#WrestleBucharest

Nasibov hopes to build on golden start in Olympic year

By Vinay Siwach

BUCHAREST, Romania (February 1) -- Parviz NASIBOV (UKR) was never under the spotlight. Not until he reached the final of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and won a silver medal.

For Tokyo, he qualified at the World Olympic Qualifier in Sofia, the last of the qualifiers and the only chance he got. But as he prepares to qualify for the Paris Olympics, Nasibov is on the radar of his opponents.

He lost in the first round of the World Championships last year and is yet to win a UWW tournament. But in the season-opening Ranking Series Zagreb Open, Nasibov seemed to find his form and gear up for the Olympic year.

Wrestling in Zagreb, Nasibov won gold in 67kg after beating world silver medalist Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE) in the semifinal and Gagik SNJOYAN (FRA) in the final.

"It’s important for me to try myself [in such tournaments] before the important one," Nasibov said. "I think this Ranking series event is more or less similar to the World championships level, because most of the leaders were present here in our weight class."

In a 34-wrestler bracket, Nasibov got past 2023 Zagreb Open champion HUSIYUETU (CHN), Lei LI (CHN) and U20 world champion Moustafa ALAMELDIN (EGY) before beating Jafarov and Snjoyan. Nasibov later said that he expected Jafarov to come out strong in the semifinal.

"We have done research on that athlete together with the coaches," he said. "That’s why I got everything I had expected from him. He is a good guy, he is young and prospective."

Nasibov also hoped to face world champion Luis ORTA (CUB) in Zagreb but Orta pulled out of the competition. Orta won the 67kg world title in Belgrade, completing a successful switch from 60kg, a weight class in which he won the gold medal in Tokyo.

"Orta is a very good opponent. I met his at the training camp," Nasibov said. "But you know we are wrestling at such a high level that we are all pretty much similar. The one who thinks better and stays calmer will win. That’s why, I respect him a lot and can’t wait to meet him."

Nasibov has got a golden start to the season and would like to continue that at the European Championships in Bucharest, Romania from February 12 to 19. He will hope to win his first European title at 72kg as he is entered in the non-Olympic weight class. And later the qualifying event in Baku in April.

"At the 2023 European Championships I was the third," he said. "The qualifying world championships was unsuccessful for me. I lost my first match. The main event is ahead. I need a quota for Paris Olympic Games, I will do my best to get it and repeat my Tokyo result and maybe even improve. I believe in it and I do my best to be there."

#WrestleZagreb

World Championships 2025 Freestyle Entries, Seeds

By United World Wrestling Press

ZAGREB, Croatia (August 14) -- The Freestyle entries for the World Championships are set. In total, close to 900 wrestlers are participating in the September 13-21 tournament in Zagreb.

In Freestyle, 326 wrestlers are entered to compete at the World Championships that will begin with Freestyle action on September 13. The competition will also see 12 Paris Olympic medalist compete including two gold medalists.

Note: These are preliminary entries and subject to change 72 hours before the Freestyle draw at the World Championships. For latest entries, refer to uww.org

WOMEN'S WRESTLING ENTRIES | GRECO-ROMAN ENTRIES

Zagreb

57kg

Seeded
No. 1 – Spencer LEE (USA)
No. 2 – Gulomjon ABDULLAEV (UZB)
No. 3 – AMAN (IND)
No. 4 – Roman BRAVO YOUNG (MEX)
No. 5 – Darian CRUZ (PUR)
No. 6 – Bekzat ALMAZ UULU (KGZ)
No. 7 – Islam BAZARGANOV (AZE)
No. 8 – Munkh Erdene BATKHUYAG (MGL)

Unseeded
Salah KATEB (ALG)
Arsen HARUTYUNYAN (ARM)
Ivaylo TISOV (BUL)
Garette SAUNDERS (CAN)
Mingzhuo LI (CHN)
Roland TAMBI NFORSONG (CMR)
Rabby KILANDI (COD)
Peter HAMMER CUDE (CRC)
Guesseppe REA VILLARROEL (ECU)
Roberti DINGASHVILI (GEO)
Niklas STECHELE (GER)
Ali Hossein MOMENI (IRI)
Husein ALBEHADILALBORS (IRQ)
Rin SAKAMOTO (JPN)
Adilet ALMUKHAMEDOV (KAZ)
Sunggwon KIM (KOR)
Vladimir EGOROV (MKD)
Chongsong HAN (PRK)
Azamat TUSKAEV (SRB)
Thomas EPP (SUI)
Aiaal BELOLYUBSKII (TJK)
Yusuf DEMIR (TUR)
Vladyslav ABRAMOV (UKR)
Musa MEKHTIKHANOV (UWW)
Aryan TSIUTRYN (UWW)

