#WrestleAthens

U17 World Championships 2025 Entries

By United World Wrestling Press

ATHENS, Greece (July 18) -- Eight years after it last hosted a World U17 Championships, Athens is gearing up for the next.

From July 28 to August 2, the Greek capital will be home to almost 700 wrestlers who try to win world title at the U17 weight class.

Greco-Roman will kick-off proceedings of the tournament which will be held in two-day format. Women's Wrestling will be next before Freestyle closes the competition.

For the detailed schedule, refer to U17 World Championships 2025, Athens Schedule.

Note: The entries are subject to change 72 hours before the draw of respective weight classes. For latest entries and brackets, refer to UWW Arena

Freestyle

45kg
Youcef BOUKHALFA (ALG)
Levik AVETISYAN (ARM)
Sadig ISMAYILOV (AZE)
Stanimir SLAVOV (BUL)
Yongqiang HUANG (CHN)
Saba MINDIASHVILI (GEO)
Alexandros SERETIDIS (GRE)
SHIVAM (IND)
Parsa TAHMASBI (IRI)
Tamir SHIRMAMEDOV (ISR)
Riku FURUSAWA (JPN)
Bakdaulet AGABEK (KAZ)
Arnur NURSAIDOV (KGZ)
Eyup CEYLAN (TUR)
Volodymyr YATEL (UKR)
Keegan BASSETT (USA)
Ibragim VELIULLOV (UWW)
Mirjalol MUKAMMILOV (UZB)

48kg
Anis BOUGUERRA (ALG)
Davit BALEYAN (ARM)
Ravan HASANZADE (AZE)
Grozdan PETKOV (BUL)
Yuzheng HE (CHN)
Giorgi NARIMANIDZE (GEO)
Angelos KAMAGIANNIS (GRE)
SHIVAM (IND)
Sina BOUSTANI (IRI)
Masamune USHIMADO (JPN)
Sabyrzhan RAKHATOV (KAZ)
Dovudbek BAKHADIROV (KGZ)
Daniel NEGRU (MDA)
Attila HEGEDUS (SVK)
Sadik ATESOGULLARI (TUR)
Nazar KAPLUN (UKR)
Ariah MILLS (USA)
Islam RABADANOV (UWW)
Makar MARKOVICH (UWW)
Jakhongir TULKUNOV (UZB)

51kg
Makaya KATENDI (ANG)
Mher HAKOBYAN (ARM)
Ramal MIRHUSEYNOV (AZE)
Georgi SPASOV (BUL)
Jonrex CASA (CAN)
Xiyi LIANG (CHN)
Samvel ABRAHAMYAN (ESP)
Temuri TUTARASHVILI (GEO)
Michail KOKOLOGIANNIS (GRE)
Dhanraj JAMNIK (IND)
Sina ORDOU (IRI)
Haruku SHIINA (JPN)
Danael ABDYKASSYM (KAZ)
Sadyr KAIYPBEKOV (KGZ)
Serghei CAMBUR (MDA)
Cruz LITTLE (PUR)
Laurentiu FLOREA (ROU)
Bugra KAVAK (TUR)
Robert ALOIEV (UKR)
Samuel SANCHEZ (USA)
Dzhamal BAKAEV (UWW)
Dzianis SHPARTAU (UWW)
Ulugbek RASHIDOV (UZB)

55kg
Abderrezak CHENINI (ALG)
Armen PAPIKYAN (ARM)
Ruslan ALIZADA (AZE)
Aleksandar DELCHEV (BUL)
Aaharen PIRANAVAN (CAN)
Chengzhuang MA (CHN)
Jovanni TOVAR (COL)
Gabriel GAMARNIK (GEO)
Ioannis KESIDIS (GRE)
Jaiveer SINGH (IND)
Reza BARARI (IRI)
Jinnosuke OKONOGI (JPN)
Ibrahim YSKAKBEK (KAZ)
Zhakshylyk BOROBAEV (KGZ)
Dan BULGARU (MDA)
Pavlo ILNYTSKYI (POL)
Nathaniel LYTTLE (PUR)
David MILITARU (ROU)
Jyun JHONG (TPE)
Kamil GOKCE (TUR)
Ivan BEZUHLYI (UKR)
Greyton BURNETT (USA)
Chingis SARYGLAR (UWW)
Hleb PIATROU (UWW)
Abdumalik JALOLDINOV (UZB)

