Books

New Book Released on the Educational Value of Wrestling

By United World Wrestling Press

SOFIA, Bulgaria (July 18) -- The Secretary General of the Bulgarian Olympic committee and President of the UWW Ethical and Legal Commission Mr. Beltcho GORANOV  and professor Lozan MITEV presented their book, "The Educational Values of Wrestling" at the National Museum of Archeology in Sofia, Bulgaria.

"You will not find any techniques, tactics or ranking in this book,” said Goranov. "It is about the human qualities and shows how this ancient sport leads you to struggle to overcome yourself and your own fears. If you manage to overcome them, you are the winner!"

The completion of the project has taken almost a year of researching and enhanced work. The idea emerged when Mr. Goranov and Prof. Mitev worked on a study on the occasion of the Bulgarian participation in the First Modern Olympic Games Athens 1896. "Then Prof. Lozan Mitev discovered the first interview of Panayot Belev, leader of the Bulgarian delegation and that is how it all started...", the General Secretary of the Bulgarian Olympic committee added.

The book studies the history of wrestling worldwide and its impact on those who have got in touch with it. It tracks its development as an educational tool during the centuries. Other accents are an overview of the educational systems and the Olympic concept as a part of the modern athlete’s education. The book was published in French, English and now also in Bulgarian and Russian.

“This book is a synthesis of the best in Sport, Art and Pedagogy. It tells us about the moral, human and sport maturing and education of young people as a continuous process, subject to two main factors – Will and Dream. The main merit of this book is that it follows the development of this unity through the centuries as one of the paths of Humanism, as a constant struggle for perfection, development, triumph and unity of will and dream”, Assoc. Prof. Efrem Efremov, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Journalism and Mass communications of the Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” said in his speech during the presentation.

The ceremony was attended also by the Minister of Youth and Sport Mr. Krasen Kralev. “The contemporary values that we speak so much about in our United Europe like integrity, morality, tolerance are at the same time core values in Sport and in Wrestling. Therefore, I endlessly admire those researchers who managed to explore in such depth the main processes in the public life and to describe them, and  to narrate them to us,” Minister Kralev said.

He pointed out that the wrestling is not only the most successful Bulgarian sport but also the oldest Olympic sport.

“Our ancient predecessors discovered the magic and values of this sport millennia ago. Wrestling needs people like professor Mitev and Beltcho Goranov. You probably remember how only several years ago the big wrestling family managed to preserve this magnificent sport for the Olympic Family,” Mr. Kralev added. He congratulated the authors on the completion of this project and the enormous effort, as well as their overall contribution to the development of Bulgarian sport.

"This book is another look at the struggle, but also the Sport, based on the human values of the personality. It shows us the fighting of two persons, the sense of self-realization, but also the respect to the opponent. The book presents variants of training and education, and also shows that Sport is a tool of overcoming difficulties and challenges, but also a way of realizing the personality. It is very useful and interesting book", said Mr. Tzeno Tzenov, President of the UWW European Council.

Among the guests of the event were the double Olympic champions in Wrestling Mr. Boyan Radev and Mr. Petar Kirov, the Secretary General of the Bulgarian Wrestling Federation Mr. Valentin Raychev, the Rector of the National Sports Academy Prof. Pencho Geshev, sports officials and media.

#WrestleTirana

U23 European Championships 2025 Entries

By United World Wrestling Press

TIRANA, Albania (February 25)  -- Soon after the Muhamet Malo Ranking Series, Tirana will shift its focus to the first continental championships of 2025.

The U23 European Championships will be held in Tirana from March 8 to 14 with 429 wrestlers entered for the competition.

Freestyle will kick off proceedings on March 8, followed by Women's Wrestling and Greco-Roman will finish off things.

UWW+ (uww.org) will bring all the action live and highlights from Tirana.

Freestyle

57kg
Ersjan KASHIKU (ALB)
Norik HARUTYUNYAN (ARM)
Rahman IMANOV (AZE)
Ivaylo TISOV (BUL)
Nika ZANGALADZE (GEO)
Danny LUBRANO (ITA)
Ion BULGARU (MDA)
Stefan SHTERJOV (MKD)
Bekir KESER (TUR)
Vladyslav ABRAMOV (UKR)
Iunus IAVBATIROV (UWW)

