Complete Freestyle World Cup Rosters Released

Thursday, April 5, 2018 - 23:59 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

U23 Worlds: What to watch in Freestyle

Thursday, October 19, 2023 - 13:21 By Vinay Siwach

TIRANA, Albania (October 19) -- The final World Championships of the season, the U23 edition, is here. Like every year, the U23 World Championships will throw in some memorable matches and records that the wrestling world cannot ignore.

The one in Tirana beginning next week will see close to 600 wrestlers and a few of wrestling's biggest stars will be on the mat. Here's what to follow in Freestyle

74kg

The U23 World Championships will kick off on October 23 and a few age-group world champions, wrestlers who have made their mark at the senior level and some strong youngsters will be on the mat on the first day itself.

As is the case in most World Championships, the 74kg weight class offers stiff competition. Defending champion Mohmmadsadegh FIROUZPOUR (IRI) is going to see former U20 world champs Keegan OTOOLE (USA) and Dzhabrail GADZHIEV (AZE) at 74kg.

Gadzhiev won the gold medal at 74kg in 2022 while Otoole is the U20 world champion at 74kg in 2021, a run that saw him pin three of his opponents.

Returning bronze medalist Vasile DIACON (MDA), U20 World bronze at 70kg Ibrahim YAPRAK (TUR) and senior world fifth placer NAVEEN (UWW) are also in the field.

Iran's heavy stars

Last year, Iran captured four gold medals. Firouzpour at 74kg was joined by his brother Amirhossein at 92kg, Amirali AZARPIRA (IRI) won at 97kg and Amirreza MASOUMI (IRI) was the champion at 125kg.

Both Azarpira and Masoumi are returning and it would be surprising if they don't defend the gold medals in Tirana. Azarpira stepped in for an injured Kamran GHASEMPOUR (IRI) at 92kg for the World Championships in Belgrade but lost to Zahid VALENCIA (USA). Back at 97kg, he is the wrestler to beat.

Masoumi continues his tremendous record in international wrestling, having not lost a single bout at the age-group level. To maintain that record and defend his title, he will have to go through Abdulla KURBANOV (AIN) who finished fifth in Belgrade and returning silver medalist Solomon MANASHVILI (GEO) who troubled Masoumi last year before running out of steam.

At 92kg, Iran is going with U20 world champion Mohammadmobin AZIMI (IRI). In Amman, he emerged as the champion after beating Rizabek AITMUKHAN (KAZ) who has now won a world champion at 92kg at the senior level. Azimi won the U20 Asian Championships as well.

Ziraddin BAYRAMOV (AZE) will be the favorite at 65kg. (Photo: UWW / Kostadin Andonov)

New crop at 65kg

The U23 world champion in Pontevedra was Vazgen TEVANYAN (ARM). He is now a world bronze medalist at the senior level and left the category at U23 level for a new star to rise. In fact, none of the four medalists from 2022 are returning.

That leaves two-time U20 world silver medalist Ziraddin BAYRAMOV (AZE) as the favorite to win his first world title at any level. Bayramov has wrestled internationally only once since the 2022 U20 Worlds, finishing third at the Yasar Dogu.

Adlan ASKAROV (KAZ) will hope to win a U23 World Championships medal since that silver in 2019. He finished fifth last year and is still trying to find his footing at 65kg.

U20 world champion at 61kg Mohit KUMAR (UWW) will be at 65kg in Tirana and look to make his mark in a new weight class. Iran will send Mohammadali AMOUZAD (IRI), the twin brother of 2022 65kg world champion Rahman.

Vladimeri GAMKRELIDZE (GEO) is the defending champion and senior world silver medalist at 79kg. (Photo: UWW / Amirreza Aliasgari)

Other stars

Georgia will look to repeat last year's performance including the two gold medals as both Giorgi ELBAKIDZE (GEO) and Vladimeri GAMKRELIDZE (GEO) are returning at 70kg and 79kg respectively.

At 79kg, Ashraf ASHIROV (AZE), Shoban YARI (IRI) and Sagar JAGLAN (UWW) will be waiting to upset Gamkrelidze who finished with a silver medal at the World Championships in Belgrade.

Aaron BROOKS (USA), deemed as the successor to world and Olympic champion David TAYLOR (USA) domestically, will be returning to the international scene in four years. He has a silver medal from the 2018 U20 Worlds but finished 17th a year later.

Defending champion at 86kg, Tatsuya SHIRAI (JPN) is also returning to become Japan's first two-time freestyle world champion at the U23 level.

Complete Freestyle World Cup Rosters Released

Comments

U23 Worlds: What to watch in Freestyle