rankings

Kazakhstan, Hungary Have Pair of New No.1's in World Greco-Roman Rankings

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY (July 3) -- The July 2018 Ranking Series for Greco-Roman has some faces at the top of the rankings. Kazakhstan and Hungary have two new No.1-ranked wrestlers. 

Kazakhstan wrestlers Almat KEBISPAYEV (67kg) and Khussein MUTSOLGOV (87kg) earned No.1 rankings. Kebispayev has had a very strong year, winning gold medals at the Takhti Cup and Asian Championships, and most recently a bronze at the Grand Prix of Hungary. Mutsolgov, a silver medalist at the Asian Championships, recently placed fifth at the Grand Prix of Hungary.

Hungarian upperweights Balazs KISS and Lam BALINT climb to No.1 at 97kg and 130kg respectively. They join fellow Hungarian Balint KORPASI (72kg) atop the rankings.


Kiss, a returning world bronze medalist, recently captured a gold medal at the Grand Prix of Hungary after picking up a bronze at the European Championships in late April. Balint is coming off a bronze-medal performance at the Grand Prix of Hungary. He also won medals this year at the World Military Championships and Cerro Pelado International. Korpasi, a 2016 world champion, is coming off a gold-medal performance at the Grand Prix of Hungary. 

Kyrgyzstan wrestlers K. ZHOLCHUBEKOV (60kg) and U. AMATOV (63kg) remain No.1. Zholchubekov won a gold medal at the Grand Prix of Hungary after winning a bronze at the Asian Championships and gold at the Takhti Cup.  Amatov has earned medals at the Takhti Cup (bronze), Asian Championships (silver) and Grand Prix of Hungary (bronze). 

Mohammadali GERAEI (IRI) holds his No.1 ranking at 77kg after adding a silver medal at the Grand Prix of Hungary to go along with a silver at the Asian Championships and a gold at the Takhti Cup.


Other No.1-ranked wrestlers include Ekrem OZTURK (TUR) at 55kg and Daniel ALEKSANDROV (BUL) at 82kg. 

For more on the Ranking Series format, be sure to check out this article

View all the rankings on United World Wrestling's homepage.

55kg
1. Ekrem OZTURK (TUR) // 30 Points
2. Khorlan ZHAKANSHA (KAZ) // 30 Points
3. Abdelkarim FERGAT (ALG) // 27 Points
4. Reza KHEDRI (IRI) // 24 Points
5. Liguo CAO (CHN) // 24 Points

60kg
1. K. ZHOLCHUBEKOV (KGZ) // 50 Points
2. Luis Alberto ORTA SANCHEZ (CUB) // 35 Points
3. Sergey EMELIN (RUS) // 27 Points
4. Murad MAMMADOV (AZE) // 25 Points
5. Shinobu OTA (JPN) // 23 Points

63kg
1. U. AMATOV (KGZ) // 41 Points
2. Hassan Hassan Ahmed MOHAMED (EGY) // 29 Points
3. Mihai Radu MIHUT (ROU) // 28 Points
4. Stig-Andre BERGE (NOR) // 26 Points
5. Zaur KABALOEV (RUS) // 24 Points

67kg
1. Almat KEBISPAYEV (KAZ) // 52 Points
2. Ismael BORRERO (CUB) // 47 Points
3. Artem SURKOV (RUS) // 32 Points
4. Shmagi BOLKVADZE (GEO) // 30 Points
5. Karen ASLANYAN (ARM) // 28 Points

72kg
1. Balint KORPASI (HUN) // 57 Points
2. Demeu ZHADRAYEV (KAZ) // 49 Points
3. Adam KURAK (RUS) // 33 Points
4. Rasul CHUNAYEV (AZE) // 31 Points
5. Iuri LOMADZE (GEO) // 29 Points

77kg
1. Mohammadali GERAEI (IRI) // 38 Points
2. Ariel FIS BATISTA (CUB) // 34 Points
3. Roman VLASOV (RUS) // 34 Points
4. Viktor NEMES (SRB) // 32 Points
5. Tamas LORINCZ (HUN) // 30 Points

82kg
1. Daniel ALEKSANDROV (BUL) // 40 Points
2. Laszlo SZABO (HUN) // 31 Points
3. Atabek AZISBEKOV (KGZ) // 30 Points
4. Zarko DICKOV (SRB) // 29 Points
5. Maksim MANUKYAN (ARM) // 29 Points

