#WrestleParis, Olympics

UWW approves updated Paris Olympics qualification process

Wednesday, September 28, 2022 - 14:14 By Vinay Siwach

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (September 28) -- United World Wrestling has approved an updated qualification process for the '24 Paris Olympics.

To qualify for the Paris Games, wrestlers will get three events. -- the 2023 World Championships, the continental qualifiers in 2024, and the 2024 World Olympics Qualifiers, the last chance for wrestlers to earn a spot.

Wrestling will be contested in three styles -- Greco-Roman, men's freestyle, and women's freestyle -- with a total of 18 weight classes. One weight class will have 16 wrestlers and each nation will be able to field a maximum of one wrestler per weight. Overall, 288 quotas will be awarded for the '24 Olympics.

"We are extremely happy to confirm the qualifying period and structure for the Paris Olympics," Nenad LALOVIC, UWW President, said. "We have made a few changes to the qualifying process that creates further fairness in the distribution between the World Championships and the World Qualifier."

Any wrestler born on/before December 31, 2006, is eligible to compete and qualify for the Paris Olympics. According to the updated system, the National Olympic Committees that participated in the '23 senior continental championships will be allowed to participate in the '23 World Championships which is the first qualification tournament [with the same number of athletes per style].

Earlier, 108 quotas were awarded at the World Championships [six per Olympic weight] but UWW has decided to reduce it to 90 quotas [five per Olympic weight].

At the 2023 World Championships, all four medalists [gold, silver, and two bronze] will secure the quota for their nation. The fifth spot will be decided with a bout between the wrestlers who lost their bronze medal matches. The winner of this wrestle-off gets a quota for the '24 Games.

In the second phase, 144 wrestlers will qualify for the Paris Games through the continental quotas. The top two wrestlers in each Olympic weight class will get one spot each for their NOCs.

Athletes who earned a quota at the '23 Worlds will not be eligible to participate in the continental qualifiers unless they participate in a different style. For continental qualifiers, a NOC/NF can only send the same number of wrestlers that participated in the '24 senior continental championships.

The third and final phase will see the World Olympic Qualifiers offer three quotas in each Olympic weight class instead of the two it offered previously. A total of 54 wrestlers can qualify for the tournament.

Apart from the 36 finalists across three styles, the bronze medal winners will also have a chance to get a quota for their country. An additional wrestle-off will be held between the two bronze medal winners and the wrestler who wins the quota wrestle-off will take the trip to Paris.

Any country can send its wrestlers to this event barring the wrestlers who won quotas in phases one and two.

UWW's vision to update the qualification was to give fair chance to wrestlers who failed to reach the finals at the World Olympic Qualifiers. This also makes the repechage equally important as the semifinals.

If there are any unused quotas due to withdrawal, doping offense, or non-participation, the quota will be transferred to the next best wrestler of that weight category of the tournament.

The qualifying period begins September 16, 2023, and ends May 12, 2024. The eight-month period will see six qualifying tournaments.

The deadline for the Paris Olympic entries is July 8, 2024, with wrestling scheduled to take place in Paris from August 4-11, 2024.

The candidacy to host the Continental Olympic Qualifiers and the World Olympic Qualifiers is now open and UWW encourages all the NFs interested to host one of these events to send their candidacy.

#WrestleBratislava

Losonczi downs Olympic champ Novikov for 87kg European gold

Saturday, April 12, 2025 - 21:15 By Vinay Siwach

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BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (April 12) -- David LOSONCZI (HUN) had his task cut out at the European Championships.

Over the years, his performance at different competitions of two-day formats saw a dip on the second day. So Hungary coach Viktor LORINCZ told him to be focused for six minutes.

Losonczi was up against Olympic champion Semen NOVIKOV (BUL) in the 87kg final of the European Championships in Bratislava in Saturday. The two had recently met in the Paris Olympic semifinal which Novikov won.

But the final in European Championships was a different story.

Losonczi wrapped his arm around Semen NOVIKOV (BUL) and scored a takedown in the first 30 seconds to take a 2-0 lead. Novikov locked Losonczi around the chest and tried to shift to a seatbelt position but the Hungarian pushed Novikov out-of-bounds with his head to lead 3-0. Novikov was put in par terre which gave Losonczi one more point but he failed to score from par terre and settled for the 4-0 lead.

