#WrestleBudapest

Greco-Roman entry list for #WrestleBudapest Ranking Series

By Eric Olanowski & Vinay Siwach

BUDAPEST, Hungary (June 23) -- On the last two days of the fourth Ranking Series event in Budapest, Hungary, 210 Greco-Roman wrestlers will take the mat and try to win the medal and the ranking points for the World Championships.

The final Ranking Series event -- Polyák Imre & Varga János Memorial -- begins July 13 in the Hungarian capital however Greco-Roman will be in action on July 15 and 16 with multiple entries from Kazakhstan, Turkiye, Azerbaijan, Georgian, Hungary, South Korea and the USA.

The competition will see a number of World Championships medalists go up against each other. Some of the potential face-offs include Eldaniz AZIZLI (AZE) facing Nugzari TSURTSUMIA (GEO) at 55kg, Edmond NAZARYAN (BUL) against Kerem KAMAL (TUR) at 60kg, Leri ABULADZE (GEO) vs Victor CIOBANU (MDA) at 63kg and Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE) and Mohamed ELSAYED (EGY) at 67kg.

In the heavier weight classes, Danial SOHRABI (IRI) will be at 72kg, up from 67kg, Zoltan LEVAI (HUN) could face Sanan SULEYMANOV (AZE) at 77kg while Rafig HUSEYNOV (AZE) has moved up to 87kg, a weight class which already has Islam ABBASOV (AZE), Gurami KHETSURIANI (GEO), Istvan TAKACS (HUN) and David LOSONCZI (HUN).

At 97kg, Alex SZOKE (HUN) may outplace other wrestlers in this open weight class but the competition will also mark the return of European silver medalist Arvi SAVOLAINEN (FIN). At 130kg, Riza KAYAALP (TUR) will be the favorite.

Live action from the fourth Ranking Series will be on uww.org and UWW App from July 13.

Greco-Roman

55kg
Eldaniz AZIZLI (AZE)
Ramaz SILAGAVA (GEO)
Nugzari TSURTSUMIA (GEO)
Mahdi AHADI ZENAB (IRI)
Amangali BEKBOLATOV (KAZ)
Yersin ABYIR (KAZ)
Denis MIHAI (ROU)
Brady KOONTZ (USA)
 
60kg
Nihat MAMMADLI (AZE)
Edmond NAZARYAN (BUL)
Liguo CAO (CHN)
Nikolai MOHAMMADI (DEN)
Jeremy PERALTA GONZALEZ (ECU)
Haithem MAHMOUD (EGY)
Pridon ABULADZE (GEO)
Erik TORBA (HUN)
Krisztian KECSKEMETI (HUN)
Jozsef ANDRASI (HUN)
Omid ARAMI (IRI)
Yernur FIDAKHMETOV (KAZ)
Nursultan BAZARBAYEV (KAZ)
Aibek SABYRBEKOV (KAZ)
Seunghak KIM (KOR)
Hanjae CHUNG (KOR)
Joao BENAVIDES ROCHABRUN (PER)
Razvan ARNAUT (ROU)
Virgil BICA (SWE)
Kerem KAMAL (TUR)
Ildar HAFIZOV (USA)
Dalton ROBERTS (USA)

63kg
Aker SCHMID (AUT)
Murad MAMMADOV (AZE)
Tino OJALA (FIN)
Leri ABULADZE (GEO)
David MANYIK (HUN)
Levente TOTH (HUN)
Iman MOHAMMADI (IRI)
Dastan ZARLYKHANOV (KAZ)
Mukhamedali MAMURBEK (KAZ)
Yerzhet ZHARLYKASSYN (KAZ)
Jinwoong JUNG (KOR)
Justas PETRAVICIUS (LTU)
Victor CIOBANU (MDA)
Xavier JOHNSON (USA)
 
67kg
Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE)
Nestor ALMANZA TRUYOL (CHI)
HUSIYUETU (CHN)
Andres MONTANO ARROYO (ECU)
Mohamed ELSAYED (EGY)
Joni KHETSURIANI (GEO)
Diego CHKHIKVADZE (GEO)
Krisztian Istvan VANCZA (HUN)
Adam POHILEC (HUN)
Sultan ASSETULY (KAZ)
Din KOSHKAR (KAZ)
Merey BEKENOV (KAZ)
Seongcheol YANG (KOR)
Hansu RYU (KOR)
Minseong KWON (KOR)
Kristupas SLEIVA (LTU)
Adomas GRIGALIUNAS (LTU)
Valentin PETIC (MDA)
Morten THORESEN (NOR)
Haavard JOERGENSEN (NOR)
Nilton SOTO GARCIA (PER)
Mihai MIHUT (ROU)
Mate NEMES (SRB)
Niklas OEHLEN (SWE)
Murat FIRAT (TUR)
Mustafa YILDIRIM (TUR)
Alejandro SANCHO (USA)
Robert PEREZ (USA)