60kg
Hamlet ANTONYAN (ARM)
Hasan HASANOV (AZE)
Kaloyan STAEV (BUL)
Nathan NASH (CAN)
Ao LI (CHN)
Iakovos SOURAILOV (CYP)
Mate TSINADZE (GEO)
Pavlos NTIANTIADIS (GRE)
SITENDER (IND)
Arian MEHRALIZADEH (IRI)
Denis KODZHAK (ISR)
Rihito HIURA (JPN)
Bekassyl ASSAMBEK (KAZ)
Ulukman ZHEKSHENKULOV (KGZ)
Leonid STARSELSCHI (MDA)
Sufjan SINANI (MKD)
Witold PAWLIK (POL)
Frederick BACHMANN (PUR)
Stefan PUSCAS (ROU)
Juan GROENEWALD (RSA)
Emre BARAN (TUR)
Zorab ALOIEV (UKR)
Ashton BESMER (USA)
Yahor DAROSHKA (UWW)
Tundzhai VERDIEV (UWW)
Fakhriddin NASRIDDINOV (UZB)

65kg
Avet BOYMUSHAKYAN (ARM)
Huseyn ISMAYILOV (AZE)
Seyko KALINOV (BUL)
Liam GORTON (CAN)
Changxin WU (CHN)
Nikos SOURAILOV (CYP)
Arshavir DARAKHSHANI (FIN)
Rati REVAZASHVILI (GEO)
Dario FISCHIETTI (GER)
Konstantinos MICHAILIDIS (GRE)
Gourav PUNIA (IND)
Morteza HAJ (IRI)
Nikita KOZICH (ISR)
Kodai IWASAKI (JPN)
Yeraly ASKERBEK (KAZ)
Adisbek ALTYNBEKOV (KGZ)
Maxim DIMOV (MDA)
Erdenedalai LKHAGVA OCHIR (MGL)
Michal Antoni MICHNIEWICZ (POL)
Yandro SOTO (PUR)
Istvan NAGY (ROU)
Ismail MERTKOLLU (TUR)
Ivan ZALISKO (UKR)
Arseni KIKINIOU (USA)
Kiryl PAULIUCHENKA (UWW)
Magomed IBRAGIMOV (UWW)
Shokhiddin ALIEV (UZB)

71kg
Yeghishe MOSESYAN (ARM)
Rashad VEYSALOV (AZE)
Aleks GROZDANOV (BUL)
Junfeng QU (CHN)
Kayden HANLON (GBR)
Koba GOGUADZE (GEO)
Jason KEIL (GER)
Ektoras SIZO (GRE)
Zeteny TUGYI (HUN)
Kapil DAHIYA (IND)
Arsham VAHABIAN (IRI)
Satoya KOBAYASHI (JPN)
Nurtay NAROV (KAZ)
Aibek ERALIEV (KGZ)
Chirill PODSEVALNICOV (MDA)
Ismail ERZANUKAEV (POL)
Catalin MINEA (ROU)
Ayubjon BOZORZODA (TJK)
Ali ESENOV (TKM)
Omer GUL (TUR)
Ihor OLIINYK (UKR)
Jayden JAMES (USA)
Artsiom BOLSUN (UWW)
Zubair BAGILOV (UWW)
Farrukhbek JUMANAZAROV (UZB)

80kg
Vache ASLANYAN (ARM)
Nihad SULEYMANLI (AZE)
Valentin ILIEV (BUL)
Beau CHARTRAND (CAN)
Enqin ZENG (CHN)
Levan CHERTKOEV (FRA)
Marshall EVERETT (GBR)
Nuradin MUSTAFAEV (GEO)
Abdurrahim SEKMEN (GER)
Konstantinos MOURTZILAKIS (GRE)
Noel SZECSENYI (HUN)
Saurabh YADAV (IND)
Parsa KARAMI (IRI)
Haruta SHIOTSUKA (JPN)
Dinmukhammed KASSYMBEK (KAZ)
Ruslan ASANOV (KGZ)
Ivan PASLARI (MDA)
Buyantogtokh BYAMBADORJ (MGL)
Mateusz ZAWADZKI (POL)
Arslan AZYMBERDIYEV (TKM)
Berat ERTURK (TUR)
Artur KOSTIUK (UKR)
Aaron STEWART (USA)
Issa ZANGIEV (UWW)
Yahor DASHKEVICH (UWW)
Bunyod RUFATOV (UZB)

92kg
Abderrahmane MEZITI (ALG)
Avet ENGOIAN (ARM)
Said PASHAYEV (AZE)
Georgi GEORGIEV (BUL)
Harjot SHERGILL (CAN)
Jiyu WANG (CHN)
Jose PEREZ (COL)
Elguja LOMIDZE (GEO)
Charilaos CHAITIDIS (GRE)
Levente SZIKSZAI (HUN)
Arjun RUHIL (IND)
Amirali ALIZADEH (IRI)
Sota YAMANAKA (JPN)
Beibarys YERGALI (KAZ)
Arnas JOKIMCIUS (LTU)
Eugen DOHOTER (MDA)
Saruul Erdene ERDENETSOGT (MGL)
Franco LATORRE (PUR)
Magor LORINCZ (ROU)
Said RIZA (TUR)
Samir IBISHOV (UKR)
Tanner HODGINS (USA)
David DZEBISOV (UWW)

