#worldcupiowacity

Complete Freestyle World Cup Rosters Released

By Eric Olanowski

Iowa, United States (April 5) - Although India does not arrive until Friday morning, each of the eight participating nations have submitted their finalized rosters for the 2018 Freestyle World Cup which begins April 7.

The eight teams have been split into two groups for the dual-meet based events which is an annual highlight of the international wrestling calendar. Group A will be comprised of the United States, Georgia, Japan and India, while Group B will be Azerbaijan, Cuba, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia.

Azerbaijan
57kg Giorgi EDISHERASHVILI 
57kg - Afgan KHASHALOV     
61kg - Akhmednabi GVARZATILOV   
65kg - Haji ALIYEV     
65kg - Aghahuseyn MUSTAFAYEV    
70kg - Joshgun AZIMOV        
74kg - Gadzhimurad OMAROV         
79kg - Jabrayil HASANOV      
86kg - Aleksandr GOSTIYEV  
92kg - Aslanbek ALBOROV    
97kg - Nurmagomed GADZHIYEV     
97kg - Roman BAKIROV        
125kg - Jamaladdin MAGOMEDOV   

Cuba
57kg - Reineri ANDREU ORTEGA      
61kg - Yowlys BONNE RODRIGUEZ  
65kg - Alejandro Enrique VALDES TOBIER    
70kg - Franklin MAREN CASTILLO     
74kg - Livan LOPEZ AZCUY    
79kg - Yoan Adrian ZULUETA MORALES       
86kg - Yurieski TORREBLANCA QUERALTA   
92kg - Lazaro Daniel HERNANDEZ LUIS        
97kg - Reineris SALAS PEREZ CUB
125kg - Yudenny ALPAJON ESTEVEZ 

Georgia
57kg - Teimuraz VANISHVILI 
61kg - Lasha LOMTADZE       
65kg - Magamed SAIDOVI     
70kg - Levan KELEKHSASHVILI           
74kg - Tarzan MAISURADZE 
79kg - Tariel GAPHRINDASHVILI      
86kg - Davit KHUTSISHVILI   
92kg - Dato MARSAGISHVILI
97kg - Givi MATCHARASHVILI
125kg - Zviad METREVELI      

India
57kg -  Amit KUMAR 
61kg -  Sandeep TOMAR       
65kg -  Sharvan SHARVAN     
70kg -  Kumar ARUN 
74kg -  Kumar Omprakash VINOD     
79kg -  Sachin GIRI    
86kg -  Pawan KUMAR          
92kg -  Deepak PUNIA
97kg -  Viky VIKY        
125kg - Singh PUSHPENDER  

Japan
57kg -  Yuki TAKAHASHI         
61kg -  Kazuya KOYANAGI     
61kg -  Rinya NAKAMURA     
65kg -  Daichi TAKATANI       
65kg -  Takuto OTOGURO     
70kg -  Keisuke OTOGURO    
70kg -  Kirin KINOSHITA         
74kg -  Ken HOSAKA  
74kg -  Yuhi FUJINAMI           
79kg -  Sohsuke TAKATANI    
86kg -  Shota SHIRAI  
86kg -  Masao MATSUSAKA  
92kg -  Takashi ISHIGURO     
97kg -  Takeshi YAMAGUCHI 
97kg -  Taira SONODA           
125kg -Nobuyoshi ARAKIDA  
125kg -Taiki YAMAMOTO      

Kazakhstan
57kg -  Mukhambet KUATBEK           
61kg -  Rassul KALIYEV          
65kg -  Sayatbek OKASSOV   
70kg -  Meirzhan ASHIROV    
74kg -  Daniyar KAISANOV    
79kg -  Saken AITZHANOV     
86kg -  Elkhan ASSADOV       
92kg -  Iliskhan CHILAYEV      
97kg -  Mamed IBRAGIMOV 
125kg -Daulet SHABANBAY   
125kg -Oleg BOLTIN  
125kg -Yermukambet INKAR 

Mongolia
57kg -  ERDENEBAT Bekhbayar         
61kg -  TUMENBILEG Tuvshintulga   
65kg -  BATCHULUUN Batmagnai     
70kg -  SANJAA Ganbayar     
74kg -  GANZORIG Mandakhnaran   
79kg -  GANTULGA Iderkhuu 
86kg -  ORGODOL Uitumen   
92kg - LUVSANDORJ Turtogtokh      
97kg - ULZIISAIKHAN Batzul 
125kg - NATSAGSUREN Zolboo 

United States
57kg -  Thomas Patrick GILMAN       
57kg -  Frank Vincent PERRELLI IV    
61kg -  Kendric Dwayne MAPLE         
61kg -  Joseph Daniel COLON
65kg -  Logan Jeffery STIEBER           
65kg -  Joseph Christopher MC KENNA         
70kg -  James Malcolm GREEN         
70kg -  Frank Aniello MOLINARO      
74kg -  Jordan Ernest BURROUGHS  
74kg -  Isaiah Alexander MARTINEZ 
79kg -  Kyle Douglas DAKE     
79kg -  Alexander David DIERINGER 
86kg -  David Morris TAYLOR III        
86kg -  Bo Dean NICKAL         
92kg -  J'Den Michael Tbory COX       
92kg -  Hayden Nicholas ZILLMER     
97kg -  Kyle Frederick SNYDER          
97kg -  Kyven Ross GADSON  USA
125kg - Nicholas Edward GWIAZDOWSKI    
125kg - Dominique Deshon BRADLEY

