAE (EST).

10:37: Ilona PROKOPEVNIUK (UKR) just stole an Round One win against U23 world champion Ana Paula GODINEZ GONZALEZ (CAN) late in the second period. The Ukrainian wrestlers picked the perfect time to strike, scoring a takedown and a turn to win the match, 6-4.