#WrestleParis

Paris 2024 Olympic Games Greco-Roman Entries

By United World Wrestling Press

PARIS (July 9) -- The 97 Greco-Roman wrestlers scheduled to compete at the Paris Olympics are announced. Four-time Olympic champion Mijain LOPEZ (CUB) will wrestle at 130kg while Tokyo Olympic champion Luis ORTA (CUB) is also entered. He won the gold in Tokyo at 60kg but will be competing in Paris at 67kg, a weight class in which he won the gold medal at the World Championships in 2023.

Tokyo champion Zhan BELEKNUIK (UKR) will be looking to add to his medal tally which also has a silver medal from Rio 2016. Four Tokyo Olympic silver medalists are returning namely Kenichiro FUMITA (JPN), Parviz NASIBOV (UKR), Akzhol MAKHMUDOV (KGZ) and Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM).

Other Olympic medalists in the fray are Mohamed ELSAYED (EGY), Rafig HUSEYNOV (AZE), Sabah SHARIATI (AZE) and Heiki NABI (EST).

Greco-Roman will kick off wrestling at the Paris Olympics on August 5 with 60kg and 130kg. August 6 will have 77kg and 97kg, August 7 will feature 67kg and 87kg. The medals bouts will be held on the next days of the respective weight classes.

PARIS 2024 SCHEDULE | PARIS 2024 NEWS | PARIS 2024 WOMEN'S WRESTLING ENTRIES | PARIS 2024 FREESTYLE ENTRIES

60kg
Abdelkarim FERGAT (ALG)
Murad MAMMADOV (AZE)
Liguo CAO (CHN)
Kevin DE ARMAS (CUB)
Moamen MOHAMED (EGY)
Jamal VALIZADEH (EOR)
Mehdi MOHSEN NEJAD (IRI)
Kenichiro FUMITA (JPN)
Aidos SULTANGALI (KAZ)
Zholaman SHARSHENBEKOV (KGZ)
Victor CIOBANU (MDA)
Se Ung RI (PRK)
Razvan ARNAUT (ROU)
Georgij TIBILOV (SRB)
Enes BASAR (TUR)
Islomjon BAKHRAMOV (UZB)
Raiber RODRIGUEZ (VEN)

67kg
Ishak GHAIOU (ALG)
Slavik GALSTYAN (ARM)
Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE)
Nestor ALMANZA TRUYOL (CHI)
Luis ORTA SANCHEZ (CUB)
Andres MONTANO ARROYO (ECU)
Mohamed ELSAYED (EGY)
Mamadassa SYLLA (FRA)
Ramaz ZOIDZE (GEO)
Saeid ESMAEILI LEIVESI (IRI)
Kyotaro SOGABE (JPN)
Amantur ISMAILOV (KGZ)
Valentin PETIC (MDA)
Mate NEMES (SRB)
Souleymen NASR (TUN)
Parviz NASIBOV (UKR)

77kg
Abd Elkrim OUAKALI (ALG)
Malkhas AMOYAN (ARM)
Sanan SULEYMANOV (AZE)
Aik MNATSAKANIAN (BUL)
Jair CUERO MUNOZ (COL)
Yosvanys PENA FLORES (CUB)
Mahmoud ABDELRAHMAN (EGY)
Jonni SARKKINEN (FIN)
Zoltan LEVAI (HUN)
Amin KAVIYANINEJAD (IRI)
Nao KUSAKA (JPN)
Demeu ZHADRAYEV (KAZ)
Akzhol MAKHMUDOV (KGZ)
Burhan AKBUDAK (TUR)
Kamal BEY (USA)
Aram VARDANYAN (UZB)

87kg
Bachir SID AZARA (ALG)
Rafig HUSEYNOV (AZE)
Semen NOVIKOV (BUL)
Haitao QIAN (CHN)
Carlos MUNOZ JARAMILLO (COL)
Turpal BISULTANOV (DEN)
Mohamed METWALLY (EGY)
Lasha GOBADZE (GEO)
David LOSONCZI (HUN)
Alireza MOHMADIPIANI (IRI)
Nursultan TURSYNOV (KAZ)
Arkadiusz KULYNYCZ (POL)
Aleksandr KOMAROV (SRB)
Ali CENGIZ (TUR)
Zhan BELENIUK (UKR)
Payton JACOBSON (USA)