Novikov's chance came in the second period when he got the par terre position. He turned Losonczi one time but when he tried the second time, both wrestlers were out of bounds. Losonczi led 4-3 with 1:31 left on the clock.

There was no comeback for Novikov in the final. Earlier in the tournament, Novikov had won two bouts in thrilling fashion, scoring late, one time with only one second left.

"During the break I told him that just three more minute and you can be the European champion. So this pushed him," Lorincz said.

After the loss, Novikov said that he made a few which cost him dearly in the final.

"This is still the beginning of the season and I am not 100 percent, especially after winning the Paris Olympics. I think, mentally I am not ready. Olympics was different," Novikov said. "My goal is the World Championships. I am European champion and Olympic champion. I want to be world champion. More work and hope and I will be world champion. I was much better in the final than yesterday. I gifted him two positions after locking him. I made mistakes and you can't make mistakes at this level. Before the Olympics, I knew that any thing is possible. But after Olympic, I know that everything is possible. All you need is belief in yourself."

At 63kg, Kerem KAMAL (TUR) earned his second European title with big win in the final. Kamal came out with a takedown and suplex for a 6-0 lead. Armenia challenged the call asking for a foul hold below the legs from Kamal but it lost the challenge on review to give Kamal another point.

Aslanyan got one back when Turkiye challenged for a throw which was adjudged a risk action from Aslanyan who got a point for lost challenge. Both wrestlers were without any challenges after that.

In the second period, Aslanyan pushed the pace but failed to break Kamal. A stepout got him the second point which cut the lead to 7-2 with a minute left in the final.

At 55kg, Emin SEFERSHAEV (UWW) denied Eldaniz AZIZLI (AZE) his third European title by beating the Azerbaijan wrestler 1-1 in the final.

Sefershaev got the benefit of the new Greco-Roman rule that United World Wrestling is testing at the European Championships which awards the wrestler who got the first point the win if the match ends 1-1.

The former European champion got the first par terre advantage but failed to score any points. However, he defended his par terre position when Azizli got the advantage in the second period and kept his 1-1 lead for the gold, his second at the European Championships.

Malkhas AMOYAN (ARM) did not need any par terre advantages in his 77kg final against Ramaz ZOIDZE (GEO) as he scored a arm-drag takedown for two points in the second period and won his fourth straight European title.

This was Amoyan's first tournament since winning a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics and he did not show any sings of being away from the mat.

At 130kg, Sergei SEMENOV (UWW) defended his title with a 1-1 criteria win over Hamza BAKIR (TUR).

RESULTS

55kg
GOLD: Emin SEFERSHAEV (UWW) df. Eldaniz AZIZLI (AZE), 1-1

BRONZE: Vakhtang LOLUA (GEO) df. Manvel KHACHATRYAN (ARM), 8-1
BRONZE: Artiom DELEANU (MDA) df. Arnold MEGALY (SVK), 8-0

63kg
GOLD: Kerem KAMAL (TUR) df. Karen ASLANYAN (ARM), 7-2

BRONZE: Mairbek SALIMOV (POL) df. Andrii SEMENCHUK (UKR), 10-0
BRONZE: Vitalie ERIOMENCO (MDA) df. Murad MAMMADOV (AZE), via fall

77kg
GOLD: Malkhas AMOYAN (ARM) df. Ramaz ZOIDZE (GEO), 4-3

BRONZE: Ahmet YILMAZ (TUR) df. Albin OLOFSSON (SWE), via fall
BRONZE: Alexandru SOLOVEI (MDA) df. Aik MNATSAKANIAN (BUL), 3-1

87kg
GOLD: David LOSONCZI (HUN) df. Semen NOVIKOV (BUL), 4-3

BRONZE: Islam ABBASOV (AZE) df. Yaroslav FILCHAKOV (UKR), 2-1
BRONZE: Aleksandr KOMAROV (SRB) df. Hannes WAGNER (GER), 3-1

130kg
GOLD: Sergei SEMENOV (UWW) df. Hamza BAKIR (TUR), 1-1

BRONZE: Darius VITEK (HUN) df. Dzmitry ZARUBSKI (UWW), 6-0
BRONZE: Jello KRAHMER (GER) df. Beka KANDELAKI (AZE), 1-1