61kg
Endrio AVDYLI (ALB)
Levik MIKAYELYAN (ARM)
Jeyhun ALLAHVERDIYEV (AZE)
Denis NAIM (BUL)
Omar GAZASHVILI (GEO)
Dario DITTRICH (GER)
Balazs RACZ (HUN)
Simone PIRODDU (ITA)
Vasile MARCU (MDA)
Besir ALILI (MKD)
Ivan OKSIUK (POL)
River PERLUNGHER (SUI)
Tolga OZBEK (TUR)
Mykyta ABRAMOV (UKR)
Ivan HRAMYKA (UWW)
Akhmed ZUBAIROV (UWW)

65kg
Klevisi PRECI (ALB)
Hayk ABRAHAMYAN (ARM)
Murad HAGVERDIYEV (AZE)
Ayub MUSAEV (BEL)
Erdal GALIP (BUL)
Felipe FERRUSOLA MILLA (ESP)
Khamzat ARSAMERZOUEV (FRA)
Goga OTINASHVILI (GEO)
Marcel WAGIN (GER)
Zoltan MIZSEI (HUN)
Mattia BIENTINESI (ITA)
Artiom CVETKOV (LTU)
Fiodor CEAVDARI (MDA)
Daniel KULCZYNSKI (POL)
Daniel SANDU (ROU)
Abdullah TOPRAK (TUR)
Mykyta HONCHAROV (UKR)
Anatoli HRAMYKA (UWW)
Amal DZHANDUBAEV (UWW)

70kg
Fabian KOCILERI (ALB)
Vladimir AZARYAN (ARM)
Alexander SEIWALD (AUT)
Kanan HEYBATOV (AZE)
Muhammad ABDURACHMANOV (BEL)
Kaloyan ATANASOV (BUL)
Denis KODAKOV GIL (ESP)
Abdoul NAKAEV (FRA)
Davit PATSINASHVILI (GEO)
Burak SALVIZ (GER)
Marton VARGA (HUN)
Alexandr GAIDARLI (MDA)
Muhamed FERUKI (MKD)
Mateusz LUSZCZYNSKI (POL)
Umut ERDOGAN (TUR)
Narek POHOSIAN (UKR)
Mikita DZEMCHANKA (UWW)
Magomed ELTEMIROV (UWW)

74kg
Devi BARDHI (ALB)
Narek NIKOGHOSYAN (ARM)
Muhamed BEKTEMIROV (AUT)
Aghanazar NOVRUZOV (AZE)
Stiliyan DZHOROV (BUL)
Luka CHKHITUNIDZE (GEO)
Manuel WAGIN (GER)
Theocharis KOUGIOUMTSIDIS (GRE)
Daniel KORKIN (ISR)
Raul CASO (ITA)
Egzon XHONI (KOS)
Ion MARCU (MDA)
Fabian NIEDZWIEDZKI (POL)
Gigi SUBTIRICA (ROU)
Ismet CIFTCI (TUR)
Bohdan OLIINYK (UKR)
Nikita DMITRIJEVS MAYEUSKI (UWW)
Ismail KHANIEV (UWW)

79kg
Altin GANCI (ALB)
Farid JABBAROV (AZE)
Bogdan DJANDIGOV (BEL)
Aykan SEID (BUL)
Giorgi GOGRITCHIANI (GEO)
Gregor EIGENBRODT (GER)
Rolan ARNTASEV ARDASHEV (GRE)
Adam GAZDAG (HUN)
Raffaele RAFFAELE MATRULLO (ITA)
Marius RETCO (MDA)
Mateusz PEDZICKI (POL)
Krisztian BIRO (ROU)
Andrija IVANOVIC (SRB)
Umar MAVLAEV (SUI)
Ibrahim YAPRAK (TUR)
Bohdan OLEKSIIENKO (UKR)
Aliaksandr VIARBITSKI (UWW)
Arsen BALAIAN (UWW)

86kg
Ibrahim SULA (ALB)
Razmik YEPREMYAN (ARM)
Lukas LINS (AUT)
Arsenii DZHIOEV    (AZE)
Umar VELIEV (BEL)
Radomir STOYANOV (BUL)
Gabriel IGLESIAS RAMOS (ESP)
Miko ELKALA (FIN)
Rakhim MAGAMADOV (FRA)
Tornike SAMKHARADZE (GEO)
Georgios KOTANIDIS (GRE)
Zeteny GANGL (HUN)
Kyrylo OHAR (ISR)
Gabriele NICCOLINI (ITA)
Paulius LESCAUSKAS (LTU)
Eugeniu MIHALCEAN (MDA)
Wiktor HASA (POL)
Alperen ATAR (TUR)
Oleksandr MAMROSH (UKR)
Arslan BAGAEV (UWW)

