#BeachWrestlingWorldSeries

Mat Medalists Come to Rio for Beach Wrestling's Second Stop

By Tim Foley

RIO DE JANEIRO (May 10) -- With the shadow of Caricoa 2 looming over the beach wrestling circle at Olympic Park in Barra de Tijuca, world silver medalist Aline DA SILVA FERREIRA (BRA) and 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Dato MARSAGISHVILI (GEO) are preparing to compete in the second stop of United World Wrestling's Beach Wrestling World Series (BWWS).

Silva, a local hero since parlaying her 2014 silver medal in freestyle wrestling into a number of charitable acts in her home country, comes into the tournament hopeful she can earn enough points to qualify for the 2019 ANOC World Beach Games in San Diego this October.


'I want to represent my country. well," said Silva. 'This is going to be a lot of fun!"

For Marsagishvili the aim seems to be even simpler: to have fun wrestling. One of the world's best 86kg wrestlers, Marsagishvili travels to Rio on the heels of winning the BWWS first top in Chaves, Portugal. The quick-smiling Georgian not only took home the 1000 CHF prize for winning his weight category, but another 1000 CHF for winning the event's Move of the Tournament.

"The environment is so enjoyable at beach wrestling," Marsagishvili said at the time. "I look forward to these competitions and wrestling my best."

Marsagishvili will have a tougher tournament in Rio than he did in Chaves, facing off against two-time defending beach wrestling world champion Muhammed INAM of Pakistan. Inam won last year's world championships in deciding fashion and is looking to make it a three-peat later this year in Zagreb, Croatia at the world championships. 

Also joining the field is Reece Humphrey, a celebrated former member of the USA National Team in freestyle. His upperbody techniques and high-energy are sure to play well with tomorrow's crowds.

Wrestling action start at 2pm local time with coverage on United World Wrestling and FloWrestling.org.

Entry Lists

Men's Beach Wrestling 

70kg
Panah ILYASLI (AZE)
Jerome Kamel HOYTE (BAR)
Joilson DE BRITO RAMOS JUNIOR (BRA)
Joao Victor DOS SANTOS SILVA (BRA)
Levan KELEKHSASHVILI (GEO)
Niko AROUZMANIDIS (GRE)
Inayat ULLAH (PAK)
Hugo Miguel DA SILVA PASSOS (POR)
Mehmet Emin OGUT (TUR)
Semen RADULOV (UKR)
Reece HUMPHREY (USA)

80kg
Ibrahim YUSUBOV (AZE)
Angelo Rafael MARQUES MOREIRA (BRA)
Marcelo Antonio CASTRO CUMSILLE (CHI)
Davit KHUTSISHVILI (GEO)
Georgios KOULOUCHIDIS (GRE)
Edmilson BRITO GOMES (POR)
Efe Sami UNAL (TUR)

90kg
Kanan ALIYEV (AZE)
Wanderson Messias DA SILVA LIMA (BRA)
Pedro Henrique DE OLIVEIRA E SILVA ROCHA (BRA)
Andre Luiz RAMOS PINTO (BRA)
Dato MARSAGISHVILI (GEO
Grigorios KRIARIDIS (GRE)
Christos SAMARTSIDIS (GRE)
Muhammad INAM (PAK)
Adao Rafael ANDRADE DA SILVA (POR)
Murat OZKAN (TUR)

+90kg
Oyan NAZARIANI (AZE)
Davi Jose ALBINO (BRA)
Guilherme EVANGELISTA DIAS (BRA)
Christopher HIPOLITO DE ALMEIDA (BRA)
Mamuka KORDZAIA (GEO)
Ioannis KARGIOTAKIS (GRE)

Women's Beach Wrestling

50kg
Claudia Soledad CABRERA (ARG)
Fernanda ASCENCIO PERES (BRA)
Kamila BARBOSA VITO DA SILVA (BRA)
Susana Paula DE ALMEIDA DOS SANTOS (BRA)
Carmen Nireida GOMES TEIXEIRA VIEIRA (POR)

60kg
Crystal Shanika HOLDER (BAR)
Camila FAMA TRISTAO (BRA)
Ana Luiza PEREIRA FRANCA (BRA)
Isabel Cristina RODRIGUES (POR)
Mehlika OZTURK (TUR)

70kg
Brenda AGUIAR DOS SANTOS (BRA)
Nikeli FERREIRA DE OLIVEIRA (BRA)
Sonia Marina PEREIRA BRAZIO (POR)

+70kg
Aline DA SILVA FERREIRA (BRA)
Dailane GOMES DOS REIS (BRA)
Aysegul OZBEGE (TUR)

#WrestleNice

WATCH LIVE: Henri Deglane Grand Prix

By United World Wrestling Press

NICE, France (January 19) -- The prestigious Henri Delgane Grand Prix begins Friday in Nice, France. This will be the 50th edition of the tournament.

It will be the second tournament of the international wrestling season after the Zagreb Open Ranking Series.

The competition will open with women's wrestling on Friday followed by freestyle on Saturday and end with Greco-Roman on the final day.

Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Ravi KUMAR (UWW) will be returning to the international scene for the first time since the 2022 World Championships. European champion Jonna MALMGREN (SWE) will be in action in women's 53kg while Turpal BISULTANOV (DEN) is also returning from injury in Greco-Roman 87kg.

Women's wrestling will see teams from France, the USA, Canada, Poland and Germany among others.

The Henri Deglane Grand Prix can be watched here.