#WrestleZagreb

LIVE BLOG: European Championships, Day 6

Saturday, April 22, 2023 - 07:09 By Eric Olanowski

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ZAGREB, Croatia (April 22) -- The sixth day of the European Championships in Zagreb, Croatia will see the second day of Greco-Roman action. We will start off with 60kg, 67kg, 72kg, 87kg and 97kg.

Saturday night's semifinals:
60kg
Edmond Armen NAZARYAN (BUL) vs. Gevorg GHARIBYAN (ARM) 
Georgii TIBILOV (SRB) vs. Victor CIOBANU (MDA) 

67kg
Murat FIRAT (TUR) vs. Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE) 
Joni KHETSURIANI (GEO) vs. Mihai Radu MIHUT (ROU) 

72kg
Ulvi GANIZADE (AZE) vs. Selcuk CAN (TUR) 
Ali Feizollah ARSALAN (SRB) vs. Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamed Hassan GHANEM (FRA) 

82kg
Burhan AKBUDAK (TUR) vs. Rafig HUSEYNOV (AZE) 
Yaroslav FILCHAKOV (UKR) vs. Mihail BRADU (MDA) 

97kg
Artur OMAROV (CZE) vs. Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM) 
Kiril Milenov MILOV (BUL) vs. Nikoloz KAKHELASHVILI (ITA) 

15:17: That was the best Greco match I've ever seen. Ciobanu was up 17-8 before halting a Kamal throw attempt and picking up the fall. 

15:11: Kamal and Ciobanu are in a war over on Mat A. They combined for 17 points in the opening three minutes. This is one you leave your seat and head mat side for.

15:01: We'll start setting our Saturday night semifinals. I'll list them as they come in.

14:41: Since winning his 2021 U23 world champion Tamas LEVAI (HUN), has moved up from 77kg to 97kg. That is not a typo. He's moved up 20kg in under two years.

Levai just beat Laokratis KESIDIS (GRE), 8-0, setting up a match with Olympic champion Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM). 

14:32: Two reigning world champions are up right now. 

At 97kg, Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM) is wrestling Roberti KOBLIASHVILI (GEO), and at 72kg, Ali Feizollah ARSALAN (SRB) is wrestling Shant KHACHATRYAN (ARM).

13:47: How about this quarterfinal match at 60kg? Kerem KAMAL (TUR) downed  Bajram SINA (ALB), 8-0, setting up a matchup with 2021 world champion Victor CIOBANU (MDA). 

Kamal and Ciobanu have met three times. Ciobanu owns the 2-1 advantage, picking up an 8-0 win at the Olympic Games.

13:33: World and European runner-up Edmond Armen NAZARYAN (BUL) and fellow youngster Nihat Zahid MAMMADLI (AZE) are making their way to Mat C right now. This one should be fun if Mammadli can stay away from giving up the reverse lift in par terre.

12:28:Filip SACIC (CRO) brings the hometown crowd to their feet with a 9-1 win over Ranet KALJOLA (EST). He moves into the 82kg quarterfinals, where he'll meet Yaroslav FILCHAKOV (UKR) and Kristoffer Zakarias BERG (SWE).

13:15: Defending champion Rafig HUSEYNOV (AZE) tech'd Marc WEBER (SUI), 8-0, and will meet the winner of Samvel GRIGORYAN (ARM) and Exauce MUKUBU (NOR). 

12:56: Turkish spark plug and fan favorite Kerem KAMAL (TUR) will be up in five matches on Mat A. 

12:52: Last year's European champion  Robert Attila FRITSCH (HUN) is down 7-0 to Selcuk CAN (TUR). They are on Mat B.

12:43: As if one upset wasn't enough for the qualification round, Tyrone STERKENBURG (NED) just knocked off European champion Felix BALDAUF (NOR), 10-3.

12:40: Joergensen knocks off Nad, 4-4. And In my opinion, that ends the debate for who Serbia should put in at 67kg for the World Championships, and that's Mate Nemes. It's a tough decision, but a great problem to have.

12:30: Joergensen and Nad are in a battle over on Mat C. There's a minute left and the Norwegian just took the lead on criteria on the reigning world champion.  

12:00: Reigning 63kg world champion Sebastian NAD (SRB) is back up at 67kg, replacing world champion Mate NEMES (SRB) in the Serbian lineup. He'll wrestle Haavard JOERGENSEN (NOR), who is replacing 2020 European champion Morten THORESEN (NOR) in Norway's lineup. 

