#Grappling

Grappling World Championships 2025 Entries

By United World Wrestling Press

NOVI SAD, Serbia (September 30) -- The Grappling World Championships are set to be held in Novi Sad, Serbia from October 14 to 16 at the SPENS Arena.

The three-day tournament will see Grappling action in both men's and women's on September 14. The second day will have competition in both Grappling and Grappling Gi and only Grappling Gi on third day will finish the tournament.

All action will be live on the UWW website and highlights on UWW Grappling Instagram.

Men's Grappling Gi

58kg
Razmik MISAKYAN (ARM)
Farhad BAGIROV (AZE)
Samir BEN BELKACEM (FRA)
Daviti ZEDGINIDZE (GEO)
Alikhan ALSHINBAY (KAZ)
Rakhymzhan TURGANBEK (KAZ)
Zhyldyzbek ABYLBEKOV (KGZ)
Jerzy IZDEBSKI (POL)
Bohdan CHORNEI (UKR)
Joseph DIEHL (USA)
Erik LUKER (USA)

62kg
Rafayel KOSTANYAN (ARM)
Emil VERDIYEV (AZE)
Cedrick BISSOUT SIGNANG (CMR)
Lucas AUBRY (FRA)
Levente VARKONDI (HUN)
Mark BODO (HUN)
MANDEEP (IND)
Bekzat KAZTAYEV (KAZ)
Dmytro BARANOV (UKR)
Vadym SIROSHTAN (UKR)
Andrii TSVYK (UKR)
Asher URBAN HOYER (USA)
Kiryl AHEIKA (UWW)
Ruslan RADZHABKHANOV (UWW)
Magomedbek TEMEEV (UWW)

66kg
Mayis NERSESYAN (ARM)
Cedric EYENGA (CMR)
Giovanni SUAREZ ARTILES (ESP)
Cristofer MARTIN BARRIOS (ESP)
Anthony DE OLIVEIRA (FRA)
Giorgi RAZMADZE (GEO)
Adam VERES KOVACS (HUN)
Milan LUKASZ (HUN)
Adlan ASUEV (KAZ)
Nurassyl TURUSPEKOV (KAZ)
Illia SVIATUN (UKR)
Yurii CHERKALIUK (UKR)
Jesse SOSA (USA)
Angel DIAZ (USA)
Artur AGASHIRINOV (UWW)
Magomed MAGOMEDOV (UWW)
Avzal AKHMETOV (UZB)

71kg
Max KAMA (CMR)
Kevin MARTIN TINOCO (ESP)
Francisco ALCALDE TORREBLANCA (ESP)
Samuel CHAGNY (FRA)
Sacha MARGUERITE (FRA)
Dzhimsher RAZMADZE (GEO)
Nico PULVERMUELLER (GER)
Stefanos VAVILIS (GRE)
Davi DIMOPOULOS SAID (GRE)
Mark UJVARI (HUN)
Sandor LAKATOS (HUN)
Chandra PRAKASH (IND)
Zhassulan ZHETPISBAY (KAZ)
Nurbek TALBUDIN (KAZ)
Piotr DUDZINSKI (POL)
Kacper GARCZYNSKI (POL)
Milos GAJIC (SRB)
Ahmet BASARAN (TUR)
Ivan RIABCHENKO (UKR)
Vadym SKRYNYTSIA (UKR)
Nicolas ARNEL (USA)
Andrei SKOLYSH (UWW)
Zaur AKHMEDOV (UWW)
Said ZAIPULAEV (UWW)
Feruzbek UROKOV (UZB)