110kg
Laert MOVSESYAN (ARM)
Hakim TAGHIYEV (AZE)
Stefan STEFANOV (BUL)
Udaypartap BILLEN (CAN)
Ruijie LI (CHN)
Murtaz BAGDAVADZE (GEO)
Georgios MANAGKANTZE (GRE)
Gyoergy JUHASZ (HUN)
LACKY (IND)
Amirhossein NAGHDALIPOUR (IRI)
Hanto HAYASHI (JPN)
Riza IZAKHAR (KAZ)
Akzhol BARPYBEKOV (KGZ)
Carlos CABRALES (MEX)
Piotr GRELA (POL)
Yu CHUANG (TPE)
Zekeriya DOGAN (TUR)
Mykyta KRASNOKUTSKYI (UKR)
Alexander TAYLOR (USA)
Magomedrasul OMAROV (UWW)
Mikita TKACHYK (UWW)
Bakhrombek RASHIDOV (UZB)

KAJAL (IND)KAJAL (IND), a world champ at 69kg, will be at 73kg in Athens. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Women's Wrestling

40kg
Polina TIMSINA (EST)
Finja STRAUCH (GER)
Preeti YADAV (IND)
An NAKANISHI (JPN)
Asema ASANGARYEVA (KGZ)
Valia HARSAN (ROU)
Zehra OZDEMIR (TUR)
Emma TALPA (UKR)
Maisie ELLIOTT (USA)
Daria MASLENNIKOVA (UWW)
Shokhista SHONAZAROVA (UZB)

43kg
Mariza NASU (CAN)
Xin HUANG (CHN)
Isabela GARNICA (COL)
Mareim ABDELAAL (EGY)
Aikaterini KATIFORI (GRE)
Reka TELEKI (HUN)
RACHANA (IND)
Sayuki HIBARINO (JPN)
Inzhu BAKKOZHA (KAZ)
Aiza TAALAIBEKOVA (KGZ)
Natalia TERZI (MDA)
Liva CELIK (TUR)
Martina MODNA (UKR)
Madison HEALEY (USA)
Nurana ASADLI (UWW)
Raniia RAKHMANOVA (UWW)
Mukhlisa MASHARIPOVA (UZB)

46kg
Nazrin AHMADLI (AZE)
Dayana STOYCHEVA (BUL)
Yuting YUAN (CHN)
Lara BLAZEKOVIC (CRO)
Maria GKIKA (GRE)
Janka SILLEI (HUN)
Kasish GURJAR (IND)
Hanano OYA (JPN)
Shynaiy MAKEN (KAZ)
Aiana NIIAZBEKOVA (KGZ)
Emilia STRACHOTA (POL)
Elanur BERBER (TUR)
Kamila KUCHMA (UKR)
Jaclyn BOUZAKIS (USA)
Anastasiya BIALUHA (UWW)
Irina TSYDEEVA (UWW)

49kg
Kamryn MASON (CAN)
Xiaoqing MO (CHN)
Sheila MONDRAGO (ESP)
Dimitra SKOUVAKI (GRE)
Komal VERMA (IND)
Yu KATAOKA (JPN)
Saniya SOLTANGALI (KAZ)
Azema KALIDINOVA (KGZ)
Elsa NIKOCI (KOS)
Ruslana CARAPETIANT (MDA)
Kinga JANUSZEK (POL)
Electra GARAIACU (ROU)
Yu Hsi CHENG (TPE)
Melike KOPARAN (TUR)
Olena KOLUBAI (UKR)
Morgan TURNER (USA)
Anhelina BURKINA (UWW)
Polina BOCHKAREVA (UWW)
Mashkhura ABDUMUSAEVA (UZB)

53kg
Dounia ZITOUNI (ALG)
Fatima BAYRAMOVA (AZE)
Vasilena ILIEVA (BUL)
Jiaqing JIANG (CHN)
Mia KOVAC (CRO)
Nadiia ZHOLTIKOVA (ESP)
Josefine WIDMANN (GER)
Maria VANDOULAKI VANDOULA (GRE)
Mariia ZHYTOVOZ (HUN)
SAARIKA (IND)
Naomi LIUZZI (ITA)
Rion OGAWA (JPN)
Farida ABDRAKHMANOVA (KAZ)
Baktygul ZHUMANAZAROVA (KGZ)
Kanita SPAHIJA (KOS)
Julia GIBALSKA (POL)
Emma A PEAKE (PUR)
Miriam MISAKOVA (SVK)
Fatma YILMAZ (TUR)
Yuliia HOLHOVSKA (UKR)
Epenesa ELISON (USA)
Margarita IARYGINA (UWW)
Kseniya KRYSHTOFIK (UWW)