97kg
Abubakar KHASLAKHANAU (AIN)
Fadi ROUABAH (ALG)
Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM)
Gabriel ROSILLO (CUB)
Mohamed GABR (EGY)
Arvi SAVOLAINEN (FIN)
Roberti KOBLIASHVILI (GEO)
Lucas LAZOGIANIS (GER)
Kevin MEJIA CASTILLO (HON)
Mohammadhadi SARAVI (IRI)
Uzur DZHUZUPBEKOV (KGZ)
Seungjun KIM (KOR)
Mindaugas VENCKAITIS (LTU)
Mihail KAJIA (SRB)
Josef RAU (USA)
Rustam ASSAKALOV (UZB)

130kg
Sabah SHARIATI (AZE)
Kiril MILOV (BUL)
Yasmani ACOSTA FERNANDEZ (CHI)
Lingzhe MENG (CHN)
Mijain LOPEZ (CUB)
Abdellatif MOHAMED (EGY)
Heiki NABI (EST)
Jello KRAHMER (GER)
Amin MIRZAZADEH (IRI)
Alimkhan SYZDYKOV (KAZ)
Seungchan LEE (KOR)
Mantas KNYSTAUTAS (LTU)
Oussama ASSAD (MAR)
Alin ALEXUC CIURARIU (ROU)
Muhammet BAKIR (TUR)
Adam COON (USA)

NOTE:

Czech Republic surrendered its 97kg spot after Artur OMAROV (CZE) was injured. Serbia was awarded the place as next best NOC

* Tunisia failed to find a replacement at 130kg. Lithuania was awarded the spot at 130kg as the next best NOC

#JapanWrestling

Tokyo silver medalist Fumita dealt setback on path to Paris Olympics

By Ken Marantz

TOKYO (June 13) -- The path to the 2024 Paris Olympics just got a little bumpier for Tokyo silver medalist Kenichiro FUMITA.

Fumita, the runner-up in Tokyo and a two-time former world champion at Greco 60kg, has pulled out of the upcoming Meiji Cup All-Japan Invitational Championships, Japan's second domestic qualifying tournament for this year's World Championships.

Fumita revealed on his Twitter account that he suffered a torn hamstring and had withdrawn from the Meiji Cup, to be held June 15-18 in Tokyo. That means for him to make Japan's team to the Belgrade worlds, he will have to beat the Meiji Cup champion in a playoff on July 1.

The 27-year-old Fumita wrote that he had undergone treatment for the injury but had decided it was best to play it safe by pulling out of the Meiji Cup, and would "aim to earn a place at the World Championshps in the playoff."

Last December, Fumita won the title at the Emperor's Cup All-Japan Championships, the first of the two domestic qualifiers for the World Championships. He could have secured his ticket to Belgrade with a title at the Meiji Cup, but now will have to rely on a victory in the winner-take-all playoff.

For Japanese wrestlers in Olympic weight classes, getting to Belgrade takes on additional significance. The 2023 worlds offers the first qualifying spots for the 2024 Paris Olympics, and a medal in an Olympic weight class will earn a Japanese wrestler an automatic ticket to Paris.

Of course, should Fumita lose the playoff or not be recovered enough to take part, there is no assurance that the wrestler who earns the spot will win a medal in Belgrade. In that case, then Fumita would have another chance by representing Japan at the Olympic qualifiers in 2024.

But that means leaving his fate in others' hands. It seems likely he will be on the mat for the playoff, even if he is not at 100 percent.

The injury spoiled what had been a productive run for Fumita since the Tokyo Olympics, where he was left in tears after losing in the final to Luis ORTA SANCHEZ (CUB). After that, he won the title at the Wladyslaw Pytlasinski Cup in Warsaw in July 2022, then took a bronze medal the following September at the World Championships in Belgrade, adding to his golds from 2017 and 2019.

At the Emperor's Cup, the link to the Paris Olympics led to a funnelling of top wrestlers into the Olympic weight classes, and Fumita fended off all comers at 60kg to win his fourth national title and first since 2020.

The weight class includes Maito KAWANA and Ayata SUZUKI, Asian bronze medalists in 2023 and 2022, respectively, and Yu SHIOTANI, the Asian champion and world bronze medalist at 55kg in 2022. Also looking to fill the hole left by Fumita is Kaito INABA, who finished seventh at the world U23 in 2022 -- he threw Fumita for a rare 4 in a 7-4 quarterfinal loss at the Emperor's Cup.