U23 European Championships entry list

Friday, March 10, 2023 - 16:22 By Eric Olanowski & Vinay Siwach

BUCHAREST, Romania (March 10) -- The 2023 U23 European Championships are set to take place in Bucharest, Romania from March 13 to 19 with eleven wrestlers trying to defend their titles.

The tournament will feature some of the top young wrestlers from across Europe, with a few who have tasted success at the senior level as well.

Leading the pack are Alex SZOKE (HUN), Turan BAYRAMOV (AZE), Georgios KOUGIOUMTSIDIS (GRE), Turpal BISULTANOV (DEN), Irina RINGACI (MDA), Andreea ANA (ROU) and Oleksandra KHOMENETS (UKR) among others.

A few of these wrestlers will also enter the European Championships a month later and the U23 tournament will be the perfect warm-up for the wrestlers trying to win a medal in Zagreb in April.

In freestyle, Azerbaijan is bringing a strong team with Georgia and Turkey. In Greco-Roman, Georgia will look to defend its team title as three returning champions and two more world medalists are part of the team.

In women's wrestling, Ukraine will once again be the team to beat but as Turkiye showed last year, it cannot be taken lightly.

A rematch between Vladimeri GAMKRELIDZE (GEO) and Gerogios KOUGIOUMTSIDIS (GRE) is expected at 79kg. (Photo: UWW / Kostadin Andonov)

Freestyle

57kg
Edik HARUTYUNYAN (ARM)
Nuraddin NOVRUZOV (AZE)
Ivaylo TISOV (BUL)
Luka GVINJILIA (GEO)
Niklas STECHELE (GER)
Ghennadi DIUVENJI (MDA)
Besir ALILI (MKD)
Rafal SZEWC (POL)
Valentin BARBULESCU (ROU)
Thomas EPP (SUI)
Tolga OZBEK (TUR)
Vladyslav ABRAMOV (UKR)

61kg
Mezhlum MEZHLUMYAN (ARM)
Aykhan ABDULLAZADA (AZE)
Stilyan ILIEV (BUL)
Adam BIBOULATOV (FRA)
Daviti ABDALADZE (GEO)
Simone PIRODDU (ITA)
Andrei VITAN (MDA)
Arben SEJDI (MKD)
Daniel RITTER (ROU)
Emre KURAL (TUR)
Andrii DZHELEP (UKR)

65kg
Tigran GHAZARYAN (ARM)
Rashid BABAZADE (AZE)
Bozhidar DZHOROV (BUL)
Khamzat ARSAMERZOUEV (FRA)
Goga OTINASHVILI (GEO)
Nico MEGERLE (GER)
Veniamin BORZIN (MDA)
Muhamed FERUKI (MKD)
Aminjon SADULLOEV (POL)
Daniel SANDU (ROU)
Dominik LARITZ (SUI)
Hamza ZOPALI (TUR)
Mykyta HONCHAROV (UKR)

70kg
Hayk PAPIKYAN (ARM)
Benedikt HUBER (AUT)
Magomed KHANIEV (AZE)
Muhammad ABDURACHMANOV (BEL)
Ivan STOYANOV (BUL)
Moukhammad SANGARIEV (FRA)
Davit PATSINASHVILI (GEO)
Shamil USTAEV (GER)
Egzon XHONI (KOS)
Pavel GRAUR (MDA)
Mateusz LUSZCZYNSKI (POL)
Eduard LENARD (ROU)
Shwe WIN (SWE)
Burak SININ (TUR)
Narek POHOSIAN (UKR

74kg
Menua YARIBEKYAN (ARM)
Turan BAYRAMOV (AZE)
Nikolay DIMITROV (BUL)
Magamed DELIEV (FRA)
Giorgi GOGRITCHIANI (GEO)
Balint BALAZS (HUN)
Raul ZARBALIEV (ISR)
Raul CASO (ITA)
Vasile DIACON (MDA)
Szymon WOJTKOWSKI (POL)
Krisztian BIRO (ROU)
Ismet CIFTCI (TUR)
Mykyta MORHUN (UKR)

