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

#WrestleParis

Paris 2024: Lopez confident in his quest for fifth Olympic gold

Sunday, July 21, 2024 - 06:14 By United World Wrestling Press

PARIS (July 21) -- In the history of the Olympic Games, only one athlete has won the gold medals five consecutive times: Ireen Wüst. At the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, the Dutch speed skater completed the milestone and etched her name into the history books when she won the 1,500m race.

No Summer Olympian has ever won gold medals in the same individual event five consecutive times. No wrestler has ever won five gold medals. All that could change in Paris. And the man sniffing at the record is Mijain LOPEZ (CUB).

The man they fondly call ‘Gigante de Herradura’ and ‘El Terrible’ currently holds the record of winning the same individual Olympic event four times along with swim legend Michael Phelps, track hero Carl Lewis, the American discus throw hero Al Oerter, the sailor from Denmark Paul Elvstrom and Kaori ICHO (JPN) who, like Lopez, has four gold medals.

Mijain LOPEZ (CUB) winning the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. (Photo: United World Wrestling)

Born on August 20, 1982, the super heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestler made his first appearance at the Olympics in 2004. He was accompanied in the contingent by his elder brother Michel, a boxer (his other older sibling, Misael, was a rower). Michel won a bronze medal in the super-heavyweight division in Athens, a medal that continued Cuba’s historic dominance in boxing.

Lopez observed everything quietly at his maiden Games and when he returned to the biggest stage of all, in Beijing four years later, he would take the field by storm. The 6-foot-5-inch tall wrestler won a gold and repeated that feat in 2012, then in 2016 and the postponed Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

“I feel like it is a dream,” Lopez said. “I believe that it's a goal that I have had throughout my career. I have won four gold medals. I believe winning an Olympic gold medal is hard. So winning four and five is exceptional.”

Mijain LOPEZ (CUB) defends his gold medal at 2012 London Olympic Games (Photo: United World Wrestling / Martin Gabor)

His stranglehold in the super heavyweight division at the Olympics has played side-by-side with his dominance at the World Championships – where he has five titles and three silver medals – and the nine Pan American Championships crowns that are to his name.

Lopez last competed at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago. After beating Iakobi KAJAIA (GEO) in the gold medal bout on superiority, he stayed away from the mat before resurfacing last year to renew his bid for a fifth Olympic gold.

In May 2023, he announced his intention to come back but didn’t straightaway dive into competition mode although he would have been the favorite to defend his Pan American Games title.

Mijain LOPEZ (CUB) won his third gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Tony Rotundo)

But due to a personal loss in the weeks leading up to the Pan-Am Games, Lopez opted out of the competition and chose to prepare himself for the bigger battle. He watched from the sidelines as for the first time since 2003, a new face stood on the top of the podium at the Pan-Am Games.

All the while, Lopez had been training with single-minded focus at his bases in Varadero, the scenic beach resort roughly 150 km from Havana, and the Pelado High-Performance Centre in Havana.

In Paris, he might have to fight two battles simultaneously. The first against his aging body — he is 41 years old at the moment. And once he manages that, the Cuban will have to navigate through a tough field, especially since he isn’t among the seeded wrestlers in the 130kg category.

Mijain LOPEZ (CUB) won his fourth gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Tony Rotundo)

Lopez has sounded unfazed. If anything, he is itching to better the record of one of his favorite athletes, someone he has called the greatest Olympian of all time – Phelps.

“The preparation is done. I feel in optimal condition and all wrestlers are motivated both in Cuba and internationally. It has been a very important time for me to keep the motivation to get to my sixth Olympic Games and fight for my fifth medal,” he said. “Something I am doing with great focus to be able to show the world that everything you have in mind, and want to achieve, can be achieved. I know it's in my mind, and I believe the possibility of achieving that result is high.”

Lopez wrestles in Paris on August 5 and 6.

Complete Freestyle World Cup Rosters Released

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Paris 2024: Lopez confident in his quest for fifth Olympic gold