U23 World C'ships

Geno Petriashvili Triumphs to Second World Title in Three Months

Saturday, November 25, 2017 - 19:54 By Taylor Miller

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BYDGOSZCZ, Poland – Georgia’s Geno Petriashvili bulldozed his way to another World title on Saturday night in Bydgoszcz, Poland, winning the U23 World Championships heavyweight gold.

Petriashvili, who recently stood atop the podium at the 2017 Senior World Championships in Paris France, in August, put together an impressive performance on Saturday, racking up four technical falls to win the 125 kg bracket.

In the finals, he dominated Magomedamin DIBIROV (RUS), storming out to a 5-0 lead at the break. He ended the match with a takedown and two gut wrenches for an 11-0 win.

On the day, the Georgian heavyweight outscored his opponents, 45-1.

Also tallying a gold-medal tech fall was 2011 Cadet World bronze medalist Rinya NAKMURA (JPN), who also finished fifth at the Senior World Championships this summer.

Nakamura overpowered Kuat AMIRTAYEV (KAZ) with 10 second-period points after trailing 2-2 on criteria at the break, taking home his first World title.

In his first World championships appearance, Alikhan ZHABRAILOV (RUS) rattled off three takedowns late in the 86 kg finals to edge out two-time World medalist Azamat DAULTBEKOV (KAZ), 8-7.

At 57 kg, 2017 Senior Pan American bronze medalist Reineri ANDREU ORTEGA (CUB) rallied to score six unanswered points in the second period of the gold-medal match to outlast six-time European Championships medalist Mikyay NAIM (BUL).

Tomorrow wraps up the 2017 U23 World Championships with the final four men’s freestyle weights. Action starts at 10 a.m. local time (4 a.m. ET).

Finals results
57 kg
Gold - Reineri ANDREU ORTEGA (CUB) dec. Mikyay Salim NAIM (BUL), 6-1
Bronze - Parviz IBRAHIMOV (AZE) dec. Zhandos ISMAILOV (KAZ), 2-2
Bronze - Suleyman ATLI (TUR) dec. Wanhao ZOU (CHN), 6-3

61 kg
Gold - Rinya NAKAMURA (JPN) tech. fall Kuat AMIRTAYEV (KAZ), 12-2
Bronze - Sedat OZDEMIR (TUR) dec. Mihai ESANU (MDA), 8-3
Bronze - Islam DUDAEV (RUS) dec. Husein SHAKHBANAU (BLR), 5-0

86 kg
Gold - Alikhan ZHABRAILOV (RUS) dec. Azamat DAULETBEKOV (KAZ), 8-7
Bronze - Uri KALASHNIKOV (ISR) dec. Raman CHYTADZE (BLR), 7-4
Bronze - Irakli MTSITURI (GEO) dec. Lazaro Daniel HERNANDEZ LUIS (CUB), 6-1

125 kg
Gold - Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO) tech. fall Magomedamin DIBIROV (RUS), 11-0
Bronze - Amin Hossein TAHERI (IRI) tech. fall Mihaly NAGY (HUN), 10-0
Bronze - Danylo KARTAVYI (UKR) dec. Zhanxiang HU (CHN), 6-0

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UWW Top Ranked Wrestlers of 2025: Verbina, Komarov, Aoyagi

Wednesday, December 17, 2025 - 19:03 By United World Wrestling Press

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (December 17) -- United World Wrestling has announced the three Best Ranked Wrestlers in 2025. The three wrestlers earned the most ranking points in the year 2025.

The most ranking points in the year 2025 were earned by world champion Aleksandr KOMAROV (SRB) in Greco-Roman as he scored 83,500 points. In Women's Wrestling, world silver medalist Ekaterina VERBINA (UWW) was the highest ranked wrestler as she earned 64,200 points.

In Freestyle, world champion Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN) earned 76,900 points, the best among all wrestlers.

Verbina: Women's 55kg

Verbina may not have won the gold medal at the World Championships but she had a busy year, wrestling more often than others. That earned her more ranking points than many as she finished at the top of the rankings in Women's Wrestling.

Her first competition was the Zagreb Open Ranking Series in which she finished fifth for just 4,000 points. In the Muhamet Malo Ranking Series in Tirana, Albania where she finished with a bronze medal that earned her 5,2000 points. She added 10,000 points for her gold medal at the European Championships. Another gold, at the Budapest Ranking Series, added 8,000 points.

Verbina entered the World Championships with 27,200 points. She jumped ahead of many with 37,000 points for her silver medal at 55kg. Her total went up to 64,200 points, taking her past the likes of world champions Sakura ONISHI (JPN) and Miwa MORIKAWA (JPN). Both finished 1,200 points less than Verbina.

Komarov: Greco 87kg

Komarov began his season with the Zagreb Open Ranking Series and finished fifth, giving him 9,000 points. A similar result at the Muhamet Malo Ranking Series gave him 9,000 points.

A big boost came at the European Championships in which Komarov won a bronze medal at 87kg to earn 11,500 points. In June, another fifth place finish at the Budapest Ranking Series added 9,000 points to his name to take the total to 38,500 points before the World Championships.

In Zagreb at the Worlds, Komarov won the gold medal and earned a stunning 45,000 points to 83,500 points, the most among all wrestlers and 13,780 points more than second most -- Aytjan KHALMAKHANOV (UZB).

Aoyagi: Freestyle 70kg

World champion was the top ranked freestyle wrestler with 76,900 points, 9,600 points more than the second place wrestler.

His first competition was the Muhamet Malo Ranking Series in which he bagged the gold medal to earn 11,000 points. He then added a bronze medal at the Asian Championships and earned 9,500 points for the same.

The Budapest Ranking Series gold gave him another 11,000 points, taking his total to 31,500 points before the World Championships. He became a world champion in Zagreb and that gold medal was worth 45,000 points, sending his total to 76,500 points.

Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK), with 66,900 points, is the second-best wrestler, 9,600 points less than Aoyagi.