Greco-Roman Rankings

"Wrestler of the Year" Lorincz in Pursuit of Top Seed at Tokyo 2020

Friday, January 31, 2020 - 14:53 By Eric Olanowski

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*The highest number of potential points a wrestler can earn if he/she wins gold in a bracket with 20+ competitors at the continental championships (22 points) and Poland Open (18 points) is 40 points.

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (January 31) -- Viktor LORINCZ (HUN), United World Wrestling’s reigning “Wrestler of the Year” in Greco-Roman, made it clear this month that he’s out to defend his well-earned title and win Olympic gold.

Lorincz improved his Ranking Series tournament record to a perfect 23-0 this month with a one-point victory over 2019 Asian silver medalist Kumar SUNIL (IND) in the finals of the Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series event in Rome. With the win, the Hungarian added 16 points to his second ranking leaving him just four points shy of world champion Zhan BELENIUK (UKR) heading into next month’s continental championships. 

But Lorincz is poised to shake up the top spot of the 87kg ranking and gain control of the world's No. 1 spot. Beleniuk elected to sit out of the European Championships, so Lorincz only needs to finish top-eight in Rome to reach the summit of the 87kg rankings.

"I want to win the [European Championships and Poland Open] because it will help my seed for the Olympic Games," said Lorincz, the defending world silver medalist at 87kg. “I will also be in the lead for the Ranking Series again.”

Germany's Denis KUDLA, who is ranked fourth at 87kg, is also expected to miss the European Championships. Without Beleniuk and Kudla, Lorincz needs nine points at the European Championships to ensure a top-four seed in Tokyo.

Mohamed and Muminjon Move into Top-Five at 130kg
Ahmed MOHAMED (EGY) and Muminjon ABDULLAEV (UZB) soared into the top-five of the 130kg rankings and will receive an extra boost as Cuba replaces world silver medalist Oscar PINO HINDS with three-time Olympic champion Mijian LOPEZ (CUB). Mohamed and Abdullaev will benefit because Pino Hinds points aren’t transferable to Lopez and would thus bump the Cubans from the rankings at 130kg.

Mohamed pinned Moises PEREZ HELLBURG (VEN) in the Matteo Pellicone finals and moved up five spots to No. 3 heading into the African Championships. He’ll collect 18 points in Alger if he's able to win the five-man 130kg bracket. Those additional points would propel him into the No. 2 spot by at least 10 points.

The Egyptian big man will then travel to El Jadida, Morocco, for the African and Oceania OG Qualifier (March 13-15) to try to qualify Egypt for the Olympic Games. 

Abdullaev edged Oskar MARVIK (NOR), 3-3, in the bronze-medal bout at the Matteo Pellicone and is ranked No. 4 with 26 points. Abdullaev is expected to wrestle at the Asian OG Qualifier but will sit out of the Asian Championships. Instead, Daler RAKHMATOV will be Uzbekistan's representative at 130kg.

Mélonin NOUMONVI (FRA), at 37-years-old, is looking to make his fourth appearance at the Olympic Games. (Photo: Gabor Martin)

Noumonvi Chasing Fourth Olympic Games Appearance
At 37, Mélonin NOUMONVI (FRA) has already competed at the Olympic Games in Athens, Beijing and London. If he can put together a good season, Tokyo might be an opportunity for the French great to wrestle in yet another Games.. 

The 2014 world champion is gearing up to compete in his 14th European Championship in less than two weeks. A month later (March 19-22) he’s scheduled to compete in Budapest at the European OG Qualifier where he'll have to finish in the top two to earn a spot in Tokyo.

If Noumonvi qualifies, he'll be in a position for a top-four seed. He currently sits in the No. 3 spot after earning bronze at the Matteo Pellicone.

Noumonvi's lone loss in Italy came to eventual champion Nikoloz KAKHELASHVILI (ITA), who appeared in this month's rankings at No. 9 with 18 points. 

Sailike WALIHAN (CHN), the 60kg Matteo Pellicone gold medalist, will wrestle at 63kg the Asian Championships. (Photo: Kadir Caliskan)

China Inserted No. 13 Tuo at 60kg and bumped Walihan to 63kg
Sailike WALIHAN (CHN) pummeled his biggest in-country rival Erbatu TUO (CHN), 13-4, at the Matteo Pellicone and left no question whether or not he's China's top guy at 60kg. But the entries for the Asian Championships seem to tell a different story.  

Now, the question heading into the Asian Championships is how much of a looming factor in China's decision was Walihan's eleventh place finish in Nur-Sultan? Especially after he collected solid wins over Tuo, Islomjon BAKHRAMOV (UZB) and Kerem KAMAL (TUR) and debuted in the latest ranking at No. 9.

Either way, the good news for China is Walihan and Tuo are both ranked in the Top 20 and are within distance of earning a top-four seed. That is, of course, if they perform well in New Delhi then qualify the weight at the Asian OG Qualifier.