77kg
Salomon MAYENGUE (CMR)
Aron HERNANDEZ MONTERO (ESP)
Hector SEPULVEDA PALMA (ESP)
Loan MOUTHON (FRA)
Arthur DEMONCEAUX (FRA)
Zoltan TOTH (HUN)
Csaba SZABO (HUN)
Jatin KUMAR (IND)
Nagaraja KAVADI (IND)
Darkhan TOLYBAYEV (KAZ)
Aziz ALIYEV (KAZ)
Dumitru CEBAN (MDA)
Kamil ROSIAK (POL)
Jakub NAJDEK (POL)
Pavlo MAKSYMCHUK (UKR)
Illia SUKHODIEIEV (UKR)
Rakhim BIBULATOV (UWW)
Abduragim MAGOMEDOV (UWW)
Adolfo SUAREZ ARIAS (VEN)

84kg
Suren KHURDAYAN (ARM)
Hajimurad PURTIYEV (AZE)
Juan SUAREZ MONTESDEOCA (ESP)
Ruslan VALIEV (FRA)
Samy MEZACHE (FRA)
Lukas BRESSMER (GER)
Dimitrios MAVRANTONIS (GRE)
Soma SOLTESZ (HUN)
Christian FRILLICI (ITA)
Adlan MADAYEV (KAZ)
Magzhan MARATKHAN (KAZ)
Cristian TUGULEA (MDA)
Igor DZIAG (POL)
Kacper ROT (POL)
Tanguy DARBELLAY (SUI)
Talha UMAR (TUR)
Mykhailo MUZYCHENKO (UKR)
Daniel SHROCK (USA)
Dzhabrail ISRAPILOV (UWW)
Idris OMAROV (UWW)

92kg
Pablo ESTEPA NIETO (ESP)
Antonio GARCIA CONEJO (ESP)
Wilfried EDMUND (FRA)
Reda MEBTOUCHE (FRA)
Amirani SVIMONISHVILI (GEO)
Leonhard PREIN (GER)
Apostolos KOUGIAMIS MICHOS (GRE)
Konstantinos VAVOURAS (GRE)
Levente LAKY (HUN)
Akos SZEKERES (HUN)
Antonio SALTUPS CARETTO (ITA)
Ruslan ISRAILOV (KAZ)
Ramazan KUSSAINOV (KAZ)
Mantas DAUBLYS (LTU)
Buyannemekh MUNKHSUKH (MGL)
Joris ROOKHUIJZEN (NED)
Mateusz MAZUR (POL)
Aleksandar DUKANOVIC (SRB)
Vladyslav ZENCHENKO (UKR)
Timothy BARR (USA)
Ramazan SHIKHSHABEKOV (UWW)
Alibek SULEIMANOV (UWW)

100kg
Vasif SAFARBAYOV (AZE)
Pavel SLANINA ANTON (ESP)
Saba DJAVAKHICHVILI (FRA)
Herve REDON (FRA)
Ilias BOUKIS (GRE)
Ramazan ABDRAKHIMOV (KAZ)
Konstantin LI (KGZ)
Eldar RAFIGAEV (MDA)
Yevhenii MURADOV (UKR)
Shamil MAZHIDKHANOV (UWW)
Khasan ZAPIROV (UWW)
Gilberto AYALA RODRIGUEZ (VEN)

130kg
Nizami GAFAROV (AZE)
Abraham COBY MARTINEZ (ESP)
Luc ROUSSEAU (FRA)
Niklas KOPICKI (GER)
Ioannis KARGIOTAKIS (GRE)
Arystan AITMOLDIN (KAZ)
Alexandr ROMANOV (MDA)
Ivan SNIHUR (UKR)
Oleksandr KOLDOVSKYI (UKR)
John HANSEN (USA)
Abu GUDANATOV (UWW)
Bilal KURBABAGAMAEV (UWW)

Women’s Grappling Gi

53kg
Lilit DANIELYAN (ARM)
Pernelle ABOMO (CMR)
Carlota PRENDES LARIOS (ESP)
Giulia ANGIOLINI (ITA)
Zuzanna KOWALSKA (POL)
Viktoriia ISAIEVA (UKR)
Evelina FLORIAK (UKR)
Anorbi GRISHINA (UWW)
Radomira OSTANINA (UWW)

