#WrestleAlmaty

11 Reigning Champs Looking to Reclaim Asian Supremacy

By Eric Olanowski

ALMATY, Kazakhstan (April 12) – Eleven gold medalists from last year’s Asian Championships return to the mat this week in Almaty with hopes of defending their New Delhi continental crowns from a year ago. Greco-Roman welcomes six returning champions, while a trio of women’s wrestlers and a pair of freestyle champs are searching for back-to-back podium-topping finishes.

Iran’s loaded Greco-Roman squad is highlighted by ’20 Asian champions Poya Soulat DAD MARZ (IRI), Amin Yavar KAVIYANINEJAD (IRI) and Mahdi Asgar EBRAHIMI (IRI). They’ll wrestle at 55kg, 72kg and 82kg, respectively.

The other three returning Greco-Roman champs making the trip to Kazakhstan are Elmurat TASMURADOV (UZB), Tamerlan SHADUKAYEV (KAZ) and Kumar SUNIL (IND). Tasmuradov, a Rio Olympic bronze medalist, is not only looking to defend his '20 title, but he’s looking for a sixth overall Asian gold medal. He’ll wrestle at 63kg. Last year’s 77kg and 130kg champs, respectively, Shadukayev and Sunil, will compete at their title-winning weights from ’20.

Japan’s women’s team claimed five of the ten golds last year, but after contract tracing removed the defending team champions from the competition, women’s wrestling welcomes the trio of reigning champions Pinki PINKI (IND), Sarita SARITA (IND) and Zhamila BAKBERGENOVA (KAZ).

Pinki is entered at 55kg. Her biggest threat to repeating is her ’20 finals opponent Dulguun MUNKHBOLD BOLORMAA (MGL). Sarita and Bakbergenova are the lone returning medalists at 59kg and 72kg, respectively.

In freestyle, lightweight stars Kumar RAVI (IND) and Takuto OTOGURO (JPN) are looking to claim a second consecutive continental crown. 

Returning champ Ravi is entered at 57kg – the same weight where he claimed his ’19 world bronze. 

Otoguro will share the 65kg bracket with his ’20 Asian finals opponent Bajrang BAJRANG (IND) and ’19 world silver medalist Daulet NIYAZBEKOV (KAZ).

Wrestling begins on Tuesday (April 13-18) at 11:00 (local time) with Greco-Roman action. Women's wrestling takes center stage on Thursday while freestyle action closes out the tournament beginning on Friday.

Returning Champs by Style:
Freestyle
57kg - Kumar RAVI (IND)
65kg - Takuto OTOGURO (JPN)

Greco-Roman
50kg - Poya Soulat DAD MARZ (IRI)
63kg - Elmurat TASMURADOV (UZB)
72kg - Amin Yavar KAVIYANINEJAD (IRI)
77kg - Tamerlan SHADUKAYEV (KAZ)
82kg - Mahdi Asgar EBRAHIMI (IRI)
87kg - Kumar SUNIL (IND)

Women’s Wrestling
55kg - Pinki PINKI (IND)
59kg - Sarita SARITA (IND)
72kg - Zhamila BAKBERGENOVA (KAZ)

#WrestleZagreb

World Championships 2025 Greco-Roman 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
Eldaniz AZIZLI (AZE) #1
Emin SEFERSHAEV (UWW) #2
Poya DAD MARZ (IRI) #3
Denis MIHAI (ROU) #4
Manvel KHACHATRYAN (ARM) #5
Artiom DELEANU (MDA) #6
Ulan MURATBEK UULU (KGZ) #7
Ikhtiyor BOTIROV (UZB) #8

Unseeded
Huoying SHI (CHN)
Vakhtang LOLUA (GEO)
Anil MOR (IND)
Sajjad ALBIDHAN (IRQ)
Taiga ONISHI (JPN)
Yerassyl MAMYRBEKOV (KAZ)
Junsik YU (KOR)
Alexander CUEVAS (SGP)
Emin CAKIR (TUR)
Koriun SAHRADIAN (UKR)
Jayden RANEY (USA)

60kg

Seeded
Se ung RI (PRK) #1
Georgij TIBILOV (SRB) #2
Nihat MAMMADLI (AZE) #3
Sadyk LALAEV (UWW) #4
Amiran SHAVADZE (GEO) #5
Enes BASAR (TUR) #6
Alisher GANIEV (UZB) #7
Victor CIOBANU (MDA) #8

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)
Iskhar KURBAYEV (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
Karen ASLANYAN (ARM) #1
Vitalie ERIOMENCO (MDA) #2
Kerem KAMAL (TUR) #3
Mohammad KESHTKAR (IRI) #4
Aytjan KHALMAKHANOV (UZB) #5
Ellis COLEMAN (USA) #6
Hanjae CHUNG (KOR) #7
Aref MOHAMMADI (QAT) #8

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)
Madiyar MAULITKANOV (KAZ)
Baiaman KARIMOV (KGZ)
Hector SANCHEZ (MEX)
Morten THORESEN (NOR)
Chan KIM (PRK)
Azatjan ACHILOV (TKM)
Oleksandr HRUSHYN (UKR)
Sergey EMELIN (UWW)