Please go to UnitedWorldWrestling.org for the updated competition calendar and guidelines for accumulating points during the Ranking Series.

Top-Ten Greco-Roman Rankings

55kg
1. Nugzari TSURTSUMIA (GEO) - 58
2. Khorlan ZHAKANSHA (KAZ) - 38
3. Max Emiliano NOWRY (USA) - 30
4. Shota OGAWA (JPN) - 23
5. Eldaniz AZIZLI (AZE) - 23
6. Liguo CAO (CHN) - 18
7. Vitalii KABALOEV (RUS) - 16
8. Davaabandi MUNKH ERDENE (MGL) - 14
9. Dogus AYAZCI (TUR) - 14
10. Ilkhom BAKHROMOV (UZB) - 12

60kg
1. Kenichiro FUMITA (JPN) - 60
2. Sergey EMELIN (RUS) - 40
3. Ali Reza Ayat Ollah NEJATI (IRI) - 25
4. Mirambek AINAGULOV (KAZ) - 25
5. Elmurat TASMURADOV (UZB) - 20
6. Lenur TEMIROV (UKR) - 20
7. Ivo Serafimov ANGELOV (BUL) - 18
8. Ivan LIZATOVIC (CRO) - 16
9. Sailike WALIHAN (CHN) - 16
10. Victor CIOBANU (MDA) - 14

63kg
1. Shinobu OTA (JPN) - 58
2. Stepan MARYANYAN (RUS) - 38
3. Almat KEBISPAYEV (KAZ) - 23
4. Slavik GALSTYAN (ARM) - 23
5. Tynar SHARSHENBEKOV (KGZ) - 18
6. Meysam Karamali DALKHANI (IRI) - 18
7. Ryan Robert MANGO (USA) - 16
8. Jinwoong JUNG (KOR) - 14
9. Andres Roberto MONTANO ARROYO (ECU) - 14
10. Rahman BILICI (TUR) - 12

67kg
1. Ismael BORRERO MOLINA (CUB) - 60
2. Artem SURKOV (RUS) - 40
3. Frank STAEBLER (GER) - 25
4. Mate NEMES (SRB) - 25
5. Mohamed Ibrahim Elsayed Ibrahi ELSAYED (EGY) - 20
6. Fredrik Holmquist BJERREHUUS (DEN) - 20
7. Gevorg SAHAKYAN (POL) - 18
8. Hansu RYU (KOR) - 16
9. Makhmud BAKHSHILLOEV (UZB) - 16
10. Deyvid Tihomirov DIMITROV (BUL) - 14

72kg
1. Abuiazid MANTSIGOV (RUS) - 60
2. Aram VARDANYAN (UZB) - 40
3. Balint KORPASI (HUN) - 25
4. Aik MNATSAKANIAN (BUL) - 25
5. Michael Felix WIDMAYER (GER) - 20
6. Jiyeon LEE (KOR) - 20
7. Malkhas AMOYAN (ARM) - 18
8. Sanan SULEYMANOV (AZE) - 16
9. Iuri LOMADZE (GEO) - 14
10. Mohamed Ibrahim Elsayed Ibrahi ELSAYED (EGY) - 14

77kg
1. Tamas LORINCZ (HUN) - 60
2. Alex Michel BJURBERG KESSIDIS (SWE) - 40
3. Mohammadali Abdolhamid GERAEI (IRI) - 25
4. Jalgasbay BERDIMURATOV (UZB) - 25
5. Karapet CHALYAN (ARM) - 20
6. Askhat DILMUKHAMEDOV (KAZ) - 20
7. Paulius GALKINAS (LTU) - 18
8. Roman VLASOV (RUS) - 16
9. Zotlan LEVAI (HUN) - 16
10. Pavel LIAKH (BLR) - 14

82kg
1. Lasha GOBADZE (GEO) - 60
2. Rafig HUSEYNOV (AZE) - 40
3. Haitao QIAN (CHN) - 25
4. Saeid Morad ABDVALI (IRI) - 25
5. Iurii SHKRIUBA (UKR) - 20
6. Nurbek KHASHIMBEKOV (UZB) - 20
7. Adlan AKIEV (RUS) - 18
8. Maxat YEREZHEPOV (KAZ) - 16
9. Zotlan LEVAI (HUN) - 14
10. Singh GURPREET (IND) - 14
 
87kg
1. Zhan BELENIUK (UKR) - 60
2. Viktor LORINCZ (HUN) - 56
3. Rustam ASSAKALOV (UZB) - 25
4. Denis Maksymilian KUDLA (GER) - 25
5. Mikalai STADUB (BLR) - 20
6. Atabek AZISBEKOV (KGZ) - 20
7. Daniel GREGORICH HECHAVARRIA (CUB) - 18
8. Ivan HUKLEK (CRO) - 16
9. Azamat KUSTUBAYEV (KAZ) - 14
10. Kumar SUNIL (IND) - 14