58kg
Minerva MONTERO PEREZ (ESP)
MAMTA (IND)
Pinky SHARMA (IND)
Shynar UZBEKOVA (KAZ)
Nuraiym MUNAITBAS (KAZ)
Daria BRZOZOWSKA (POL)
Magdalena GIEC (POL)
Eda AYDEMIR (TUR)
Tetiana ASTAKHOVA (UKR)
Breanna STIKKELMAN (USA)
Rachel GUTIERREZ (USA)
Alina KOPEIKINA (UWW)
Kseniia PASTUKHOVA GUBAIDULINA (UWW)

64kg
Mia MONTESINOS PERDOMO (ESP)
Ellen OBERBACH (GER)
Zafeiria PANAGIOTARAKOU (GRE)
Szabina SZALAY (HUN)
Emma ROSINI (ITA)
Milana MURGUZOVA (KAZ)
Adrianna MAZUR (POL)
Sylwia WIERZBOWSKA (POL)
Andela NESOVANOVIC (SRB)
Snezhana MORAR (UKR)
Viktoriia SYNIAVINA SERHIIENKO (UKR)
Sheliah LINDSEY (USA)
Emily HAUSER (USA)
Renata IAKUBOVA (UWW)
Alsu IANSHINA (UWW)

71kg
Fanny MOUNGOUN (CMR)
Daniella SANTANA FABELO (ESP)
Alycia QUENEE (FRA)
Mendy MACATIS (GER)
Sandra TRIEBEL (GER)
Maja SALAMON (POL)
Anna KOTIUK (UKR)
Sarah PAUL (USA)
Christina HANSEN (USA)
Valentina PAVLOVA (UWW)
Anna REMNEVA (UWW)

90kg
Justyna SITKO (POL)
Tatiana KABANOVA (UWW)
Alena VLASOVA (UWW)

Men’s Grappling No-Gi

58kg
Razmik MISAKYAN (ARM)
Farhad BAGIROV (AZE)
Samir BEN BELKACEM (FRA)
Daviti ZEDGINIDZE (GEO)
Alikhan ALSHINBAY (KAZ)
Rakhymzhan TURGANBEK (KAZ)
Zhyldyzbek ABYLBEKOV (KGZ)
Jerzy IZDEBSKI (POL)
Bohdan CHORNEI (UKR)
Joseph DIEHL (USA)
Jaden SOSA (USA)

62kg
Rafayel KOSTANYAN (ARM)
Emil VERDIYEV (AZE)
Lucas AUBRY (FRA)
Mark BODO (HUN)
Levente VARKONDI (HUN)
MANDEEP (IND)
Talgat ZHUMAGALIYEV (KAZ)
Adlan ASUEV (KAZ)
Dmytro BARANOV (UKR)
Andrii TSVYK (UKR)
Asher URBAN HOYER (USA)
Kiryl AHEIKA (UWW)
Ruslan RADZHABKHANOV (UWW)
Magomedbek TEMEEV (UWW)

66kg
Mayis NERSESYAN (ARM)
Giovanni SUAREZ ARTILES (ESP)
Cristofer MARTIN BARRIOS (ESP)
Anthony DE OLIVEIRA (FRA)
Giorgi RAZMADZE (GEO)
Adam VERES KOVACS (HUN)
Milan LUKASZ (HUN)
Bekzat KAPASHOV (KAZ)
Nurassyl TURUSPEKOV (KAZ)
Illia SVIATUN (UKR)
Yurii CHERKALIUK (UKR)
Jesse SOSA (USA)
Angel DIAZ (USA)
Khabib ATLUEV (UWW)
Magomed SHAKHBANOV (UWW)