57kg
Esra MAMMADLI (AZE)
Yasmim NEPER OLIVEIRA (BRA)
Stefani LAZAROVA (BUL)
Xiaohan XU (CHN)
Oona PEKKARINEN (FIN)
Nini TSITSVIDZE (GEO)
Zoi KAIDOPOULOU (GRE)
MONI (IND)
Sophie RITTER (ITA)
Sayuki TANADA (JPN)
Madkhiya USMANOVA (KAZ)
Albina SALYMBEKOVA (KGZ)
Marta MANKOWSKA (POL)
Aneishka SANTOS (PUR)
Oana DUMITRU (ROU)
Ivana GAJIC (SRB)
Ling En LI (TPE)
Delal KADIR (TUR)
Ivanna LUKIANENKO (UKR)
Emma BACON (USA)
Alina BAROEVA (UWW)
Sofiya ZUYEVA (UWW)

61kg
Sophia MERANER (AUT)
Andrea NISEVA (BUL)
Natalie WOJCIECHOWSKI (CAN)
Zichen DONG (CHN)
Lana PEZIC (CRO)
Graciela ENINGO (ESP)
Miranda KAPANADZE (GEO)
Ioanna XENIDOU (GRE)
Barbara BAGER (HUN)
YASHITA (IND)
Waka AWANO (JPN)
Zhaidar MUKAT (KAZ)
Akylai CHYNYBAEVA (KGZ)
Sara ROBLES (MEX)
Nadia KOCIA (POL)
Paola RAMIREZ (PUR)
Sophia PAIUS (ROU)
Yu Ting LIU (TPE)
Ozdenur OZMEZ (TUR)
Oleksandra MALKOVA (UKR)
Taina FERNANDEZ (USA)
Varvara ALISEYENKA (UWW)
Zalina TOTROVA (UWW)

65kg
Selsabil ROUABAH (ALG)
Luoji WANG (CHN)
Feenja HERMANN (GER)
Vasiliki KARAVANOU (GRE)
Emese CZEGLEDI (HUN)
Ashvini VISHNOI (IND)
Mitsuki OKAWA (JPN)
Nuraiym SAIAKHMET (KAZ)
Manzura ZHUSUEVA (KGZ)
Alexandra MOISEI (MDA)
Anujin ERKHEMBAATAR (MGL)
Zuzanna HORBIK (POL)
Sophia ANASTASE (ROU)
Kiymet TEZCAN (TUR)
Sofiia ALFOROVA (UKR)
Violette LASURE (USA)
Anastasiya KOMANAVA (UWW)
Lilia ERMOKHINA (UWW)
Mukhayyo RAKHIMJONOVA (UZB)

69kg
Mayara NEPER OLIVEIRA (BRA)
Min ZHAO (CHN)
Ayla SAHIN (GER)
Elli SEITARIDOU (GRE)
Reka BERECZKI (HUN)
MANISHA (IND)
Mao TERAOKA (JPN)
Shakhizada DAULETZHAN (KAZ)
Aiana ASAMALIKOVA (KGZ)
Linda MARTINEZ (MEX)
Gereltuya AMARSAIKHAN (MGL)
Aurelia GODZINSKA (POL)
Zeynep SUCU (TUR)
Solomiia PETRIV (UKR)
Cassandra GONZALES (USA)
Ulyana LAPANIK (UWW)
Zukhra KAZULAEVA (UWW)
Dilrabo DULLIEVA (UZB)

73kg
Jolina HEALEY (CAN)
Wenjin QIU (CHN)
Anna GODELASHVILI (GEO)
Polyxeni CHRYSIKAKI (GRE)
Bianka BARANY (HUN)
KAJAL (IND)
Ichine TATESHITA (JPN)
Gulnur MAKSATKYZY (KAZ)
Meruert OKTIABREVA (KGZ)
Greta TVERSKYTE (LTU)
Malak SABRY (MAR)
Deborah GARCIA (MEX)
Uranzaya TSERENNYAM (MGL)
Claudia MANTOG (ROU)
Eylem ENGIN (TUR)
Khrystyna DEMCHUK (UKR)
Ella Jo POALILLO (USA)
Amina MUSAEVA (UWW)
Sofiya AUCHAROVA (UWW)