92kg
Albin PEPOSHI (ALB)
Knyaz IBOYAN (ARM)
Sadig MUSTAFAZADE (AZE)
Andro MARGISHVILI (GEO)
Daniel FISCHER (GER)
Krisztian ANGYAL (HUN)
Davide COSSU (ITA)
Ion DEMIAN (MDA)
Redjep HAJDARI (MKD)
Filip SZUCKI (POL)
David JAKSIK (SVK)
Alperen TOKGOZ (TUR)
Denys SAHALIUK (UKR)
Artsiom IHNATSIUK (UWW)
Mukhamed KHANIEV (UWW)

97kg
Sergey SARGSYAN (ARM)
Abduljalil SHABANOV (AZE)
Andriyan VALKANOV (BUL)
Ashab DADAEV (FRA)
Merab SULEIMANISHVILI (GEO)
Nikolaos KARAVANOS (GRE)
Musza ARSUNKAEV (HUN)
Nikita GOUBARETS (ISR)
Constantin BUZA (MDA)
Taron SHAHINYAN (POL)
Georgian TRIPON (ROU)
Adam JAKSIK (SVK)
Resul GUNE (TUR)
David MCHEDLIDZE (UKR)
Uladzislau KAZLOU (UWW)
Bady SAMDAN (UWW)

125kg
Khachatur KHACHATRYAN (ARM)
Yusif DURSUNOV (AZE)
Georgi IVANOV (BUL)
Giga SHAVADZE (GEO)
Dmitrii DUSCOV (MDA)
Michal DUBOWSKI (POL)
Efe AL (TUR)
Volodymyr KOCHANOV (UKR)
Pavel DZIATLAU (UWW)
Artem PUKHOVSKII (UWW)

Iryna BONDAR (UKR)Iryna BONDAR (UKR) is one of the stars entered for U23 European Championships. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Jake Kirkman)

Women's Wrestling

50kg
Asmar JANKURTARAN (AZE)
Maria CAZALLA TORRES (ESP)
Vestina DANISEVICIUTE (LTU)
Natalia WALCZAK (POL)
Ana Maria PIRVU (ROU)
Svenja JUNGO (SUI)
Songul KAVAK (TUR)
Viktoriia SLOBODENIUK (UKR)
Anastasiya YANOTAVA (UWW)
Natalia PUDOVA (UWW)

53kg
Elnura MAMMADOVA (AZE)
Carla JAUME SOLER (ESP)
Maria FERONE (ITA)
Laura STANELYTE (LTU)
Anastasiia LEBEDIEVA (POL)
Ana ROTARU (ROU)
Ellen OESTMAN (SWE)
Remziye KARADAG (TUR)
Nataliia KLIVCHUTSKA (UKR)
Viktoryia VOLK (UWW)
Ekaterina KARPUSHKINA (UWW)

55kg
Nargiz SAMADOVA (AZE)
Irena BINKOVA (BUL)
Amory ANDRICH (GER)
Roza SZENTTAMASI (HUN)
Mihaela SAMOIL (MDA)
Kamila KASPROW (POL)
Tuba DEMIR (TUR)
Albina RILLIA (UKR)
Aliaksandra BULAVA (UWW)
Anastasiia IANDUSHKINA (UWW)

57kg
Gultakin SHIRINOVA (AZE)
Fatme SHABAN (BUL)
Gerda TEREK (HUN)
Inna ALIMOVA (LTU)
Patrycja STRZELCZYK (POL)
Georgiana LIRCA (ROU)
Milica SEKULOVIC (SRB)
Emine CAKMAK (TUR)
Alina FILIPOVYCH (UKR)
Aryna MARTYNAVA (UWW)
Anastasiia KOZLOVA (UWW)

59kg
Hiunai HURBANOVA (AZE)
Desislava IVANOVA (BUL)
Anna MICHALCOVA (CZE)
Aurora RUSSO (ITA)
Julia NOWICKA (POL)
Ana PUIU (ROU)
Jana PETROVIC (SRB)
Ebru DAGBASI (TUR)
Yuliia PAKHNIUK (UKR)
Marta HETMANAVA (UWW)
Elizaveta PETLIAKOVA (UWW)