71kg
Kevin MARTIN TINOCO (ESP)
Francisco ALCALDE TORREBLANCA (ESP)
Samuel CHAGNY (FRA)
Sacha MARGUERITE (FRA)
Dzhimsher RAZMADZE (GEO)
Nico PULVERMUELLER (GER)
Stefanos VAVILIS (GRE)
Davi DIMOPOULOS SAID (GRE)
Mark UJVARI (HUN)
Chandra PRAKASH (IND)
Federico ROTONI (ITA)
Zhassulan ZHETPISBAY (KAZ)
Nurbek TALBUDIN (KAZ)
Kenzo BIYONG (NED)
Piotr DUDZINSKI (POL)
Kacper GARCZYNSKI (POL)
Milos GAJIC (SRB)
Jalol MAMADALIBEKOV (TJK)
Ahmet BASARAN (TUR)
Ivan RIABCHENKO (UKR)
Vadym SKRYNYTSIA (UKR)
Nicolas ARNEL (USA)
Andrei SKOLYSH (UWW)
Apandi AMAGAEV (UWW)
Kurban KADIEV (UWW)

77kg
Aron HERNANDEZ MONTERO (ESP)
Hector SEPULVEDA PALMA (ESP)
Loan MOUTHON (FRA)
Arthur DEMONCEAUX (FRA)
Angelos NIKOLOPOULOS (GRE)
Zoltan TOTH (HUN)
Csaba SZABO (HUN)
Jatin KUMAR (IND)
Nagaraja KAVADI (IND)
Sayyed CHERDEYAN (IRI)
Darkhan TOLYBAYEV (KAZ)
Dumitru CEBAN (MDA)
Kamil ROSIAK (POL)
Jakub NAJDEK (POL)
Pavlo MAKSYMCHUK (UKR)
Illia SUKHODIEIEV (UKR)
Sam SCHWARTZAPFEL (USA)
Gazimagomed GAZIEV (UWW)
Magomed IBRAGIMOV (UWW)
Adolfo SUAREZ ARIAS (VEN)

84kg
Suren KHURDAYAN (ARM)
Hajimurad PURTIYEV (AZE)
Juan SUAREZ MONTESDEOCA (ESP)
Ruslan VALIEV (FRA)
Samy MEZACHE (FRA)
Beka KARTVELISHVILI (GEO)
Nika MUSHKUDIANI (GEO)
Lukas BRESSMER (GER)
Leonhard PREIN (GER)
Dimitrios MAVRANTONIS (GRE)
Kleinto ZOLLANI (GRE)
Lorinc NAGY (HUN)
Christian FRILLICI (ITA)
Maxat TOLENDI (KAZ)
Rauan ZHAKENULY (KAZ)
Cristian TUGULEA (MDA)
Igor DZIAG (POL)
Kacper ROT (POL)
Tanguy DARBELLAY (SUI)
Talha UMAR (TUR)
Mykhailo MUZYCHENKO (UKR)
Dmytrii TKACHENKO (UKR)
Giuseppe LAMANNA (USA)
Daniel SHROCK (USA)
Amirkhan GITINOMAGOMEDOV (UWW)
Davud MAGOMEDOV (UWW)

92kg
Pablo ESTEPA NIETO (ESP)
Wilfried EDMUND (FRA)
Reda MEBTOUCHE (FRA)
Amirani SVIMONISHVILI (GEO)
Apostolos KOUGIAMIS MICHOS (GRE)
Fotios TZAFERIS (GRE)
Levente LAKY (HUN)
Akos SZEKERES (HUN)
Alessandro ARDINI (ITA)
Antonio SALTUPS CARETTO (ITA)
Ruslan ISRAILOV (KAZ)
Mantas DAUBLYS (LTU)
Buyannemekh MUNKHSUKH (MGL)
Joris ROOKHUIJZEN (NED)
Mateusz MAZUR (POL)
Aleksandar DUKANOVIC (SRB)
Vladyslav ZENCHENKO (UKR)
Anthony ROBINSON (USA)
Timothy BARR (USA)
Murad ABDULATIPOV (UWW)
Islam TAPPASKHANOV (UWW)