79kg
Narek GRIGORYAN (ARM)
Sabuhi AMIRASLANOV (AZE)
Radomir STOYANOV (BUL)
Gabriel IGLESIAS RAMOS (ESP)
Vladimeri GAMKRELIDZE (GEO)
Georgios KOUGIOUMTSIDIS (GRE)
Max KASPEROVICH (ISR)
Eugeniu MIHALCEAN (MDA)
Mateusz PEDZICKI (POL)
Gigi SUBTIRICA (ROU)
Okan TAHTACI (TUR)
Vladyslav BODORIAK (UKR)

86kg
Knyaz IBOYAN (ARM)
Benjamin GREIL (AUT)
Farid JABBAROV (AZE)
Ilia HRISTOV (BUL)
Rakhim MAGAMADOV (FRA)
Daviti KOGUASHVILI (GEO)
Joshua MORODION (GER)
Angelos KOUKLARIS (GRE)
Akhmedkhan TEMBOTOV (ITA)
Ivan ICHIZLI (MDA)
Adam MODOSJAN (MKD)
Denis CHIRICA (ROU)
Ismail KUCUKSOLAK (TUR)
Vladyslav PRUS (UKR)

92kg
Sergey SARGSYAN (ARM)
Abduljalil SHABANOV (AZE)
Sali SALIEV (BUL)
Adlan VISKHANOV (FRA)
Andro MARGISHVILI (GEO)
Gkivi BLIATZE (GRE)
Ion DEMIAN (MDA)
Redjep HAJDARI (MKD)
Alexandru BESLIU (ROU)
Farhad ANOSHEH (SWE)
Muhammed GIMRI (TUR)
Roman RYCHKO (UKR)

97kg
Khachatur KHACHATRYAN (ARM)
Islam ILYASOV (AZE)
Kolyo DIMITROV (BUL)
Merab SULEIMANASHVILI (GEO)
Ertugrul AGCA (GER)
Richard VEGH (HUN)
Radu LEFTER (MDA)
Georgian TRIPON (ROU)
Oktay CIFTCI (TUR)
David MCHEDLIDZE (UKR)

125kg
Martin SIMONYAN (ARM)
Vakhit GALAYEV (AZE)
Georgi IVANOV (BUL)
Nika BERULAVA (GEO)
Azamat KHOSONOV (GRE)
Nicolae STRATULAT (MDA)
Uvejs FEJZULAHU (MKD)
Jakub CZERCZAK (POL)
Florin DREVE (ROU)
Efe Anil AL (TUR)
Volodymyr KOCHANOV (UKR)

Exacue MUKUBU (NOR) is the U23 world champion at 82kg. (Photo: UWW / Kadir Caliskan)

Greco-Roman

55kg
Karapet MANVELYAN (ARM)
Rahim HASANOV (AZE)
Giorgi TOKHADZE (GEO)
Ilias ZAIRAKIS (GRE)
Amare FETENE (ISR)
Leonid MOROZ (MDA)
Denis MIHAI (ROU)
Sabolc LOSONC (SRB)
Muhammet CAKIR (TUR)
Eduard STRILCHUK (UKR)

60kg
Suren AGHAJANYAN (ARM)
Elmir ALIYEV (AZE)
Aser EBRO RODRIGUEZ (ESP)
Dimitri KHACHIDZE (GEO)
Georgios SCARPELLO (GER)
Melkamu FETENE (ISR)
Adrian ANTON (ROU)
Mert ILBARS (TUR)
Vladyslav KUZKO (UKR)

