World Rankings

Kayaalp Moves to No.1 in World Greco-Roman Rankings, 3 New No. 1s

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY (Aug. 2) -- Three-time world champion Riza KAYAALP (TUR) moved to No.1 at 130kg after claiming a gold medal in the final Ranking Series event for Greco-Roman wrestling. 

Kayaalp, who climbed from No.5 in the rankings last month, won a gold medal at the Vehbi Emre with a 2-1 victory over Kiryl HRYSHCHANKA (BLR). It was Kayaalp's sixth Vehbi Emre title. Earlier this year he won his eighth European title.

Kayaalp was one of three new No. 1-ranked wrestlers in Greco-Roman. The other two wrestlers to move up to No. 1 in Greco-Roman were Kazbek KILOV (BLR) at 77kg and Islam ABBASOV (AZE) at 87kg.

Kilov is coming off a silver-medal performance at the Vehbi Emre. He was a gold medalist at the Grand Prix of Zagreb earlier this year. Abbasov, like Kilov, won a silver medal at the Vehbi Emre. He has had strong results this year, winning a bronze at the World Military Championships and a gold at the U23 European Championships. 

Hungary, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey have multiple top-ranked wrestlers.

Balint KORPASI (Photo/Richard: Immel)

Hungary's No. 1-ranked wrestlers are Balint KORPASI (72kg) and Balazs KISS (97kg).

Korpasi, a 2016 world champion, won gold medals at the Grand Prix of Hungary and Cerro Pelado International, and a bronze medal at the European Championships. 

Kiss, a returning world bronze medalist, won a gold medal at the Grand Prix of Hungary after picking up a bronze at the European Championships in late April. 

Kyrgyzstan wrestlers K. ZHOLCHUBEKOV (60kg) and U. AMATOV (63kg) held their top ranking.  

Kanybek ZHOLCHUBEKOV (Photo: Martin Gabor)

Zholchubekov won gold medals at the Grand Prix of Hungary and Takhti Cup, and finished as a bronze medalist at the Asian Championships. Amatov has earned medals at the Takhti Cup (bronze), Asian Championships (silver) and Grand Prix of Hungary (bronze).

Other wrestlers to hold their top ranking in Greco-Roman include Ekrem OZTURK (TUR) at 55kg, Almat KEBISPAYEV (KAZ) at 67kg and Daniel ALEKSANDROV (BUL) at 82kg.

For more on the Ranking Series format, be sure to check out this article

View all the rankings on United World Wrestling's homepage.

55kg
1. Ekrem OZTURK (TUR) // 43 Points
2. Khorlan ZHAKANSHA (KAZ) // 39 Points
3. Shota TANOKURA (JPN) // 33 Points
4. Abdelkarim FERGAT (ALG) // 27 Points
5. Reza Kheirollah KHEDRI (IRI) // 24 Points

60kg
1. Kanybek ZHOLCHUBEKOV (KGZ) // 50 Points
2. Luis Alberto ORTA SANCHEZ (CUB) // 35 Points
3. Aidos SULTANGALI (KAZ) // 29 Points
4. Sergey EMELIN (RUS) // 27 Points
5. Murad MAMMADOV (AZE) // 25 Points

63kg
1. Urmatbek AMATOV (KGZ) // 41 Points
2. Hassan Hassan Ahmed MOHAMED (EGY) // 29 Points
3. Kaly SULAIMANOV (KGZ) // 28 Points
4. Mihai Radu MIHUT (ROU) // 28 Points
5. Stig-Andre BERGE (NOR) // 26 Points

67kg
1. Almat KEBISPAYEV (KAZ) // 52 Points
2. Ismael BORRERO MOLINA (CUB) // 47 Points
3. Tsuchika SHIMOYAMADA (JPN) // 36 Points
4. Murat FIRAT (TUR) // 32 Points
5. Artem SURKOV (RUS) // 32 Points

72kg
1. Balint KORPASI (HUN) // 57 Points
2. Demeu ZHADRAYEV (KAZ) // 49 Points
3. Adam KURAK (RUS) // 33 Points
4. Rasul CHUNAYEV (AZE) // 31 Points
5. Murat DAG (TUR) // 30 Points

77kg
1. Kazbek KILOV (BLR) // 39 Points
2. Mohammadali Abdolhamid GERAEI (IRI) // 38 Points
3. Ariel FIS BATISTA (CUB) // 34 Points
4. Roman VLASOV (RUS) // 34 Points
5. Viktor NEMES (SRB) // 32 Points

82kg
1. Daniel ALEKSANDROV (BUL) // 51 Points
2. Atabek AZISBEKOV (KGZ) // 41 Points
3. Viktar SASUNOUSKI (BLR) // 40 Points
4. Emrah KUS (TUR) // 32 Points
5. Laszlo SZABO (HUN) // 31 Points

87kg
1. Islam ABBASOV (AZE) // 45 Points
2. Khussein MUTSOLGOV (KAZ) // 37 Points
3. Masato SUMI (JPN) // 36 Points
4. Roberti KOBLIASHVILI (GEO) // 33 Points
5. Bekkhan OZDOEV (RUS) // 31 Points

97kg
1. Balazs KISS (HUN) // 44 Points
2. Orkhan NURIYEV (AZE) // 42 Points
3. Cenk ILDEM (TUR) // 38 Points
4. Luillys Jose PEREZ MORA (VEN) // 34 Points
5. Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM) // 33 Points

130kg
1. Riza KAYAALP (TUR) // 45 Points
2. Balint LAM (HUN) // 42 Points
3. Alin ALEXUC CIURARIU (ROU) // 40 Points
4. Oscar PINO HINDS (CUB) // 36 Points
5. Behnam Aliakbar MEHDIZADEH ARPATAPEH (IRI) // 34 Points
 

Batumi to host 2027 U23 Euros; 2026 Pan-Am calendar updated

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (January 29) -- United World Wrestling has announced updates for its events calendar for both 2026 and 2027.

For 2027, Batumi, Georgia will host the U23 European Championships from March 8 to 14. With this, Georgia, a top wrestling country, marks a return to the UWW's events calendar after six years having hosted the 2019 Veteran World Championships.

The 2026 U15 Pan-American Championships were awarded to Mexico City, Mexico and the tournament will be from July 23 to 25. The U15 Pan-American Beach Wrestling Championships will also be conducted in Mexico City. The same will be held on July 26.

UWW also decided to shift the 2026 U23 Pan-American Championships to Lima, Peru from Caracas, Venezuela. The competition will be held June 11-13 in the Peruvian capital with competition being held over three days, with medal bouts of respective styles to be completed on the same day.

The Senior Beach Wrestling Pan-American Championships will also be held in Lima, Peru on June 14.

Updated 2026 Pan-American Championships calendar:

- U17 Pam-American Championships, April 2-4 (Panama City, Panama)
- Senior Pan-American Championships, May 7-10 (Coralville, United States)
- U23 Pan-American Championships, June 11-13 (Lima, Peru)
- U20 Pan-American Championships, July 9-11 (Niteroi, Brazil)
- U15 Pan-American Championships, July 23-25 (Mexico City, Mexico)

Updated 2026 Pan-Am Beach Wrestling Championships Calendar:

- U17 Beach Wrestling Pan-American Championships, April 5, (Panama City, Panama)
- Senior Beach Wrestling Pan-American Championships, June 14 (Lima, Peru)
- U20 Beach Wrestling Pan-American Championships, July 12 (Niteroi, Brazil)
- U15 Beach Wrestling Pan-American Championships, July 26 (Mexico City, Mexico)

UWW remains at the disposal of all National Federations for any query. For all events, refer to uww.org/events.