While talking to someone within the Norwegian Greco-Roman, Joergensen was described as "The most promising wrestler Norway has had in the last decade."

11:35: We'll run through two repechage matches per mat before rolling into Saturday's qualification rounds.

#UWWAwards

UWW Most Dominant Wrestlers 2025: Amouzad, Motoki, Esmaeili

Thursday, December 25, 2025 - 11:08 By Eric Olanowski

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (December 24) -- There were several dominant performances in 2025 on the wrestling mat. But it was three wrestlers who remained at the top of their weight classes and racked up dominant wins one after another. Two were Olympic champions while one was an Olympic silver medalist. All three became world champions in Zagreb.

Freestyle Most Dominant Wrester: Rahman AMOUZAD (IRI)

- 14–0
- Rank 1 at 65kg 
- 58,000 RS points 
- Outscored world and Olympic medalists 42–4
- World Championships, Tirana RS and ISG golds

Rahman AMOUZAD (IRI) was about as perfect as you could be in a season, returning to prominence with title-winning efforts at the World Championships, Islamic Solidarity Games and Muhamet Malo Ranking Series event and finishing the season as the No.1 ranked wrestler in the world at 65kg with 58,000 Ranking Series points.

The Paris silver medalist, collected an unblemished 14-0 record in 2025 -- with five of those wins coming against top-level opponents who have world or Olympic medals on their resumes in Olympic champion Kotaro KIYOOKA (JPN), Umidjon JALALOV (UZB), Taiyrbek ZHUMASHBEK UULU (KGZ) and Real WOODS (USA). The craziest part about those five matches against the world’s best, Amouzad outscored 42-4.

But without a doubt, the highlight of Amouzad’s season came in Zagreb when he finally got his long awaited rematch, beating Kotaro KIYOOKA in a revenge match from the Paris 2024 Olympic finals.

The scariest part about Amouzad’s dominance -- he’s only 23 years old and he’s still getting better.

Women's Wrestling Dominant Wrestler: Sakura MOTOKI (JPN)

- 9-0
- Five pins, two technical superiorities
- 45,000 RS points 
- 8/9 bouts finished before regulation
- Completed Golden Grand Slam (U17, U20, U23, Senior World and Olympic gold)

Coming into the 2025 season, Motoki made her goals crystal clear -- become the third wrestler in history of the sport to win wrestling’s Golden Grand Slam -- and for those who don’t know, that is gold medals at the U17, U20, U23, Senior World Championships and the Olympic Games.

The only two missing from the Olympic champ's resume were the U23 and Senior World golds.

At the 2025 U23 and senior World Championships, Motoki showed that she’s in a league of her own, as she went 9-0, with eight  matches finishing before time expired. She scored five falls and two technical superiority wins.

Her win in the final of the World Championships will be one that will be talked about for ages as the most dramatic win of the season. Motoki scored a buzzer-beating takedown against Ok Ju KIM (PRK) with a 10-second flurry that consisted of a head outside single, arm throw, over-under knee pick, before head locking Kim with four tenths of a second left to keep her history making hopes alive.

In the end, Motoki’s heart and courage under fire helped her close out the year as the third wrestler to complete the Golden Grand Slam and she did it with a level of dominance we may not see again for a very long time.

Greco-Roman Dominant Wrestler: Saeid ESMAEILI (IRI)

- Rank 1 at 67kg 
- 58,000 RS points  
- 11–0 Record
- World Championships, Asian Championships and  ISG golds

In a 2025 campaign that saw him become a world champion, Esmaeili's season was immaculate, as he cemented his place among the sport’s top pound-for-pound wrestler with a season full of titles, stacking gold-medals at the World Championships, Asian Championships and Islamic Solidarity Games, rounding out the season ranked No. 1 in the world at 67kg.

The Paris Olympic champion remained unbeaten in 2025, winning all 11 bouts of his bouts in dominant fashion -- scoring eight shutout wins, with seven technical falls -- including a pair of 9-0 win against world champions Aytjan KHALMAKHANOV (UZB) and Sebastian NAD (SRB). The reigning Olympic gold medalist also collected two victories over Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medalist Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE), one in the world final and one in the Islamic Game gold-medal match, where he tossed his Azeri opponent for four as time expired to rob his rival of the title.

His opponents should not ease up because at just 22 years old, Esmaeili is still sharpening his tool set and leveling up his skills.