Aslanbek KOSTOEV (UWW)Aslanbek KOSTOEV (UWW), world champion at 45kg, will be at 51kg in Athens. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

Greco-Roman

45kg
Ararat AVETISYAN (ARM)
Abdurrahman HUSEYNLI (AZE)
Danimir YORDANOV (BUL)
Juntao LUO (CHN)
Saba ABASHIDZE (GEO)
Stefanos MEMTSAS (GRE)
Yash KAMANNA (IND)
Benyamin KHEZLI (IRI)
Yuta MIYAGAWA (JPN)
Kuanyshbek ZHANGAZHOL (KAZ)
Nurkerim KUMARBEKOV (KGZ)
Vadim TARELUNGA (MDA)
Mustafa GUVEN (TUR)
Tymur MAHARRAMOV (UKR)
Thales SILVA (USA)
Ismail BALBEK (UWW)
Javokhir SHARIFBOEV (UZB)

48kg
Martin MANJIKYAN (ARM)
Gurban MAJNUNOV (AZE)
Stanislav IVANOV (BUL)
Fuhua KANG (CHN)
Giorgi MUNTCHAVA (GEO)
Nikolaos ZINISA (GRE)
Aditya JADHAV (IND)
Amirmohammad HAJI (IRI)
Kaisei YAMAMOTO (JPN)
Nurdaulet KUMARULY (KAZ)
Zhanarbek SEIITOV (KGZ)
Baris SOYLU (TUR)
Artem KOLOS (UKR)
Michael RUNDELL (USA)
Tsimafei SEMIANENKA (UWW)
Turpal SAIDULAEV (UWW)
Bunyod HASANOV (UZB)

51kg
Marat ATSHEMYAN (ARM)
Hikmat HAGVERDIYEV (AZE)
Kaloyan BORISOV (BUL)
Zihao ZHANG (CHN)
Mohamed ELTAYEB (EGY)
Giorgi AZNAURISHVILI (GEO)
Pavlos TSENTIDIS (GRE)
Keve KOVACS (HUN)
Yuvraj KAMANNA (IND)
Amir HAJIVAND (IRI)
Nikko ADACHI (JPN)
Daniyar BAZARBEK (KAZ)
Islam KURBANOV (KGZ)
Abu SAGA (NOR)
Andrei PELEAN (ROU)
Polat KARADENIZ (TUR)
Herman BASARAB (UKR)
Carter SHIN (USA)
Aslanbek KOSTOEV (UWW)
Otabek TURSUNOV (UZB)

55kg
Kheireddine GHAOUAR (ALG)
Meruzhan MKHITARYAN (ARM)
Nihat BAHMANOV (AZE)
Lavozier WADIK (BRA)
Antoan TSVETANOV (BUL)
Zongyao WU (CHN)
Mohamed SHAABAN (EGY)
Magomed VARAEV (FRA)
Giorgi CHACHUA (GEO)
Ivan SEIBEL (GER)
Grigorios EFTHYMIADIS (GRE)
Balint KAZINCZY (HUN)
Aditya GUPTA (IND)
Amirreza TAHMASBPOUR (IRI)
Emanuel ISRAILOV (ISR)
Naru SEMBA (JPN)
Nurali ASKAR (KAZ)
Alkham ABDIRASULOV (KGZ)
Patrick MOCAN CROITORU (ROU)
Makhdi BAROTOV (TJK)
Osman OZDEMIR (TUR)
Rakhman GAMIDOV (UKR)
Alexander PIERCE (USA)
Danil LOZHKIN (UWW)
Ivan KALENKA (UWW)
Sadriddin TULKINBOEV (UZB)

60kg
Wail BEN AISSA (ALG)
Zaven MEZHLUMYAN (ARM)
Ali NAZAROV (AZE)
Zhivko HINKOV (BUL)
Aoyu HAO (CHN)
Roko CURIC (CRO)
Raimond PROUS (EST)
Lazare GOGOTISHVILI (GEO)
Mika LABES (GER)
Vasileios TSAROUCHAS (GRE)
Imre JUHASZ (HUN)
RITESH (IND)
Abolfazl ZARE (IRI)
Riccardo DELLE CAVE (ITA)
Kodai HIHARA (JPN)
Damir AKAN (KAZ)
Amangeldi YSAKBAEV (KGZ)
Emilis NEVERAUSKAS (LTU)
Vlad DUMINICA (MDA)
Zeus GONZALEZ (MEX)
Raffaele HIGHT (NED)
Przemyslaw ANDRYCHOWSKI (POL)
Alexandru LUNGU (ROU)
Joel GAECHTER (SUI)
Amirjon OBIDOV (TJK)
Abdul ARSLANTAS (TUR)
Denys SEREDIN (UKR)
William DETAR (USA)
Ivan KOZLOV (UWW)
Kiryl VASKO (UWW)
Humoyun ERKINOV (UZB)