100kg
Vasif SAFARBAYOV (AZE)
Pavel SLANINA ANTON (ESP)
Herve REDON (FRA)
Saba DJAVAKHICHVILI (FRA)
Aleksandre TEVZADZE (GEO)
Ilias BOUKIS (GRE)
Georgios APOSTOLOU (GRE)
Ramazan ABDRAKHIMOV (KAZ)
Yerulan TOLEUBEKOV (KAZ)
Konstantin LI (KGZ)
Eldar RAFIGAEV (MDA)
Armin DOUZALI (NOR)
Yevhenii MURADOV (UKR)
Mukhamed URUSOV (UWW)
Khasan ZAPIROV (UWW)

130kg
Nizami GAFAROV (AZE)
Abraham COBY MARTINEZ (ESP)
Luc ROUSSEAU (FRA)
Niklas KOPICKI (GER)
Ioannis KARGIOTAKIS (GRE)
Arystan AITMOLDIN (KAZ)
Alexandr ROMANOV (MDA)
Ivan SNIHUR (UKR)
Oleksandr KOLDOVSKYI (UKR)
John HANSEN (USA)
Umar GAISUMOV (UWW)
Nikita LOBOIKO (UWW)

Women’s Grappling No-Gi

53kg
Lilit DANIELYAN (ARM)
Carlota PRENDES LARIOS (ESP)
Giulia ANGIOLINI (ITA)
Zuzanna KOWALSKA (POL)
Viktoriia ISAIEVA (UKR)
Evelina FLORIAK (UKR)
Anorbi GRISHINA (UWW)
Valeriia SHUVALOVA (UWW)

58kg
Minerva MONTERO PEREZ (ESP)
Ellen OBERBACH (GER)
Lili RACZ (HUN)
MAMTA (IND)
Pinky SHARMA (IND)
Shynar UZBEKOVA (KAZ)
Nuraiym MUNAITBAS (KAZ)
Daria BRZOZOWSKA (POL)
Magdalena GIEC (POL)
Eda AYDEMIR (TUR)
Tetiana ASTAKHOVA (UKR)
Breanna STIKKELMAN (USA)
Rachel GUTIERREZ (USA)
Varvara MASHKINA (UWW)
Kseniia PASTUKHOVA GUBAIDULINA (UWW)

64kg
Mia MONTESINOS PERDOMO (ESP)
Mendy MACATIS (GER)
Zafeiria PANAGIOTARAKOU (GRE)
Szabina SZALAY (HUN)
Emma ROSINI (ITA)
Milana MURGUZOVA (KAZ)
Adrianna MAZUR (POL)
Sylwia WIERZBOWSKA (POL)
Andela NESOVANOVIC (SRB)
Snezhana MORAR (UKR)
Viktoriia SYNIAVINA SERHIIENKO  (UKR)
Sheliah LINDSEY (USA)
Emily HAUSER (USA)
Alsu IANSHINA (UWW)
Veronika KARAKHONOVA (UWW)

71kg
Daniella SANTANA FABELO (ESP)
Alycia QUENEE (FRA)
Sandra TRIEBEL (GER)
Eleni CHRYSIKAKI (GRE)
Maja SALAMON (POL)
Anna KOTIUK (UKR)
Sarah PAUL (USA)
Christina HANSEN (USA)
Valentina PAVLOVA (UWW)
Anna REMNEVA (UWW)

90kg
Justyna SITKO (POL)
Tatiana KABANOVA (UWW)
Alena VLASOVA (UWW)

#JapanWrestling

Another Ono rises: Konami follows brother's footsteps

By Ikuo Higuchi

TOKYO (August 27) -- When you think of the name Ono from Shimane Prefecture, many will recall Masanosuke ONO (JPN), a world champion who is quickly becoming a global star, who now primarily competes in the United States.