61kg

Seeded
No. 1 -- Zavur UGUEV (UWW)
No. 2 -- Nuraddin NOVRUZOV (AZE)
No. 3 -- Giorgi GONIASHVILI (GEO)
No. 4 -- Takara SUDA (JPN)
No. 5 -- UDIT (IND)
No. 6 -- Leomid COLESNIC (MDA)
No. 7 -- Dzmitry SHAMELA (UWW)
No. 8 -- Nils LEUTERT (SUI)

Unseeded
Zelimkhan ABAKAROV (ALB)
Manvel KHNDZRTSYAN (ARM)
Georgii OKOROKOVV (AUS)
Zezhong SUN (CHN)
Ndjidda BOUBA (CMR)
Godefroid KALUBI (COD)
Joshua KRAMER (ECU)
Ahmad  JAVAN (IRI)
Simone PIRODDU (ITA)
Assylzhan YESSENGELDI (KAZ)
Taiyrbek ZHUMASHBEK UULU (KGZ)
Sangboum HAN (KOR)
Tuvshintulga TUMENBILEG (MGL)
Besir ALILI (MKD)
Ali ABURUMAILA (PLE)
Kum Hyok KIM (PRK)
Dylan SHAWVER (PUR)
Emrah ORMANOGLU (TUR)
Kamil KERYMOV (UKR)
Jaxen FORREST (USA)
Ibrahim GUZAN (YEM)

65kg

Seeded
No. 1 – Rahman AMOUZAD (IRI)
No. 2 – Kotaro KIYOOKA (JPN)
No. 3 – Vazgen TEVANYAN (ARM)
No. 4 – Ali RAHIMZADA (AZE)
No. 5 – Khamzat ARSAMERZOUEV (FRA)
No. 6 – Sebastian RIVERA (PUR)
No. 7 – Ibragim IBRAGIMOV (UWW)
No. 8 – SUJEET (IND)

Unseeded
Chouaib SAHRAOUI (ALG)
Ayub MUSAEV (BEL)
Alibeg ALIBEGOV (BRN)
Mikyay NAIM (BUL)
Peiman BIABANI (CAN)
Tao WEI (CHN)
Roland KALAMBAYI (COD)
Goderdzi DZEBISASHVILI (GEO)
Nico MEGERLE (GER)
Mohammed KAREEM (IRQ)
Colin REALBUTO (ITA)
Nachyn KUULAR (KAZ)
Ikromzhon KHADZHIMURODOV (KGZ)
Junsik YUN (KOR)
Maxim SACULTAN (MDA)
Gantulga BATBAATAR (MGL)
Stephen IZOLO (NGR)
Abdullah ASSAF (PLE)
Krzysztof BIENKOWSKI (POL)
Kwang Jin KIM (PRK)
Daniel SANDU (ROU)
Nino LEUTERT (SUI)
Abdulmazhid KUDIEV (TJK)
Cavit ACAR (TUR)
Andrii BILIICHUK (UKR)
Real WOODS (USA)
Islam GUSEINOV (UWW)
Umidjon JALOLOV (UZB)
Wilfredo RODRIGUEZ (VEN)

70kg

Seeded
No. 1 – Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN)
No. 2 – Akaki KEMERTELIDZE (GEO)
No. 3 – Nurkozha KAIPANOV (KAZ)
No. 4 – Kanan HEYBATOV (AZE)
No. 5 – Arman ANDREASYAN (ARM)
No. 6 – Austin GOMEZ (MEX)
No. 7 – Vasile DIACON (MDA)
No. 8 – Iszmail MUSZUKAJEV (HUN)

Unseeded
Islam DUDAEV (ALB)
Shannon HANNA (BAH)
Mihail GEORGIEV (BUL)
Michael ZALE (CAN)
Jorge GATICA (CHI)
Shuang CHEN (CHN)
Gabriel MUANDA (COD)
Anthony WESLEY (CPV)
ROHIT (IND)
Amirmohammad YAZDANI (IRI)
Mohammed KAREEM (IRQ)
Ernazar AKMATALIEV (KGZ)
Yongseok JEONG (KOR)
Tulga TUMUR OCHIR (MGL)
Viktor VOINOVIC (SRB)
Viktor RASSADIN (TJK)
Khairiddine BEN TLILI (TUN)
Haydar YAVUZ (TUR)
Oleksii BORUTA (UKR)
PJ DUKE (USA)
Saiyn KAZYRYK (UWW)
Begijon KULDASHEV (UZB)