67kg

Seeded
Saeid ESMAEILI (IRI) #1
Valentin PETIC (MDA) #2
Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE) #3
Slavik GALSTYAN (ARM) #4
Luis ORTA (CUB) #5
Joni KHETSURIANI (GEO) #6
Razzak BEISHEKEEV (KGZ) #7
Haavard JOERGENSEN (NOR) #8

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)
Bagdat SABAZ (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
Ulvi GANIZADE (AZE) #1
Ali ARSALAN (SRB) #2
Ibrahim GHANEM (FRA) #3
Abdullo ALIEV (UZB) #4
Iuri LOMADZE (GEO) #5
Mehmet SAHIN (TUR) #6
Danial SOHRABI (IRI) #7
Mihai PETIC (MDA) #8

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)
Krisztian VANCZA (HUN)
Ankit GULIA (IND)
Taishi NARIKUNI (JPN)
Almatbek AMANBEK (KAZ)
Amantur ISMAILOV (KGZ)
Yeonghun NOH (KOR)
Aleksander MIELEWCZYK (POL)
Rafeeq ELNATSHEH (QAT)
Michael PORTMANN (SUI)
Didar ORAZBERDIYEV (TKM)
Parviz NASIBOV (UKR)
Alejandro SANCHO (USA)
Dmitrii ADAMOV (UWW)
Aliaksandr LIAVONCHYK (UWW)

77kg

Seeded
Aram VARDANYAN (UZB) #1
Sanan SULEYMANOV (AZE) #2
Malkhas AMOYAN (ARM) #3
Nao KUSAKA (JPN) #4
Ahmet YILMAZ (TUR) #5
Yryskeldi MAKSATBEK UULU (KGZ) #6
Sergei KUTUZOV (UWW) #7
Albin OLOFSSON (SWE) #8

Unseeded
Kevin KUPI (ALB)
Chawki DOULACHE (ALG)
Calebe CORREA FERREIRA (BRA)
Stoyan KUBATOV (BUL)
Likui SHI (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)
Noil UMAROV (KAZ)
Hyeonjin KANG (KOR)
Vilius SAVICKAS (LTU)
Alexandrin GUTU (MDA)
Mateusz BERNATEK (POL)
Saoud ALMEFQAEY (QAT)
Aleksa ILIC (SRB)
Lai Hsing YAO (TPE)
Ihor BYCHKOV (UKR)
Kamal BEY (USA)
Arman KARAPETYAN (UWW)

82kg

Seeded
Erik SZILVASSY (HUN) #1
Gela BOLKVADZE (GEO) #2
Gurban GURBANOV (AZE) #3
Mihail BRADU (MDA) #4
Karlo KODRIC (CRO) #5
Taizo YOSHIDA (JPN) #6
Jalgasbay BERDIMURATOV (UZB) #7
Ramon BETSCHART (SUI) #8

Unseeded
Samvel GRIGORYAN (ARM)
Ibrahim TABAEV (BEL)
Zhihuan WANG (CHN)
Andy MUKENDI (COD)
Marek VRBA (CZE)
RAHUL (IND)
Gholamreza FAROKHI (IRI)
Luca DARIOZZI (ITA)
Omar SATAYEV (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
David LOSONCZI (HUN) #1
Turpal BISULTANOV (DEN) #2
Aleksandr KOMAROV (SRB) #3
Alireza MOHMADI (IRI) #4
Islam ABBASOV (AZE) #5
Exauce MUKUBU (NOR) #6
Milad ALIRZAEV (UWW) #7
Arkadiusz KULYNYCZ (POL) #8

Unseeded
Bachir SID AZARA (ALG)
Vigen NAZARYAN (ARM)
Erion RAMLJAK (AUS)
Yoan DIMITROV (BUL)
Jianwen LUO (CHN)
Ivan HUKLEK (CRO)
Lasha GOBADZE (GEO)
Hannes WAGNER (GER)
Karan KAMBOJ (IND)
Soh SAKABE (JPN)
Baurzhan MUSSIN (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
Mohammadhadi SARAVI (IRI) #1
Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM) #2
Alex SZOKE (HUN) #3
Gabriel ROSILLO (CUB) #4
Arvi SAVOLAINEN (FIN) #5
Lucas LAZOGIANIS (GER) #6
Uzur DZHUZUPBEKOV (KGZ) #7
Giorgi MELIA (GEO) #8

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
Amin MIRZAZADEH (IRI) #1
Hamza BAKIR (TUR) #2
Heiki NABI (EST) #3
Abdellatif MOHAMED (EGY) #4
Mantas KNYSTAUTAS (LTU) #5
Darius VITEK (HUN) #6
Beka KANDELAKI (AZE) #7
Sergei SEMENOV (UWW) #8

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)
Akarys BERDASHOV (KAZ)
Nurmanbet RAIMALY UULU (KGZ)
Seungchan LEE (KOR)
Nambardagva BATBAYAR (MGL)
Jacob LOGAARD (SWE)
Mykola KUCHMII (UKR)
Cohlton SCHULTZ (USA)
Pavel HLINCHUK (UWW)
Moises PEREZ (VEN)