Freestyle World Cup Schedule
Saturday, April 7 (All Times, CST)

10:00 am: United States v. India (Mat A) // Mongolia v. Kazakhstan (Mat B)
11:15 am: Japan v. Georgia (Mat A) // Azerbaijan v. Cuba (Mat B)
2:00 pm: Opening Ceremonies 
2:30 pm: United States v. Japan (Mat A) 
4:30 pm: Mongolia v. Cuba (Mat B)
5:45 pm: India v. Georgia (Mat A) // Azerbaijan v. Kazakhstan (Mat B)

Sunday, April 8 (All Times, CST)
10:00 am: United States v. Georgia (Mat A) // Mongolia v. Azerbaijan (Mat B)
11:15am: India v. Japan (Mat A) // Kazakhstan v. Cuba (Mat B)
12:30pm: Fifth Place Match (Mat A) // Seventh Place Match (Mat B)
2:15 pm: Bronze Medal Match (Mat A)
4:00 pm: Gold Medal Match (Mat A)

TV Schedule
Saturday, April 7 (All Times, CST)

10:00 am: USA v. India — Olympic Channel
2:30 pm: USA v. Japan — NBCSN

Sunday, April 8 ((All Times, CST)
11:00 am: United States v. Georgia — Olympic Channel
4:00 pm: Gold Medal Match — NBCSN

#WrestleTirana

Greco-Roman must-watch battles at U23 Worlds

By Vinay Siwach

TIRANA, Albania (October 19) -- The Greco-Roman at the U23 World Championships will reignite the rivalries among wrestlers from Iran, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia and Turkiye. These are some of the countries that dominate the classic style and when the wrestlers perform from October 27 to 29, it will be a spectacle. Here's what to watch in Greco-Roman at the U23 World Championships

Must-watch match-ups

At 130kg, the battle for gold can be a four-way battle with Mikhail LAPTEV (AIN), Fardin HEDAYATI (IRI), Muhammet BAKIR (TUR) and Mykhailo VYSHNYVETSKYI (UKR) all entered. Laptev is the bronze medalist from the 2021 U23 World Championships while Hedayati is the U20 world champ. Bakir won the gold at the U20 level in 2021.

Vyshnyvetskyi will try to upgrade his silver from last year after losing the final to Fatih BOZKURT (TUR). He won the gold medal at the U20 Worlds in 2022 as he defeated Hedayati in the final.

A similar battle will be seen at 87kg as the 82kg U23 world champion Exauce MUKUBU (NOR) is moving up to 87kg to challenge the defending champion Istvan TAKACS (HUN).

Joining the two are U20 world champion Achiko BOLKVADZE (GEO) and Alireza MOHMADIPIANI (IRI) who is coming off a silver-medal finish at the World Championships in Belgrade.

Alex SZOKE (HUN) is the defending champion at 97kg and will be the favorite to win the gold medal. But the return of Pavel HLINCHUK (AIN) should put some pressure on Szoke.

Hlinchuk won the gold at the U20 World Championships in 2021 and then finished with a silver at the U23 Worlds. He will look to change the color of his medal this year.

Sohrabi-Snjoyan Rematch

A rematch of the 67kg final last year is on the cards as both Danial SOHRABI (IRI) and Gagik SNJOYAN (FRA) are entered. Sohrabi stormed back from 7-0 down to beat Snjoyan 17-7 and claim the gold medal. Snjoyan, however, has been out of action since that final due to an injured shoulder.

Sohrabi has had a busy year as he wrestled in three of the four Ranking Series, the World Championships and recently the Asian Games.

60kg minefield

The 60kg bracket can see intense competition with 2021 U23 world champion Anvar ALLAKHIAROV (AIN) returning. He wrestled at the senior World Championships in Belgrade but failed to win a medal. Joining him is U20 world champion Suren AGHAJANYAN (ARM) who will be looking to at the U23 world title.

SUMIT (UWW) will be keen to avenge his U20 Worlds loss against Aghajanyan as he aims to become the first finalist in Greco-Roman at the U23 World Championships. Returning bronze and U23 European silver Melkamu FETENE (ISR) is also coming to Tirana.

Last year's 55kg silver medalist Nihad GULUZADE (AZE) is moving up to 60kg as he continues to search for a world title. He finished with a silver medal at 55kg in Pontevedra.

Nurmukhammet ABDULLAEV (KGZ) will undoubtedly be the dark horse of this weight class.

New challengers

Tirana will see a number of wrestlers from the 2021 class of U20 World Championships. But the young crop is out to challenge them. The U20 wrestlers trying to make a mark at U23 are Denis MIHAI (ROU) at 55kg, Aghajanyan at 60kg, Alexandrin GUTU (MDA) at 77kg, Alperen BERBER (TUR) at 82kg, Achiko BOLKVADZE (GEO) at 87kg and Fardin HEDAYATI (IRI) at 130kg.

Aghajanyan, Berber, Bolkvadze and Hedayati are coming off title-winning runs at the U20 Worlds in August.