63kg
Sahak HOVHANNISYAN (ARM)
Ziya BABASHOV (AZE)
Miroslav EMILOV (BUL)
Tino OJALA (FIN)
Giorgi SHOTADZE (GEO)
Ioannis PETKOS (GRE)
Abere FETENE (ISR)
Vitalie ERIOMENCO (MDA)
Mairbek SALIMOV (POL)
Petru ALEXE (ROU)
Ismail CULFA (TUR)
Andrii SEMENCHUK (UKR)

67kg
Ashot KHACHATRYAN (ARM)
Hasan MAMMADLI (AZE)
Ivo ILIEV (BUL)
Denis MERTL (CZE)
Gagik SNJOYAN (FRA)
Diego CHKHIKVADZE (GEO)
Shon NADORGIN (ISR)
Adomas GRIGALIUNAS (LTU)
Alexandr GURALI (MDA)
Aleksander MIELEWCZYK (POL)
Iosif IONESCU (ROU)
Michael PORTMANN (SUI)
Mustafa YILDIRIM (TUR)
Maksym LIU (UKR)

72kg
Klodjan SHEHU (ALB)
Hayk ASATRYAN (ARM)
Gurban GURBANOV (AZE)
Ilia MUSTAKOV (BUL)
Luka MALOBABIC (CRO)
Junior BENITEZ (ESP)
Joni KOMPPA (FIN)
Giorgi CHKHIKVADZE (GEO)
Aaron BELLSCHEIDT (GER)
Krisztofer KLANYI (HUN)
Giovanni ALESSIO (ITA)
Vilius SAVICKAS (LTU)
Kamil CZARNECKI (POL)
Igor BOTEZ (ROU)
Maurus ZOGG (SUI)
Oliver OLAH (SVK)
Abdullah TOPRAK (TUR)
Irfan MIRZOIEV (UKR)

77kg
Ashot KIRAKOSYAN (ARM)
Khasay HASANLI (AZE)
Michal ZELENKA (CZE)
Khvicha ANANIDZE (GEO)
Deni NAKAEV (GER)
Andreas VASILAKOPOULOS (GRE)
Attila TOESMAGI (HUN)
Aistis LIAUGMINAS (LTU)
Alexandrin GUTU (MDA)
Konrad KOZLOWSKI (POL)
Iulian LUNGU (ROU)
Aleksa ILIC (SRB)
Simon BORKENHAGEN (SWE)
Sahan ACAR (TUR)
Mykyta POLITAIEV (UKR)

82kg
Karen KHACHATRYAN (ARM)
Ismayil RZAYEV (AZE)
Ivaylo IVANOV (BUL)
Ivo SVIGLER (CZE)
Marcel HEIN (DEN)
Jonni SARKKINEN (FIN)
Saba MAMALADZE (GEO)
Ilias PAGKALIDIS (GRE)
Peter DOEMOEK (HUN)
Semion BREKKELI (MDA)
Exauce MUKUBU (NOR)
Adam GARDZIOLA (POL)
Vasile COJOC (ROU)
Branko KOVACEVIC (SRB)
Kadir KAMAL (TUR)
Madamin MIRZOIEV (UKR)

87kg
Hovhannes HARUTYUNYAN (ARM)
Mahammad AHMADIYEV (AZE)
Ivan MANOV (BUL)
Matej MANDIC (CRO)
Ondrej HAVELKA (CZE)
Turpal BISULTANOV (DEN)
Waltteri LATVALA (FIN)
Achiko BOLKVADZE (GEO)
Nikolaos IOSIFIDIS (GRE)
David LOSONCZI (HUN)
Gabriel LUPASCO (MDA)
Patrik GORDAN (ROU)
Muhittin SARICICEK (TUR)
Mykyta ALIEKSIEIEV (UKR)