Ono's younger sister Konami, who was undefeated in the national tournament during her elementary school years, is just like her brother. She went on to attend Nippon Sport Science University Ohka High School in Tokyo, where she grew up steadily, winning the Inter-High School Championships in 2023 and also winning silver at the U17 World Championships the same year.

A shoulder injury caused her to slow down, but through repeated practice at Nippon Sport Science University she regained her former strength and won the East Japan Student Championships and the All Japan Amateur Championships [women's competition is open to university students as well] last week.

Konami ONO (JPN)Konami ONO (JPN), left, won a silver medal at the 2023 U17 World Championships. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Being coached by 2004 Athens Olympic bronze medalist Chikara TANABE and Kaori ICHO, she described herself as being in "the best environment."

Ono had been suffering from pain in the right shoulder and had to undergo a surgery in June last year. She had initially aimed for a comeback last year at the All Japan Championships [Emperor's Cup] in December, but was forced to withdraw. She returned to competition in April of this year at the Junior Queen's Cup U20, where she won one match, but lost the next match to a junior from high school by technical superiority.

"There were times when my shoulder would dislocate just by walking. It was a frustrating year," said Ono with her voice becoming teary, as if the pain had returned. "I'm happy because I was injured and couldn't wrestle for a while," she said but added, "I realized I need to practice more and get stronger."

Inspiration from brother Ono

While she was off the mat, Konami watched her brother Masanosuke win the gold medal at the U20 World Championships in 2024 and later become the world champion at 61kg at the Non-Olympic World Championships.

"It's not something I could ever imitate," she says, and although he is someone she should "admire" rather than "target," he is also someone close to her, having competed alongside since childhood. "I want to study hard and catch up," she says.

Konami ONO (JPN)Konami ONO (JPN) with world and Olympic champion Jordan BURROUGHS (USA). (Photo courtesy: Masaharu Ono) 

Earlier in spring, Konami accompanied her older brother to the United States, where he trains at Pennsylvania State University. She was still recovering and was unable to train, but she watched her brother's win against 2024 Paris Olympic silver medalist Spencer LEE (USA).

"I thought American wrestling was really amazing. It was inspiring," she said.

What made the biggest impression on Konami was how much fun her brother seemed to be having wrestling, even though he was in a foreign country.

"He really enjoys wrestling," she said. "I was amazed that there are people who love wrestling that much [laughs].

"My brother is my role model," she said. "I often watch his techniques and aspire to be like him."

What she finds particularly impressive is his speed, and the way he unconsciously develops his techniques. She herself sometimes has trouble deciding what to do next during a match, but her brother's body moves without a second thought. "I need to be able to come out with techniques one after the other," she said.

Training with Fujinami, Onishi

While Ono found his path in the United States, Konami is thinking of firmly establishing herself in Japan.

"I think that if I stay at Nippon Sport Science University, I will become really strong," she says, believing that his current environment is the place where she can develop the skills to compete on the world stage.

Not only is there an impressive coaching staff, but there are also world-class athletes such as 2024 Olympic champion Akari FUJINAMI (JPN) and Asian champion Sakura ONISHI (JPN) in the 57kg and 59kg weight class, respectively. Fujinami won gold at the Olympics in 53kg.

"I practice with Akari every day. She's really strong..." she said, admiringly, and when she's not sparring, she's always following Fujinami's movements to study them.

Since they are both in the 57kg weight class, could she challenge Fujinami as early as the All Japan Championships in December? To that question, she gave no clear answer, saying, "I'm not at the level where I can fight yet..." and said that she might move up a weight class as her body grows, so it's still up in the air, but perhaps the day is approaching when the middleweight trio, including Onishi, will take to the world stage.

Rather than setting big goals, her current goal is to "compete in many matches and enjoy wrestling." She says that she is actually enjoying it, so perhaps she is getting closer to her brother's level. Her next concrete goal is the All Japan Women's Open Championships in October.

She vowed to make a leap forward, saying, "I want to train both my body and mind and become even stronger. I want to become a star from Shimane Prefecture!"