65kg
Janes NAZARYAN (ARM)
Huseyn ISGANDAROV (AZE)
Kristiyan PETKOV (BUL)
GAMAWANGDUI (CHN)
Luka SEVEREC (CRO)
Kyliane EDDOUH (FRA)
Erekle TAVBERIDZE (GEO)
Iason MARGARITIDIS (GRE)
ANUJ (IND)
Abolfazl Ali SHIRI (IRI)
Yehonatan NEMSADZE (ISR)
Alessio ARANCIO (ITA)
Yutaro OMORI (JPN)
Dosbol SHAMIL (KAZ)
Adilet OMURBEKOV (KGZ)
Kernius KURMILEVICIUS (LTU)
Maxim DAMASCHIN (MDA)
Mate VAN OS (NED)
Andreas FJELDSTAD (NOR)
Julian IWASZKO (POL)
Luka ZELIC (SRB)
Tim SCHREIBER (SUI)
Shohijahon BOBOEV (TJK)
Mesut SOGUT (TUR)
Yehor TARASENKO (UKR)
Arseni KIKINIOU (USA)
Marat MARGIEV (UWW)
Xusan GIEZIDINOV (UZB)

71kg
Firas HAMATA (ALG)
Roman USOYAN (ARM)
David SCHOBER (AUT)
Yusif AHMADLI (AZE)
Fernando BENCKE BRANDAO (BRA)
Radoslav PERYANSKI (BUL)
Yingjie JIAN (CHN)
Miscael NKUNGA (COD)
Bozidar GRBINICEK (CRO)
Vaclav SATRAPA (CZE)
Mardo AERMUS (EST)
Matias ONNENLEHTO (FIN)
Giorgi GOGELASHVILI (GEO)
Dimitrios SOULIS (GRE)
Imre KOLOMPAR (HUN)
VINIT (IND)
Hossein KAZEMI (IRI)
Edgar DAVIDOV (ISR)
Edoardo VITALE (ITA)
Shu SAKAMOTO (JPN)
Marlen MEIRBEKULY (KAZ)
Aktilek SADIROV (KGZ)
Ignat MEICO (MDA)
Heder SALDANA (MEX)
Kacper GOLONKA (POL)
Adrian SEICA (ROU)
Balaz UJHELJI (SRB)
Alisher RUZIMADOV (TJK)
Emirhan CAKIR (TUR)
Serhii YARCHENKO (UKR)
Dominic WILSON (USA)
Kaimaraz ARBAKHANOV (UWW)
Zakhar TSERASHKOU (UWW)
Behruzbek VALIEV (UZB)

80kg
Hayk MEKHRIYAN (ARM)
Christopher SZENTKIRALYI (AUT)
Nijat YEYLAGALIYEV (AZE)
Miguel XAVIER (BRA)
Valentin VALENTINOV (BUL)
Yuxiang TENG (CHN)
David VILK (CRO)
Stepan DANHEL (CZE)
Robert KOVALKOV (EST)
Luka MARTIASHVILI (GEO)
Stefanos VASDEKIS (GRE)
John SAENZ (GUA)
Dominik KERTESZ (HUN)
Samarth GOVEKAR (IND)
Taha Javid NOURI (IRI)
Koan VALENTINI (ITA)
Sora TAHARA (JPN)
Mardanbek MAKHKAMBAYEV (KAZ)
Nurislam OSKONBAEV (KGZ)
Benediktas BUBELEVICIUS (LTU)
Szymon TREDER (POL)
Dominik HERVAI (SVK)
Muhammad SULTONZODA (TJK)
Ismail BEREKET (TUR)
Nestor BARAN (UKR)
Isai FERNANDEZ (USA)
Hleb DRAZHNIK (UWW)
Senik VARDANIAN (UWW)
Abdulaziz KHOLMIRZAEV (UZB)