97kg
Hayk KHLOYAN (ARM)
Murad AHMADIYEV (AZE)
Kaloyan IVANOV (BUL)
Vinko PRODANOVIC (CRO)
Kristian LUKAC (CRO)
Richard KARELSON (EST)
Lasha TVILDIANI (GEO)
Lucas LAZOGIANIS (GER)
Archontis XOURAS (GRE)
Alex SZOKE (HUN)
Mindaugas VENCKAITIS (LTU)
Roman BALCHIVSCHII (MDA)
Jakub ANTOSZEWSKI (POL)
Ionut GOSA (ROU)
Luka KATIC (SRB)
Maans KLOSTERMANN (SWE)
Fatih ONVERMEZ (TUR)
Oleksandr YEVDOKIMOV (UKR)

130kg
Albert VARDANYAN (ARM)
Sarkhan MAMMADOV (AZE)
Marcel ALBINI (CZE)
Giorgi TSOPURASHVILI (GEO)
Nikolaos NTOUNIAS (GRE)
Dominik KRAWCZYK (POL)
Gean ALI (ROU)
Muhammet BAKIR (TUR)
Mykhailo VYSHNYVETSKYI (UKR)

Irina RINGACI (MDA) will look to defend her U23 European title in Bucharest. (Photo: UWW / Kadir Caliskan)

Women’s Wrestling

50kg
Shahana NAZAROVA (AZE)
Emine OSMAN (BUL)
Taru VAINIONPAEAE (FIN)
Emma LUTTENAUER (FRA)
Szimonetta SZEKER (HUN)
Emanuela LIUZZI (ITA)
Gabija DILYTE (LTU)
Maria LEORDA (MDA)
Marija SPIRKOVSKA (MKD)
Amanda TOMCZYK (POL)
Ana PIRVU (ROU)
Khrystyna BASYCH (SVK)
Zehra DEMIRHAN (TUR)
Snizhana ONUFRIIEVA (UKR)

53kg
Gultakin SHIRINOVA (AZE)
Mihaela MIHOVA (BUL)
Chadia AYACHI (FRA)
Anastasia BLAYVAS (GER)
Maria FERONE (ITA)
Vestina DANISEVICIUTE (LTU)
Mariana DRAGUTAN (MDA)
Beatrice FERENT (ROU)
Zeynep YETGIL (TUR)
Liliia MALANCHUK (UKR)

55kg
Elnura MAMMADOVA (AZE)
Irena BINKOVA (BUL)
Laurie LESAFFRE (FRA)
Amory ANDRICH (GER)
Erika BOGNAR (HUN)
Immacolata DANISE (ITA)
Laura STANELYTE (LTU)
Mihaela SAMOIL (MDA)
Angelika MYTKOWSKA (POL)
Andreea ANA (ROU)
Jonna MALMGREN (SWE)
Melda DERNEKCI (TUR)
Mariia VYNNYK (UKR)

57kg
Zhala ALIYEVA (AZE)
Nazife TAIR (BUL)
Anna MICHALCOVA (CZE)
Celeste SION (FRA)
Naemi LEISTNER (GER)
Anna SZEL (HUN)
Aurora RUSSO (ITA)
Wiktoria KARWOWSKA (POL)
Georgiana Carla LIRCA (ROU)
Nellie FLORENTIN (SWE)
Nazar KAYA (TUR)
Oleksandra KHOMENETS (UKR)

59kg
Fatme SHABAN (BUL)
Amel REBIHA (FRA)
Nikolett SZABO (HUN)
Asia CRAPAROTTA (ITA)
Gabriele DILYTE (LTU)
Othelie HOEIE (NOR)
Ana PUIU (ROU)
JOVANA RADIVOJEVIC (SRB)
Evelina HULTHEN (SWE)
Ebru DAGBASI (TUR)
Solomiia VYNNYK (UKR)

62kg
Viktoria IVANOVA (BUL)
Viktoria VESSO (EST)
Ameline DOUARRE (FRA)
Kelsey BARNES (GBR)
Luisa SCHEEL (GER)
Elena ESPOSITO (ITA)
Alina ANTIPOVA (LAT)
Paulina DANISZ (POL)
Gabriela CUC (ROU)
Selvi ILYASOGLU (TUR)
Iryna BONDAR (UKR)