62kg
Birgul SOLTANOVA (AZE)
Iris THIEBAUX (FRA)
Naemi LEISTNER (GER)
Anna FOTIADOU (GRE)
Yasmine SOLIMAN (HUN)
Immacolata DANISE (ITA)
Ineta DANTAITE (LTU)
Alicja NOWOSAD (POL)
JOVANA RADIVOJEVIC (SRB)
Annatina LIPPUNER (SUI)
Selvi ILYASOGLU (TUR)
Iryna BONDAR (UKR)
Alesia HETMANAVA (UWW)
Amina TANDELOVA (UWW)

65kg
Ruzanna MAMMADOVA (AZE)
Luisa SCHEEL (GER)
Eniko ELEKES (HUN)
Bianca CONTRAFATTO (ITA)
Olha PADOSHYK (POL)
Viorica ADAM (ROU)
Emilija JAKOVLJEVIC (SRB)
Beyza AKKUS (TUR)
Oleksandra RYBAK (UKR)
Kseniya TSIARENIA (UWW)
Ekaterina KOSHKINA (UWW)

68kg
Sophia SCHAEFLE (GER)
Nikoleta BARMPA (GRE)
Karolina POK (HUN)
Laura GODINO (ITA)
Karolina DOMASZUK (POL)
Maria PANTIRU (ROU)
Masa PEROVIC (SRB)
Nesrin BAS (TUR)
Manola SKOBELSKA (UKR)
Viktoryia RADZKOVA (UWW)
Olesia BEZUGLOVA (UWW)

72kg
Zahra KARIMZADA (AZE)
Veronika VILK (CRO)
Jennifer ROESLER (GER)
Noemi OSVATH NAGY (HUN)
Vincenza AMENDOLA (ITA)
Daniela TKACHUK (POL)
Haticenur SARI (TUR)
Iryna ZABLOTSKA (UKR)
Alina SHAUCHUK (UWW)
Kristina BRATCHIKOVA (UWW)

76kg
Vanesa GEORGIEVA (BUL)
Laura KUEHN (GER)
Veronika NYIKOS (HUN)
Patrycja CUBER (POL)
Evelin UJHELJI (SRB)
Anna BRAUN (SWE)
Elmira YASIN (TUR)
Mariia ORLEVYCH (UKR)
Hanna PIRSKAYA (UWW)
Olga KOZYREVA (UWW)

Alexandrin GUTU (MDA)Alexandrin GUTU (MDA) is looking for his second U23 European title. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

Greco-Roman

55kg
Andi MUCA (ALB)
Arayik TOPALYAN (ARM)
Elmir ALIYEV (AZE)
Filip BARTOSIK (CZE)
Vakhtang LOLUA (GEO)
Vasileios PAPAGEORGIOU (GRE)
Peter TOTOK (HUN)
Maxim SARMANOV (MDA)
Mehmet SARP (TUR)
Danylo KORIEIEV (UKR)
Alibek AMIROV (UWW)

60kg
Mikel TROPLINI (ALB)
Suren AGHAJANYAN (ARM)
Huseyn GARIBOV (AZE)
Alyosha ILIEV (BUL)
Brian SANTIAGO (DEN)
Lucas LO GRASSO (FRA)
Dimitri KHACHIDZE (GEO)
Georgios SCARPELLO (GER)
Georgios PAPAGEORGIOU (GRE)
Petro ZHYTOVOZ (HUN)
Melkamu FETENE (ISR)
Tommaso BOSI (ITA)
Olivier SKRZYPCZAK (POL)
Denis MIHAI (ROU)
Mert ILBARS (TUR)
Bohdan HRYSHYN (UKR)
Papik DZHAVADIAN (UWW)

63kg
Ergi UKU (ALB)
Davit JOTYAN (ARM)
Ziya BABASHOV (AZE)
Miroslav EMILOV (BUL)
Diego ESTECHE GOMEZ (ESP)
Romeo BERIDZE (GEO)
Marios KAPANTAIS (GRE)
Daniel RAFAEL (HUN)
Vitalie ERIOMENCO (MDA)
Mairbek SALIMOV (POL)
Adrian ANTON (ROU)
Alexander VAFAI (SWE)
Furkan ERKEN (TUR)
Vsevolod SAPUN (UKR)
Aleksandr ANDREEV (UWW)

67kg
Ardit ZENELI (ALB)
Ruben MIRANYAN (ARM)
Farid KHALILOV (AZE)
Antonio HRISTOV (BUL)
William REENBERG (DEN)
Nestori MANNILA (FIN)
Yanis GUENDEZ NIFRI (FRA)
Anri KHOZREVANIDZE (GEO)
Janis HEINZELBECKER (GER)
Attila JOZSA (HUN)
Andrea SETTI (ITA)
Adomas GRIGALIUNAS (LTU)
Pavel DENISENCO (MDA)
Bredi SLINKERS (NED)
Arslanbek SALIMOV (POL)
Noe POC (SRB)
Azat SARIYAR (TUR)
Pavlo SOROKOLIET (UKR)
Hleb MAKARANKA (UWW)
Daniial AGAEV (UWW)