92kg
Petros BAGHRAMYAN (ARM)
Niklas OEHLERER (AUT)
Said PASHAYEV (AZE)
Raphael RODRIGUES (BRA)
Yanko DELCHEV (BUL)
Yang JIN (CHN)
Jose PEREZ (COL)
Andrija MIKULIC (CRO)
Vitezslav ZAK (CZE)
Youssef RAYA (EGY)
Mamuka BIDZINASHVILI (GEO)
Ioannis MOUTOUSIDIS (GRE)
Zsombor KORODI (HUN)
NITIN (IND)
Amirsam MOHAMMADI (IRI)
Haruto KITO (JPN)
Adilet TOISHY (KAZ)
Nurbek ABDAMITOV (KGZ)
Julius GIKARAS (LTU)
Vladislav VASYLEVSKYI (MDA)
Jose ESPARZA (MEX)
Tomasz MITAL (POL)
Ionut Erick PATRU (ROU)
Todor AKSENTIJEVIC (SRB)
Zong Han WU (TPE)
Ahmet UZUN (TUR)
Tymur LARIN (UKR)
David CALKINS (USA)
Kanstantsin KASYAN (UWW)
Vadim DRAGUSHAN (UWW)
Fakhrikamol KOMILJONOV (UZB)

110kg
Khachik KHACHATRYAN (ARM)
Rihad IBRAHIMLI (AZE)
Denis LAZAROV (BUL)
Hu Anshi NUERLEBIEKE (CHN)
Petr GRUBER (CZE)
Essam HUSSEIN (EGY)
Temuri SIMSIVE (GEO)
Maximilian LEO (GER)
Vasileios BOUNTOULIS (GRE)
HARDEEP (IND)
Yazdan Reza DELROUZ (IRI)
Taichi SATO (JPN)
Baktur SOVETKHAN (KAZ)
Umar ORMANOV (KGZ)
Angel GARCIA (MEX)
Mateusz TOMELKA (POL)
Vlad PETREAN (ROU)
Andrej SIMIC (SRB)
Aslan AGADADAYEV (TKM)
Emrullah CAPKAN (TUR)
Anatolii NOVACHENKO (UKR)
Alexander TAYLOR (USA)
Daniil MASLAKOU (UWW)
Dmitrii KOCHUROV (UWW)
Sayidamir NEMATOV (UZB)

#WrestleBudapest

Orta, Kusaka win Ranking Series gold; Esmaeili books Paris 2024 spot

By Vinay Siwach

BUDAPEST, Hungary (June 9) -- The 67kg weight class in Budapest was supposed to offer some interesting match-ups. Kyotaro SOGABE (JPN) could have avenged his World Championships loss to Mohammadreza GERAEI (IRI). Saeid ESMAEILI (IRI) could have qualified for the Paris Olympics if he had defeated Geraei in Budapest. Leri ABULADZE (GEO) could have become a contender in Georgia for the weight class.

But none of that happened as Orta dominated, outsmarted and controlled his way to the gold medal at 67kg in the Ranking Series, making him one of the favorites for the gold medal in Paris. The Paris Games will also present Orta a rare opportunity to win two Olympic gold medals in two different weight classes as he won the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 60kg.

Orta began his day with an 8-0 win over David MANYIK (HUN) before using a four-pointer to beat Kyotaro SOGABE (JPN) 7-1 to set up a semifinal against Esmaeili. No one would have expected the Asian champion Esmaeili to challenge the world champion but the Iranian had different ideas.

Esmaeili raced to a 7-0 lead in the first period and was one point away from winning the bout. However, Orta managed to keep himself in the bout and began the second period with a front headlock for four and got one more for a lost challenge from Iran. Still, Esmaeili did well to defend the lead until the last three seconds.

As the bout entered the final 10 seconds left, Orta almost gave up and Esmaeili, thinking that Orta had accepted defeat, turned his back and began walking towards the Iranian corner to celebrate. Just the whole stadium gasped as Orta, realizing there was still time left, ran towards Esmaeili and threw him for four.

Midway through the throw, an air-borne Esmaeili knew he messed up. He pleaded that the time was over. Referees initially did not award points to Orta but Cuba challenged and it was clear that the move was completed with 0.1 seconds left. Orta was awarded four points, helping him win 9-7.

An inconsolable Esmaeili had to be helped to the warm-up area. For he thought his Paris 2024 dream was over. 

Orta, fueled by that unthinkable win and his Cuban teammates including Mijain LOPEZ (CUB) in the stands, went on to beat Abuladze in the final to claim the gold medal. He, however, will remain second in the seeding for the Olympics as Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE) has already locked up the top seed.

Jafarov was wrestling in Budapest but was up at 72kg. He may have changed his weight class but had no trouble winning the gold medal at the higher weight as well.

Back to Esmaeili who had his task cut out in the evening session. He needed to beat Geraei in two bouts to earn the Paris 2024 spot on the Iran team. He gathered himself from that loss to Orta and scored a final second takedown against Kyotaro SOGABE (JPN) to clinch a 6-5 win while Geraei defeated Andres MONTANO (ECU) 3-3 to claim the other bronze.