74kg

Seeded
No.1 -- Chermen VALIEV (ALB)
No. 2 -- Taimuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK)
No. 3 -- Yones EMAMI (IRI)
No. 4 -- Orozobek TOKTOMAMBETOV (KGZ)
No. 5 -- Murad KURAMAGOMEDOV (HUN)
No. 6 -- Giorgi ELBAKIDZE (GEO)
No. 7 -- Magomedrasul ASLUEV (BRN)
No. 8 -- David CARR (USA)

Unseeded
Hrayr ALIKHANYAN (ARM)
Turan BAYRAMOV (AZE)
Ibragim VELIEV (BEL)
Renato DA SILVA (BRA)
Ramazan RAMAZANOV (BUL)
Adam THOMSON (CAN)
BATUQINGGELE (CHN)
Norvil BUKASA (COD)
Vedran LUKETIN (CRO)
Mohammad MOTTAGHINIA (ESP)
Vikash KUMAR (IND)
Luca FINIZIO (ITA)
Kota TAKAHASHI (JPN)
Alibek ABDIKASSYMOV (KAZ)
Daegil HAN (KOR)
Egzon XHONI (KOS)
Ion MARCU (MDA)
Cristian SANTIAGO (MEX)
Tugsjargal ERDENEBAT (MGL)
Rasul SHAPIEV (MKD)
Kamil RYBICKI (POL)
Ok Chol HAN (PRK)
Soner DEMIRTAS (TUR)
Ivan KUSYAK (UKR)
Vitali IHNATOVICH (UWW)
Zaurbek SIDAKOV (UWW)
Mirzo KHAYITOV (UZB)
Anthony MONTERO (VEN)

79kg

Seeded
No. 1 -- Akhsarbek GULAEV (SVK)
No. 2 -- Suldkhuu OLONBAYAR (MGL)
No. 3 -- Vladimeri GAMKRELIDZE (GEO)
No. 4 -- Magomet EVLOEV (TJK)
No. 5 -- Mohammad NOKHODI (IRI)
No. 6 -- Khidir SAIPUDINOV (BRN)
No. 7 -- Zelimkhan KHADJIEV (FRA)
No. 8 -- Ryunosuke KAMIYA (JPN)

Unseeded
Dzhabrail GADZHIEV (AZE)
Patrik LEDER (CAN)
Tu Erxun AHEIYOU (CHN)
Andy MUKENDI (COD)
Marko NIKOLIC (CRO)
Georgios KOUGIOUMTSIDIS (GRE)
AMIT (IND)
Bolat SAKAYEV (KAZ)
Bumgue SEO (KOR)
Alans AMIROVS (LAT)
Vlad STRATAN (MDA)
Dejan MITROV (MKD)
Michael LABRIOLA (PUR)
Iakub SHIKHDZHAMALOV (ROU)
Alfred DANIEL (SLE)
Azymberdi SAPAROV (TKM)
Ibrahim YAPRAK (TUR)
Vasyl MYKHAILOV (UKR)
Levi HAINES (USA)
Akhmed USMANOV (UWW)

86kg

Seeded
No. 1 -- Osman GOCEN (TUR)
No. 2 -- Arsenii DZHIOEV (AZE)
No. 3 -- Mahamedkhabib KADZIMAHAMEDAU (UWW)
No. 4 -- Tariel GAPHRINDASHVILI (GEO)
No. 5 -- Zahid VALENCIA (USA)
No. 6 -- Rakhim MAGAMADOV (FRA)
No. 7 -- Hayato ISHIGURO (JPN)
No. 8 -- Batbilguun NAADAMBAT (MGL)

Unseeded
Fateh BENFERDJALLAH (ALG)
Simon MARCHL (AUT)
Hade AYIDUSI (CHN)
Matteo MONTEIRO FURTADO (CPV)
Kreso SKUGOR (CRO)
Ahmed MAHMOUD (EGY)
Gabriel IGLESIAS RAMOS (ESP)
Joshua MORODION (GER)
Mukul DAHIYA (IND)
Kamran GHASEMPOUR (IRI)
Azamat DAULETBEKOV (KAZ)
Mukhammad ABDULLAEV (KGZ)
Gyeongyeon LEE (KOR)
Ivars SAMUSONOK (LAT)
Paulius LESCAUSKAS (LTU)
Traian CAPATINA (MDA)
Cezary SADOWSKI (POL)
Ethan RAMOS (PUR)
Weng CHOW (SGP)
Boris MAKOEV (SVK)
Mukhammed ALIIEV (UKR)
Ibragim KADIEV (UWW)