72kg
Xhorxh FRROKAJ (ALB)
Ashot KHACHATRYAN (ARM)
Ruslan NURULLAYEV (AZE)
Dimitar GEORGIEV (BUL)
Luka IVANCIC (CRO)
Dalgat MAGOMEDOV (CZE)
Artur JEREMEJEV (EST)
Anri TAVARTKILADZE (GEO)
Arionas KOLITSOPOULOS (GRE)
Rokas CEPAUSKAS (LTU)
Vasile ZABICA (MDA)
Piotr STOLARCZYK (POL)
Eren ULKU (TUR)
Oleh KHALILOV (UKR)
Viachaslau ZHEHALAU (UWW)
Danil GRIGOREV (UWW)

77kg
Klodjan SHEHU (ALB)
Martik PETROSYAN (ARM)
Davud MAMMADOV (AZE)
Albert DOEV (BUL)
Michal ZELENKA (CZE)
Junior BENITEZ ORTIZ (ESP)
Anri PUTKARADZE (GEO)
Aaron BELLSCHEIDT (GER)
Andreas VASILAKOPOULOS (GRE)
Alexandrin GUTU (MDA)
Benjamin HANSEN (NOR)
Karl BAFF (SWE)
Muslim BARGA (TUR)
Vladyslav IVANINA (UKR)
Illia VALEUSKI (UWW)
Evgenii BAIDUSOV (UWW)

82kg
Xhord GJONI (ALB)
Erik TER MATEVOSYAN (ARM)
Elmin ALIYEV (AZE)
Ibrahim TABAEV (BEL)
Martin SHISHEKOV (BUL)
Marek VRBA (CZE)
Frederik MATHIESEN (DEN)
Ekke LEITHAM (EST)
Jonni SARKKINEN (FIN)
Data CHKHAIDZE (GEO)
Dominik BOTOS (HUN)
Leon RIVALTA (ITA)
Alexandru SOLOVEI (MDA)
Ludvig GUNHEIM HATLAND (NOR)
Vasile COJOC (ROU)
Uros LECIC (SRB)
Alexander JOHANSSON (SWE)
Yuksel SARICICEK (TUR)
Ramazan PASHAIEV (UKR)
Dzmitry BONKA (UWW)
Gamzat GADZHIEV (UWW)

87kg
Vigen NAZARYAN (ARM)
Joju SAMADOV (AZE)
Andrey ATANASOV (BUL)
Ondrej HAVELKA (CZE)
Jesper HAERKAENEN (FIN)
Vladimeri KARCHAIDZE (FRA)
Achiko BOLKVADZE (GEO)
Evangelos BOUKIS (GRE)
Cristian RUSU (MDA)
Wojciech IWANOWSKI (POL)
Patrik GORDAN (ROU)
Milos PEROVIC (SRB)
Hamza SERTCANLI (SWE)
Alperen BERBER (TUR)
Ivan CHMYR (UKR)
Baskhan SAIDOV (UWW)

97kg
Julijan SHEHU (ALB)
Harutyun KIRAKOSYAN (ARM)
Agil MUSAEV (AZE)
Tomislav BRKAN (CRO)
Richard KARELSON (EST)
Aapo VIITALA (FIN)
Luka GABISONIA (GEO)
Connor SAMMET (GER)
Roman BALCHIVSCHII (MDA)
Sebastian WARCHOL (POL)
Ionut GOSA (ROU)
Luka KATIC (SRB)
Muhittin HELVACI (TUR)
Yehor YAKUSHENKO (UKR)
Abubakar KHASLAKHANAU (UWW)
Mukhammad EVLOEV (UWW)

130kg
Rigers KURTI (ALB)
Razmik KURDYAN (ARM)
Aykhan MARDANOV (AZE)
Alan DZABIEV (BUL)
Artur SARKISJAN (CZE)
Eerik PANK (EST)
Saba CHILASHVILI (GEO)
Achilleas CHRYSIDIS (GRE)
Koppany LASZLO (HUN)
Cemal BAKIR (TUR)
Mykhailo VYSHNYVETSKYI (UKR)
Aleksandr MELEKHOV (UWW)