87kg
1. Khussein MUTSOLGOV (KAZ) // 37 Points
2. Roberti KOBLIASHVILI (GEO) // 33 Points
3. Bekkhan OZDOEV (RUS) // 31 Points
4. Daniel GREGORICH HECHAVARRIA (CUB) // 29 Points
5. Kristoffer Zakarias BERG (SWE) // 29 Points

97kg
1. Balazs KISS (HUN) // 44 Points
2. Orkhan NURIYEV (AZE) // 42 Points
3. Cenk ILDEM (TUR) // 38 Points
4. Luillys Jose PEREZ MORA (VEN) // 34 Points
5. Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM) // 33 Points

130kg
1. Lam BALINT (HUN) // 42 Points
2. Ciurariu alin ALEXUC (ROU) // 40 Points
3. Oscar PINO HINDS (CUB) // 36 Points
4. Behnam mahdizadeh ARPATAPEH (IRI) // 34 Points
5. Riza KAYAALP (TUR) // 27 Points


 

#WrestleTirana

Greco-Roman must-watch battles at U23 Worlds

By Vinay Siwach

TIRANA, Albania (October 19) -- The Greco-Roman at the U23 World Championships will reignite the rivalries among wrestlers from Iran, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia and Turkiye. These are some of the countries that dominate the classic style and when the wrestlers perform from October 27 to 29, it will be a spectacle. Here's what to watch in Greco-Roman at the U23 World Championships

Must-watch match-ups

At 130kg, the battle for gold can be a four-way battle with Mikhail LAPTEV (AIN), Fardin HEDAYATI (IRI), Muhammet BAKIR (TUR) and Mykhailo VYSHNYVETSKYI (UKR) all entered. Laptev is the bronze medalist from the 2021 U23 World Championships while Hedayati is the U20 world champ. Bakir won the gold at the U20 level in 2021.

Vyshnyvetskyi will try to upgrade his silver from last year after losing the final to Fatih BOZKURT (TUR). He won the gold medal at the U20 Worlds in 2022 as he defeated Hedayati in the final.

A similar battle will be seen at 87kg as the 82kg U23 world champion Exauce MUKUBU (NOR) is moving up to 87kg to challenge the defending champion Istvan TAKACS (HUN).

Joining the two are U20 world champion Achiko BOLKVADZE (GEO) and Alireza MOHMADIPIANI (IRI) who is coming off a silver-medal finish at the World Championships in Belgrade.

Alex SZOKE (HUN) is the defending champion at 97kg and will be the favorite to win the gold medal. But the return of Pavel HLINCHUK (AIN) should put some pressure on Szoke.

Hlinchuk won the gold at the U20 World Championships in 2021 and then finished with a silver at the U23 Worlds. He will look to change the color of his medal this year.

Sohrabi-Snjoyan Rematch

A rematch of the 67kg final last year is on the cards as both Danial SOHRABI (IRI) and Gagik SNJOYAN (FRA) are entered. Sohrabi stormed back from 7-0 down to beat Snjoyan 17-7 and claim the gold medal. Snjoyan, however, has been out of action since that final due to an injured shoulder.

Sohrabi has had a busy year as he wrestled in three of the four Ranking Series, the World Championships and recently the Asian Games.

60kg minefield

The 60kg bracket can see intense competition with 2021 U23 world champion Anvar ALLAKHIAROV (AIN) returning. He wrestled at the senior World Championships in Belgrade but failed to win a medal. Joining him is U20 world champion Suren AGHAJANYAN (ARM) who will be looking to at the U23 world title.

SUMIT (UWW) will be keen to avenge his U20 Worlds loss against Aghajanyan as he aims to become the first finalist in Greco-Roman at the U23 World Championships. Returning bronze and U23 European silver Melkamu FETENE (ISR) is also coming to Tirana.

Last year's 55kg silver medalist Nihad GULUZADE (AZE) is moving up to 60kg as he continues to search for a world title. He finished with a silver medal at 55kg in Pontevedra.

Nurmukhammet ABDULLAEV (KGZ) will undoubtedly be the dark horse of this weight class.

New challengers

Tirana will see a number of wrestlers from the 2021 class of U20 World Championships. But the young crop is out to challenge them. The U20 wrestlers trying to make a mark at U23 are Denis MIHAI (ROU) at 55kg, Aghajanyan at 60kg, Alexandrin GUTU (MDA) at 77kg, Alperen BERBER (TUR) at 82kg, Achiko BOLKVADZE (GEO) at 87kg and Fardin HEDAYATI (IRI) at 130kg.

Aghajanyan, Berber, Bolkvadze and Hedayati are coming off title-winning runs at the U20 Worlds in August.