65kg
Birgul SOLTANOVA (AZE)
Gergana STOYANOVA (BUL)
Iva GERIC (CRO)
Iris THIEBAUX (FRA)
Gerda BARTH (GER)
Drosoula TZIANAKOPOULOU (GRE)
Bianca CONTRAFATTO (ITA)
Elma ZEIDLERE (LAT)
Amina CAPEZAN (ROU)
Masa PEROVIC (SRB)
Olha MASLOVSKA (SVK)
Nora SVENSSON (SWE)
Busra EFE (TUR)
Oksana CHUDYK (UKR)

68kg
Nigar MIRZAZADA (AZE)
Daniela BRASNAROVA (BUL)
Marta OJEDA NAVARRO (ESP)
Sophia SCHAEFLE (GER)
Karolina POK (HUN)
Laura GODINO (ITA)
Irina RINGACI (MDA)
Karolina KOZLOWSKA (POL)
Adina IRIMIA (ROU)
Zsuzsanna MOLNAR (SVK)
Nesrin BAS (TUR)
Manola SKOBELSKA (UKR)

72kg
Vanesa GEORGIEVA (BUL)
Milla ANDELIC (CRO)
Lilly SCHNEIDER (GER)
Noémi SZABADOS (HUN)
Wiktoria CHOLUJ (POL)
Paula ROTARU (ROU)
Tindra SJOEBERG (SWE)
Nazar BATIR (TUR)
Romana VOVCHAK (UKR)

76kg
Marta PAJULA (EST)
Laura KUEHN (GER)
Kamile GAUCAITE (LTU)
Marion BYE (NOR)
Elena MARGAS (ROU)
Fanni NAGY NAD (SRB)
Mehtap GULTEKIN (TUR)
Anastasiya ALPYEYEVA (UKR)

#WrestleAlexandria

#WrestleAlexandria Senior African Championships 2024 Preview

Thursday, March 14, 2024 - 09:07 By Vinay Siwach

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt (March 13) -- At last year's African Championships, Nigeria entered finals in all 10 women's weight classes. Out of the 10, it won six gold medals and four silver medals.

Nigeria will look to better its performance from 2023 at the African Championships which will be held on March 18 and 19 in Alexandria, Egypt. The U17 and U20 African Championships will be held before the senior competition at the same venue.

After a two-day break, the African and Oceania OG Qualifiers will also be held in Alexandria, making the African Championships even more important as the countries participating in the first event will be eligible to participate in the qualifiers.

Nigeria will be led by world bronze medalist Odunayo ADEKUOROYE (NGR) at 57kg as she returns to competition for the first time since September. She had skipped last year's championships but a gold medal in Alexandria will earn her 10000 points. A win will ensure that Adekuoroye tops the 57kg rankings.

Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Blessing OBORUDUDU (NGR) will defend her 68kg gold medal. Oborududu has failed to repeat her performances since winning that silver in Tokyo. However, she won the African title for a record 10th time last year.

The 65kg champion Khadija JLASSI (TUN) is now jumping up to 68kg and will look to challenge Oborududu in the new weight class.

At 50kg, Mercy GENESIS (NGR) is returning to defend her gold as is Christianah OGUNSANYA (NGR) at 53kg, Mercy ADEKUOROYE (NGR) at 59kg and Ebi BIOGOS (NGR) at 72kg.

Esther KOLAWOLE (NGR) finished with a silver medal at 62kg but with Marwa AMRI (TUN) moving into coaching, she will be the favorite to win the gold medal in Alexandria.

The 76kg weight class can throw some interesting match-ups as 72kg bronze medalist Zaineb SGHAIER (TUN) has moved to the Olympic weight class. She will likely face Hannah RUEBEN (NGR) who won a silver medal at 76kg last year.

