#WrestleBelgrade

Fujinami pulls out of Belgrade Worlds with foot injury

By Ken Marantz

TOKYO (Sept. 7)--Reigning world champion and top seed Akari FUJINAMI (JPN) will not be defending her title at the upcoming World Championships in Belgrade after suffering a left foot injury, Japan national women's team coach Ryo KANEHAMA said on Wednesday.

According to the Japan Wrestling Federation website, Kanehama said in an online press conference that the 18-year-old Fujinami, who was to defend her 53kg title in Belgrade, suffered ligament damage to the instep of her left foot while sparring during the first day of a national team training camp in late August.

Press reports said that Fujinami, who was on crutches after the injury, is able to put enough weight on the foot to walk, but it has not healed sufficiently to wrestle in matches. She is expected to need eight weeks to fully recover.

Japan will not send a replacement in the weight class.

"From this point, there are many important competitions ahead," Kanehama was quoted as saying. "To keep from making [the injury] worse, we made this decision today."

Kanehama was mainly referring to the All-Japan Championships in December, which will be the starting point for the qualifying process for the 2024 Paris Olympics. It is there Fujinami is expected to clash for the first time with Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Mayu SHIDOCHI (formerly MUKAIDA), who is entered at 55kg in Belgrade.

Fujinami, who currently has a 103-match winning streak that dates back to her junior high school days in 2017, won the world title in Oslo last year in her first senior international tournament, winning all four of her matches by technical fall without conceding a point.

#WrestleParis

Paris 2024 Olympic Games Greco-Roman Entries

By United World Wrestling Press

PARIS (July 9) -- The 97 Greco-Roman wrestlers scheduled to compete at the Paris Olympics are announced. Four-time Olympic champion Mijain LOPEZ (CUB) will wrestle at 130kg while Tokyo Olympic champion Luis ORTA (CUB) is also entered. He won the gold in Tokyo at 60kg but will be competing in Paris at 67kg, a weight class in which he won the gold medal at the World Championships in 2023.

Tokyo champion Zhan BELEKNUIK (UKR) will be looking to add to his medal tally which also has a silver medal from Rio 2016. Four Tokyo Olympic silver medalists are returning namely Kenichiro FUMITA (JPN), Parviz NASIBOV (UKR), Akzhol MAKHMUDOV (KGZ) and Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM).

Other Olympic medalists in the fray are Mohamed ELSAYED (EGY), Rafig HUSEYNOV (AZE), Sabah SHARIATI (AZE) and Heiki NABI (EST).

Greco-Roman will kick off wrestling at the Paris Olympics on August 5 with 60kg and 130kg. August 6 will have 77kg and 97kg, August 7 will feature 67kg and 87kg. The medals bouts will be held on the next days of the respective weight classes.

PARIS 2024 SCHEDULE | PARIS 2024 NEWS | PARIS 2024 WOMEN'S WRESTLING ENTRIES | PARIS 2024 FREESTYLE ENTRIES

60kg
Abdelkarim FERGAT (ALG)
Murad MAMMADOV (AZE)
Liguo CAO (CHN)
Kevin DE ARMAS (CUB)
Moamen MOHAMED (EGY)
Jamal VALIZADEH (EOR)
Mehdi MOHSEN NEJAD (IRI)
Kenichiro FUMITA (JPN)
Aidos SULTANGALI (KAZ)
Zholaman SHARSHENBEKOV (KGZ)
Victor CIOBANU (MDA)
Se Ung RI (PRK)
Razvan ARNAUT (ROU)
Georgij TIBILOV (SRB)
Enes BASAR (TUR)
Islomjon BAKHRAMOV (UZB)
Raiber RODRIGUEZ (VEN)

67kg
Ishak GHAIOU (ALG)
Slavik GALSTYAN (ARM)
Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE)
Nestor ALMANZA TRUYOL (CHI)
Luis ORTA SANCHEZ (CUB)
Andres MONTANO ARROYO (ECU)
Mohamed ELSAYED (EGY)
Mamadassa SYLLA (FRA)
Ramaz ZOIDZE (GEO)
Saeid ESMAEILI LEIVESI (IRI)
Kyotaro SOGABE (JPN)
Amantur ISMAILOV (KGZ)
Valentin PETIC (MDA)
Mate NEMES (SRB)
Souleymen NASR (TUN)
Parviz NASIBOV (UKR)

77kg
Abd Elkrim OUAKALI (ALG)
Malkhas AMOYAN (ARM)
Sanan SULEYMANOV (AZE)
Aik MNATSAKANIAN (BUL)
Jair CUERO MUNOZ (COL)
Yosvanys PENA FLORES (CUB)
Mahmoud ABDELRAHMAN (EGY)
Jonni SARKKINEN (FIN)
Zoltan LEVAI (HUN)
Amin KAVIYANINEJAD (IRI)
Nao KUSAKA (JPN)
Demeu ZHADRAYEV (KAZ)
Akzhol MAKHMUDOV (KGZ)
Burhan AKBUDAK (TUR)
Kamal BEY (USA)
Aram VARDANYAN (UZB)

87kg
Bachir SID AZARA (ALG)
Rafig HUSEYNOV (AZE)
Semen NOVIKOV (BUL)
Haitao QIAN (CHN)
Carlos MUNOZ JARAMILLO (COL)
Turpal BISULTANOV (DEN)
Mohamed METWALLY (EGY)
Lasha GOBADZE (GEO)
David LOSONCZI (HUN)
Alireza MOHMADIPIANI (IRI)
Nursultan TURSYNOV (KAZ)
Arkadiusz KULYNYCZ (POL)
Aleksandr KOMAROV (SRB)
Ali CENGIZ (TUR)
Zhan BELENIUK (UKR)
Payton JACOBSON (USA)

97kg
Abubakar KHASLAKHANAU (AIN)
Fadi ROUABAH (ALG)
Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM)
Gabriel ROSILLO (CUB)
Mohamed GABR (EGY)
Arvi SAVOLAINEN (FIN)
Roberti KOBLIASHVILI (GEO)
Lucas LAZOGIANIS (GER)
Kevin MEJIA CASTILLO (HON)
Mohammadhadi SARAVI (IRI)
Uzur DZHUZUPBEKOV (KGZ)
Seungjun KIM (KOR)
Mindaugas VENCKAITIS (LTU)
Mihail KAJIA (SRB)
Josef RAU (USA)
Rustam ASSAKALOV (UZB)

130kg
Sabah SHARIATI (AZE)
Kiril MILOV (BUL)
Yasmani ACOSTA FERNANDEZ (CHI)
Lingzhe MENG (CHN)
Mijain LOPEZ (CUB)
Abdellatif MOHAMED (EGY)
Heiki NABI (EST)
Jello KRAHMER (GER)
Amin MIRZAZADEH (IRI)
Alimkhan SYZDYKOV (KAZ)
Seungchan LEE (KOR)
Mantas KNYSTAUTAS (LTU)
Oussama ASSAD (MAR)
Alin ALEXUC CIURARIU (ROU)
Muhammet BAKIR (TUR)
Adam COON (USA)

NOTE:

Czech Republic surrendered its 97kg spot after Artur OMAROV (CZE) was injured. Serbia was awarded the place as next best NOC

* Tunisia failed to find a replacement at 130kg. Lithuania was awarded the spot at 130kg as the next best NOC