97kg
1. Musa EVLOEV (RUS) - 60
2. Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM) - 40
3. Mélonin NOUMONVI (FRA) - 26
4. Mihail KAJAIA (SRB) - 25
5. Cenk ILDEM (TUR) - 25
6. Giorgi MELIA (GEO) - 20
7. Tadeusz MICHALIK (POL) - 20
8. Mohammadhadi Abdollah SARAVI (IRI) - 18
9. Nikoloz KAKHELASHVILI (ITA) - 18
10. Artur OMAROV (CZE) - 16

130kg
1. Riza KAYAALP (TUR) - 60
2. Oscar PINO HINDS (CUB) - 40
3. Abdellatif mohamed ahmed MOHAMED (EGY) - 32
4. Muminjon ABDULLAEV (UZB) - 26
5. Heiki NABI (EST) - 25
6. Iakobi KAJAIA (GEO) - 25
7. Eduard POPP (GER) - 20
8. Amir Mohammadali GHASEMIMONJEZI (IRI) - 20
9. Murat RAMONOV (KGZ) - 18
10. Moises Salvador PEREZ HELLBURG (VEN) - 14

#JapanWrestling

Paris Olympic Champ Sakurai Retires at Age 24

Sunday, April 5, 2026 - 09:12 By Ken Marantz

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TOKYO (April 4) -- Having never really regained the motivation that led her to achieve her ultimate goal of an Olympic gold, Tsugumi SAKURAI (JPN) has decided to retire at the tender age of 24.

Sakurai, the women’s 57kg champion at the Paris Olympics, has announced that she will hang up her singlet and begin a second career nurturing a new generation of wrestlers and serving as a goodwill ambassador of sports for her native Kochi Prefecture in western Japan.

“After 21 continuous years, I feel I have reached the cutoff point of my wrestling career, so I have decided to retire,” Sakurai said at a press conference Friday at the Kochi Prefecture government office.

“I gave everything I had for the Olympics, and I was able to experience the feeling of achievement and the ultimate joy. It's difficult to win the Olympics without determination. I couldn't get back to the mindset I had before Paris. That is the biggest reason [for retiring].”

Known for her steely aggressiveness belying a quiet demeanor, and a wicked use of a 2-on-1 arm bar, Sakurai prefaced her triumph in Paris by winning three consecutive world titles, at 55kg in 2021 and back-to-back golds at 57kg in 2022 and 2023.

A U17 world champion in 2016, she won golds at the Asian Championships and Asian Games in 2022 and 2023, respectively, but suffered the second of just two career international losses at the 2024 Asian Championships, where she fell to Yongxian FENG (CHN) in the final.

She bounced back five months later for her crowning achievement in Paris, where she defeated 2016 Rio Olympic champion Helen MAROULIS (USA) 10-4 in the semifinals, then took the gold with a 6-0 victory over Anastasia NICHITA (MDA) in a rematch of the 2023 world final.

Making the win in Paris even more special was the fact that not only did Sakurai strike gold, but so did another Japanese wrestler who started the sport together with her at the kids wrestling club in Kochi run by her father.

Kotaro KIYOOKA (JPN), the freestyle 65kg champion in his Olympic debut, and Sakurai became the toast of Kochi, a rural prefecture fronting the Pacific on the island of Shikoku. They were paraded through the streets of the prefectural capital of Kochi City and hailed as heroes.

Like almost all of Japan’s medalists in Paris, the two took time off from the sport to run the gauntlet of TV interviews and variety shows, and just chill out in general. Sakurai, who returned to Kochi and started graduate studies in sport sciences at Kochi University, was particularly slow in returning to the mat.

In what would prove to be her first – and last – competition after Paris, she won the 57kg title at the second-tier Japan Women’s Open in October 2025, ostensibly to qualify for the Emperor’s Cup All-Japan Championships the following December. That would be the starting point for domestic qualifying for major global tournaments.

But Sakurai never made it to the Emperor’s Cup, and has now fully turned the corner on a new career.

“Over the past year, this decision was made after talking to many people, fretting about it, and thinking things through,” she said.

Sakurai said that as an extension of her father’s Kochi Wrestling Club, she wants to run a series of clinics outside of the city, mainly in her hometown of Konan just to the east of Kochi, to expose more children to wrestling and help it grow.

“Aside from wrestling, I'm learning so many things in graduate school right now, so I want to acquire a wide range of knowledge so that I can give back to Kochi Prefecture properly,” Sakurai said. “I think there will be various problems when I put things into practice, so I want to acquire solid knowledge so that I can solve those problems.”

Fans at this week’s Asian Championships in Bishkek will see another product of the Kochi Wrestling Club in action in Moe KIYOOKA (JPN), Kotaro’s younger sister and a former world champion who will be looking to add the 53kg gold to the one she won at 55kg in 2024. She and Sakurai were also teammates at Ikuei University.

And the name Sakurai might soon be appearing on the world stage again. Her younger sister, Tsukino SAKURAI (JPN), won the Asian U15 title last year.