72kg
Ulvu GANIZADE (AZE)
Toni OJALA (FIN)
Elmer MATTILA (FIN)
Ramaz ZOIDZE (GEO)
Otar ABULADZE (GEO)
Robert FRITSCH (HUN)
Krisztofer KLANYI (HUN)
Levente LEVAI (HUN)
Shahin BADAGHI MOFRAD (IRI)
Danial SOHRABI (IRI)
Zaur KABALOEV (ITA)
Daniyar KALENOV (KAZ)
Erik PERSSON (SWE)
Selcuk CAN (TUR)
Patrick SMITH (USA)

77kg
Sanan SULEYMANOV (AZE)
Aik MNATSAKANIAN (BUL)
Halishan BAHEJIANG (CHN)
Rui LIU (CHN)
Oldrich VARGA (CZE)
Mohamed KHALIL (EGY)
Jonni SARKKINEN (FIN)
Akseli YLI HANNUKSELA (FIN)
Mikko PELTOKANGAS (FIN)
Iuri LOMADZE (GEO)
Sachino DAVITAIA (GEO)
Zoltan LEVAI (HUN)
Attila TOESMAGI (HUN)
Mohammad NAGHOUSI (IRI)
Maxat YEREZHEPOV (KAZ)
Kaharman KISSYMETOV (KAZ)
Azat SADYKOV (KAZ)
Daekun PARK (KOR)
Alexandrin GUTU (MDA)
Exauce MUKUBU (NOR)
Juan AAK (NOR)
Yuksel SARICICEK (TUR)
Kamal BEY (USA)
Ravaughn PERKINS (USA)

82kg
Francisco KADIMA (ANG)
Michael WAGNER (AUT)
Gela BOLKVADZE (GEO)
Erik SZILVASSY (HUN)
Peter DOEMOEK (HUN)
Alireza MOHMADIPIANI (IRI)
Shamil BATYROV (KAZ)
Dias KALEN (KAZ)
Mihail BRADU (MDA)
Kristoffer BERG (SWE)
Mats AHLGREN (SWE)
Spencer WOODS (USA)

87kg
Bachir SID AZARA (ALG)
Lukas STAUDACHER (AUT)
Islam ABBASOV (AZE)
Rafig HUSEYNOV (AZE)
Sosruko KODZOKOV (BRA)
Semen NOVIKOV (BUL)
Ioannis NARLIDIS (CAN)
Haitao QIAN (CHN)
Fei PENG (CHN)
Matej MANDIC (CRO)
Mohamed METWALLY (EGY)
Andreas VAELIS (EST)
Gurami KHETSURIANI (GEO)
Istvan TAKACS (HUN)
David LOSONCZI (HUN)
Sunil KUMAR (IND)
Nursultan TURSYNOV (KAZ)
Azamat KUSTUBAYEV (KAZ)
Yevgeniy POLIVADOV (KAZ)
Sanghyeok PARK (KOR)
Byeongcheol SHIN (KOR)
Martynas NEMSEVICIUS (LTU)
Marcel STERKENBURG (NED)
Alex KESSIDIS (SWE)
Zachary BRAUNAGEL (USA)
 
97kg
Markus RAGGINGER (AUT)
Daniel GASTL (AUT)
Murat LOKIAYEV (AZE)
Arif NIFTULLAYEV (AZE)
Igor ALVES DE QUEIROZ (BRA)
Yiming LI (CHN)
Vinko PRODANOVIC (CRO)
Kristian LUKAC (CRO)
Artur OMAROV (CZE)
Mathias BAK (DEN)
Mohamed GABR (EGY)
Arvi SAVOLAINEN (FIN)
Lasha TVILDIANI (GEO)
Tamas LEVAI (HUN)
Alex SZOKE (HUN)
Vahid DADKHAH GHASEM ABADI (IRI)
Nikoloz KAKHELASHVILI (ITA)
Olzhas SYRLYBAY (KAZ)
Seungjun KIM (KOR)
Seyeol LEE (KOR)
Mindaugas VENCKAITIS (LTU)
Tyrone STERKENBURG (NED)
Felix BALDAUF (NOR)
Aleksandar STJEPANETIC (SWE)
Josef RAU (USA)
 
130kg
Beka KANDELAKI (AZE)
Sabah SHARIATI (AZE)
Yasmani ACOSTA FERNANDEZ (CHI)
Lingzhe MENG (CHN)
Marcel ALBINI (CZE)
Abdellatif MOHAMED (EGY)
Heiki NABI (EST)
Matti KUOSMANEN (FIN)
Konsta MAEENPAEAE (FIN)
Iakobi KAJAIA (GEO)
Dariusz Attila VITEK (HUN)
Laszlo DARABOS (HUN)
Amir GHASEMIMONJEZI (IRI)
Aliakbar YOUSOFI (IRI)
Anton SAVENKO (KAZ)
Seungchan LEE (KOR)
Minseok KIM (KOR)
Romas FRIDRIKAS (LTU)
Oskar MARVIK (NOR)
Alin ALEXUC CIURARIU (ROU)
Riza KAYAALP (TUR)
Cohlton SCHULTZ (USA)
Adam COON (USA)

#WrestleSamokov

Stanich proves doubters wrong, wins U20 world title

By Vinay Siwach

SAMOKOV, Bulgaria (August 18) -- Luke STANICH (USA) is aware that many did not back him to make the U.S. team, forget about winning a medal in international tournament.