92kg

Seeded
No. 1 -- Miriani MAISURADZE (GEO)
No. 2 -- Benjamin HONIS (ITA)
No. 3 -- Batyrbek TSAKULOV (SVK)
No. 4 -- Osman NURMAGOMEDOV (AZE)
No. 5 -- Dauren KURUGLIEV (GRE)
No. 6 -- Amirhossein FIROUZPOUR (IRI)
No. 7 -- Lars SCHAEFLE (GER)
No. 8 -- Trent HIDLAY (USA)

Unseeded
Benjamin GREIL (AUT)
Magomed SHARIPOV (BRN)
Ahmed BATAEV (BUL)
Andrew JOHNSON (CAN)
Hua ZE (CHN)
Cedric ABOSSOLO (CMR)
Barthelemy TSHOSHA (COD)
Deepak PUNIA (IND)
Uri KALASHNIKOV (ISR)
Takashi ISHIGURO (JPN)
Kamil KURUGLIYEV (KAZ)
Gwanuk KIM (KOR)
Andrian GROSUL (MDA)
Demchigdorj TUMURBAATAR (MGL)
Redjep HAJDARI (MKD)
Samuel SCHERRER (SUI)
Alperen TOKGOZ (TUR)
Ivan CHORNOHUZ (UKR)
Amanula GADZHIMAGOMEDOV (UWW)
Yaraslau IADKOUSKI (UWW)

97kg

Seeded
No. 1 -- Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN)
No. 2 -- Givi MATCHARASHVILI (GEO)
No. 3 -- Kyle SNYDER (USA)
No. 4 -- Magomedkhan MAGOMEDOV (AZE)
No. 5 -- Amirali AZARPIRA (IRI)
No. 6 -- Zbigniew BARANOWSKI (POL)
No. 7 -- Arash YOSHIDA (JPN)
No. 8 -- Richard VEGH (HUN)

Unseeded
Akhmed MAGAMAEV (BUL)
Nishan Preet RANDHAWA (CAN)
Awusayiman HABILA (CHN)
Filip HUKLEK (CRO)
Arturo SILOT TORRES (CUB)
Adlan VISKHANOV (FRA)
Ertugrul AGCA (GER)
VICKY (IND)
Rizabek AITMUKHAN (KAZ)
Juhwan SEO (KOR)
Domantas PAULIUSCENKO (LTU)
Radu LEFTER (MDA)
Gankhuyag GANBAATAR (MGL)
Magomedgadji NUROV (MKD)
Adam JAKSIK (SVK)
Shatlyk HEMELYAYEV (TKM)
Resul GUNE (TUR)
David MCHEDLIDZE (UKR)
Aliaksandr HUSHTYN (UWW)
Magomed KURBANOV (UWW)
Cristian SARCO (VEN)

125kg

Seeded
No. 1 -- Giorgi MESHVILDISHVILI (AZE)
No. 2 -- Amir Hossein ZARE (IRI)
No. 3 -- Dzianis KHRAMIANKOU (UWW)
No. 4 -- Robert BARAN (POL)
No. 5 -- Lkhagvagerel MUNKHTUR (MGL)
No. 6 -- Shamil SHARIPOV (BRN)
No. 7 -- Solomon MANASHVILI (GEO)
No. 8 -- Vlagyiszlav BAJCAJEV (HUN)

Unseeded
Johannes LUDESCHER (AUT)
Gabriel DE SOUSA (BRA)
Alen KHUBULOV (BUL)
BUHEEERDUN (CHN)
Filip KOSCIC (CRO)
Mohsen SIYAR (GER)
Azamat KHOSONOV (GRE)
Rajat RUHAL (IND)
Taiki YAMAMOTO (JPN)
Alisher YERGALI (KAZ)
Gyeongmin KIM (KOR)
Dmitrii DUSCOV (MDA)
Jonovan SMITH (PUR)
Omar SAREM (ROU)
Zyyamuhammet SAPAROV (TKM)
Hakan BUYUKCINGIL (TUR)
Murazi MCHEDLIDZE (UKR)
Wyatt HENDRICKSON (USA)
Abdulla KURBANOV (UWW)
Khasanboy RAKHIMOV (UZB)