Yousiff HEMIDA (EGY) was African champion in 2022. (Photo: UWW / Bayrem Ben Mrad)

Freestyle

The six Olympic weight classes will see intense battles. 57kg champion Diamantino IUNA FAFE (GBS) will be the favorite to win the gold medal but bronze medalist Khalil BARKOUTI (TUN) is returning.

The 65kg weight class will see a new champion as only bronze medalist Zohier IFTENE (ALG) is returning for the African Championships. But it will be difficult to count out Shehabeldin MOHAMED (EGY), Wotna NDOC (GBS), Yassine JAA (MAR), Sylvio DIATTA (SEN) and Mohamed BEN HAFSIA (TUN).

Last year's silver medalist Bacar NDUM (GBS) will start as the favorite at 74kg as Amr REDA (EGY) has decided to skip the championships for the qualifiers.

It will be a similar story in 86kg as only bronze medalist Harrison ONOVWIOMOGBOHWO (NGR) is returning to upgrade his medal. The 2023 gold medalist Fateh BENFERDJALLAH (ALG) will be looking to qualify for Algeria later and he will be replaced by Oussama ABDELLAOUI (ALG) for the championships.

At 97kg, none of the 2023 medalists are entered and a new African champion will be crowned. Fares YAHI (ALG), Abdelrahman ABOUHEIBA (EGY) and Anas SAMIR (MAR) will fancy their chances for the same.

Egypt will be looking to keep the 125kg medal to itself and that responsibility will be on Youssif HEMIDA (EGY) who is replacing the gold medalist Diaaeldin KAMAL (EGY). However, silver medalist Hamza RAHMANI (TUN) hopes to change the color of his medal.

At 61kg, Abdelhak KHERBACHE (ALG) is returning to defend his gold medal while 79kg silver medalist Chems FETAIRIA (ALG) is entered as well.

U20 world champion Moustafa ALAMELDIN (EGY) is the favorite at 67kg. (Photo: UWW / Kostadin Andonov)

Greco-Roman

World bronze medalist and defending champion Abdellatif MOHAMED (EGY) will be eyeing his eighth African Championships title as he enters the competition at 130kg. He has two African Games gold medals as well.

Mohamed has dominated the super heavyweight class for years in the continent and is likely to have smooth sailing to the gold again.

With most of Algeria's first team entered for the Olympic Qualifiers, Egypt has a huge chance to win gold medals in multiple weight classes. Last year, Egypt and Algeria shared five gold medals each in Greco-Roman.

At 60kg, Haithem MAHMOUD (EGY) will look to defend his gold medal but 55kg champion Mohamed DRIDI (ALG) has jumped up a weight class to challenge Mahmoud. Also in the mix is Ibrahim BUNDUKA (SLE) who finished with a silver medal.

No medalists from last year are entered at 67kg, leaving the weight class open for a new champion. U20 world champion Moustafa ALAMELDIN (EGY) will be the favorite to win the gold. He won a silver medal at the 2022 championships. Fayssal BENFREDJ (ALG) and Oussama NASR (TUN) can challenge Alameldin.

The 77kg will see returning champion Mohamed KHALIL (EGY) hoping to win a second straight gold medal. Algeria has entered Chawki DOULACHE (ALG) and a Freestyle bronze medalist last year Francisco KADIMA (ANG) is entered in Greco-Roman this year.

Haithem ISSAAD (ALG) and Noureldin HASSAN (EGY) are likely to wrestle for the gold medal at 87kg as most of the medalists have skipped this tour for the qualifiers.

At 97kg, Emad ABOUELATTA (EGY) is challenging himself by moving up a weight class. He won a silver medal at 87kg last year and is entered in the new weight this year. But Amine BENDJELLOUL (ALG) will be keen on getting a hand on the Egyptian. Bendjelloul has big shoes to fill as he has named the replacement for Bachir SID AZARA (ALG).

Algeria has Abdelmalek MERABET (ALG) as the returning champion at 72kg.

U23 European Championships entry list

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#WrestleAlexandria Senior African Championships 2024 Preview