"I love it," Stanich said. "If you have to prove everyone wrong, I feel great. I've always been doubted at tournaments. Even after I won the tournament, the U.S. Open, people still didn't have me making the team. I've been dealing with this forever, but just motivation, just to prove people wrong."

Stanich proved many doubters wrong by winning the gold medal at 65kg at the U20 World Championships in Samokov, Bulgaria on Tuesday. In the final, Stanich kept an inspired Reiji UCHIDA (JPN) under control and won 4-3 to claim the world title.

Uchida brought the Japanese style of wrestling with constant leg attacks but Stanich had all the answered and scored two takedowns to remain in control of the final

"I knew it was my match to wrestle," he said. "He was strong and quick, but I knew what kind of attacks he was looking for. I had confidence in my offense and my defense."

Perhaps it was his confidence that helped him recover from an 8-0 deficit in his first bout against Abdullah TOPRAK (TUR) and make a run to win the gold medal. Toprak scored a takedown and gut-wrenched Stanich three times to lead 8-0 and put all his effort into a fourth turn. However, Stanich defend that and rallied to beat a tired Toprak 18-8.

In his next match, Stanich managed to hold off 2024 world U17 champion  Omurbek ASAN UULU (KGZ), 9-3, and then had a close 3-3 win over Alessandro NINI (ITA) in the quarterfinals. He had European U20 and U23 champion Amal DZHANDUBAEV (UWW) in the semifinals but a solid defense helped him win 3-1 and enter the final.

"I said that right after the first match ended," he said. "I was like, 'wow! Once I go on this run and win this tournament, it can be pretty crazy story to tell that I was down 8-0 in the very first match, the tournament. I came back to win it.

"Super proud of my effort and able to storm back like that and get on the top podium."

Stanich said that standing on top of the podium was one of the most memorable moments of his career and called his run as 'gritty'.

"Gritty, being tough and breaking people."

Another U.S. wrestler in the final, William HENCKEL (USA), was not able to complete his campaign with a gold medal after dropping the final 8-6 against returning bronze medalist and senior Asian champion Mahdi YOUSEFI (IRI).

Henckel was leading the final bout but Yousefi scored a stepout to make a 4-3 lead. Yousefi scored two stepouts and a takedown while Henckel scored three stepouts and a caution against Yousefi who  defended his lead in the last 30 seconds.

This was the first gold medal for Iran in this World Championships.

At 57kg, Magomed OZDAMIROV (UWW) survived a strong Sumit MALIK (IND) and won the gold medal 8-5. Ozdamirov needed a few medical timeouts to regain his breath against Malik, who could not finish even one of his attempted takedowns.

Uzbekistan won gold medal at the World U20 Championships after three years as Asian U20 champion Sherzod POYONOV (UZB) scored a takedown during his activity time to beat returning bronze medalist Kamil KURUGLIYEV (KAZ), 3-2, in the 92kg final.

Incidentally, the last time an Uzbekistan wrestler won gold at World U20s was also in Bulgaria when Umidon JALOLOV (UZB) won 65kg gold medal in 2022.

RESULTS

57kg
GOLD: Magomed OZDAMIROV (UWW) df. Sumit MALIK (IND), 8-5

BRONZE: Vasif BAGHIROV (AZE) df. Ion BULGARU (MDA), 8-2
BRONZE: Nurdanat AITANOV (KAZ) df. Baiaman KERIMBEKOV (KGZ), 11-0

65kg
GOLD: Luke STANICH (USA) df. Reiji UCHIDA (JPN), 4-3

BRONZE: Arman MUSIKYAN (ARM) df. Viktor BOROHAN (UKR), 4-0
BRONZE: Abdullah TOPRAK (TUR) df. Amal DZHANDUBAEV (UWW), 14-10

79kg
GOLD: Mahdi YOUSEFI (IRI) df. William HENCKEL (USA), 8-6

BRONZE: Said SAIDULOV (UWW) df. Ion MARCU (MDA), 11-0
BRONZE: Davit TCHETCHELASHVILI (GEO) df. AMIT (IND), 9-6

92kg
GOLD: Sherzod POYONOV (UZB) df. Kamil KURUGLIYEV (KAZ), 3-2

BRONZE: Connor MIRASOLA (USA) df. Anar JAFARLI (AZE), 10-0
BRONZE: Gadzhimurad GADZHIBATYROV (UWW) df. Sorato KANAZAWA (JPN), 15-5