The two stepped on the mat for the wrestle-off for the Olympic spot with Geraei holding an advantage that if he won the first match, he would book his spot for Paris but Esmaeili had to do it in a best-of-three format. But Esmaeili did not let it go to that third as he defeated Geraei in two straight bouts in a tennis-like scoreline, 6-0 and 6-4, to earn a spot on the Iran team for the Paris Olympics and maybe a rematch with Orta in the French capital which on Sunday witness Carlos ALCARAZ win his first French Open.

David LOSONCZI (HUN)David LOSONCZI (HUN) celebrates after securing a fall over Ali CENGIZ (TUR). (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

There was more drama in Budapest as David LOSONCZI (HUN) made sure he pinned Ali CENGIZ (TUR) when the two met in the 87kg semifinal. The two were awarded a shared World Championships title in September after Cengiz defeated Losonczi but the Hungarian wrestler won an appeal for judges' errors and was also awarded the gold medal.

Losonczi admitted that he was waiting for the rematch and though relieved to get the gold medal in Belgrade, he did not really celebrate it. So when he faced Cengiz this time, Losonczi stepped over when the Turkish wrestler was trying to finish a headlock throw. The local fans in Budapest were ecstatic and so was Losonczi who missed his final against Semen NOVIKOV (BUL) due to an injury, a deep cut on his chin.

Nao KUSAKA (JPN)Nao KUSAKA (JPN) defeated Sanan SULEYMANOV (AZE) in the 77kg semifinal in Budapest. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kostadin Andonov)

Nao KUSAKA (JPN) has now beaten World Championships gold and silver medalists at 77kg in the past two months. After his win over world champion Akzhol MAKHMUDOV (KGZ) at the Asian Championships in April, Kusaka handed World Championships silver medalist Sanan SULEYMANOV (AZE) a 2-1 defeat in the semifinal. Suleymanov was leading 1-1 on criteria but Kusaka managed to score a stepout just in time to claim the win.

In the final, Aik MNATSAKANIAN (BUL) defaulted due to injury and Kusaka won the gold medal that will take him past Suleymanov as the top-ranked wrestler in the world. Suleymanov would have remained the top-ranked wrestler if he had won a bronze medal but pulled out due to injury. Kusaka will now have 67200 points while Suleymanov will have 67100 points.

At 97kg, World Championships bronze medalist Mohammadhadi SARAVI (IRI) had no issues beating whoever tried to challenge him. In the final Alex SZOKE (HUN) led 1-1 on criteria but Saravi scored a takedown.

RESULTS

55kg
GOLD: Eldaniz AZIZLI (AZE)
SILVER: Poya DAD MARZ (IRI)
BRONZE: Nugzari TSURTSUMIA (GEO)

67kg
GOLD: Luis ORTA (CUB) df. Leri ABULADZE (GEO), 4-0

BRONZE: Saeid ESMAEILI (IRI) df. Kyotaro SOGABE (JPN), 6-5
BRONZE: Mohammadreza GERAEI (IRI) df. Andres MONTANO (ECU), 3-3

72kg
GOLD: Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE) df. Moustafa ALAMELDIN (EGY), 5-2

BRONZE: Danial SOHRABI (IRI) df. Shmagi BOLKVADZE (GEO), 7-3
BRONZE: Krisztian VANCZA (HUN) df. Gagik SNJOYAN (FRA), 2-1

77kg
GOLD: Nao KUSAKA (JPN) df. Aik MNATSAKANIAN (BUL), via inj. def.

BRONZE: Yosvanys PENA FLORESS (CUB) df. Burhan AKBUDAK (TUR), via inj. def.
BRONZE: Mohammad Reza MOKHTARI (IRI) df. Sanan SULEYMANOV (AZE), via inj. def.

82kg
GOLD: Erik SZILVASSY (HUN) df. Gela BOLKVADZE (GEO), 3-1

BRONZE: Karlo KODRIC (CRO) df. Spencer WOODS (USA), via fall
BRONZE: Mihail BRADU (MDA) df. Peter DOEMOEK (HUN), 3-0

87kg
GOLD: Semen NOVIKOV (BUL) df. David LOSONCZI (HUN), via inj. def.

BRONZE: Mohammadhossein MAHMOODI (IRI) df. Ali CENGIZ (TUR), 10-4
BRONZE: Bachir SID AZARA (ALG) df. Istvan TAKACS (HUN), via forfeit

97kg
GOLD: Mohammadhadi SARAVI (IRI) df. Alex SZOKE (HUN), 3-1

BRONZE: Giorgi MELIA (GEO) df. Josef RAU (USA), 11-4
BRONZE: Shayan HABIBZARE (IRI) df. Kevin MEJIA CASTILLO (HON), via inj. def.