#WrestleParis

Paris 2024 seeds announced for Freestyle, Greco-Roman, Women’s Wrestling

By Eric Olanowski

PARIS, (July 12) — For the first time ever, the Olympic Games will be seeding the top eight wrestlers in each weight class. Wrestlers who competed in the 2023 World Championships, 2024 Continental Championships, 2024 Zagreb Open Ranking Series and the 2024 Hungarian Ranking Series event have accumulated points towards their seeds at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

UWW RANKING RULE BOOK

Apart from the seeded eight wrestlers, the remaining eight wrestlers, who round out the 16-person bracket, will be randomly drawn into the bracket the day before each style begins in Paris.

The bracket will be structured as follows:

- The top side will feature the No. 1, No. 4, No. 5, and No. 8 seeded wrestlers.
- The bottom side will feature the No. 2, No. 3, No. 6, and No. 7 seeded wrestlers.

If the seeds hold true through to the finals, the bracket will play out as follows:

Quarterfinals:
- Top side: No. 1 vs. No. 8; No. 4 vs. No. 5
- Bottom side: No. 2 vs. No. 7; No. 3 vs. No. 6

Semifinals:
- Top Side: No. 1 vs. No. 4
- Bottom Side: No. 2 vs. No. 3

Finals:
- No. 1 vs. No. 2

Here are the top eight seeded athletes in all three styles for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games:

Freestyle
57kg

No. 1 Stevan MICIC (SRB)
No. 2 Rei HIGUCHI (JPN )
No. 3 Arsen HARUTYUNYAN (ARM)
No. 4 Meirambek KARTBAY (KAZ)
No. 5 Zelimkhan ABAKAROV (ALB)
No. 6 Aman AMAN (IND)
No. 7 Wanhao ZOU (CHN)
No. 8 Gulomjon ABDULLAEV (UZB)

65kg
No. 1 Vazgen TEVANYAN (ARM)
No. 2 Rahman AMOUZAD (IRI)
No. 3 Ismail MUSUKAEV (HUN)
No. 4 Sebastian RIVERA (PUR)
No. 5 Maxim SACULTAN (MDA)
No. 6 Haji ALIYEV (AZE)
No. 7 Islam DUDAEV (ALB)
No. 8 Tulga TUMUR OCHIR (MGL)

74kg
No. 1 Kyle DAKE (USA)
No. 2 Turan BAYRAMOV (AZE)
No. 3 Georgios KOUGIOUMTSIDIS (GRE)
No. 4 Daichi TAKATANI (JPN)
No. 5 Hetik CABALOV (SRB)
No. 6 Feng LU (CHN)
No. 7 Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK)
No. 8 Bacar NDUM (GBS)

86kg
No. 1 Azamat DAULETBEKOV (KAZ)
No. 2 Hassan YAZDANICHARATI (IRI)
No. 3 Myles AMINE (SMR)
No. 4 Javrail SHAPIEV (UZB)
No. 5 Magomed RAMAZANOV (BUL)
No. 6 Bat BYAMBASUREN (MGL)
No. 7 Dauren KURUGLIEV (GRE)
No. 8 Hayato ISHIGURO (JPN)

97kg  
No. 1 Magomedkhan MAGOMEDOV (AZE)
No. 2 Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN)
No. 3 Kyle SNYDER (USA)
No. 4 Ibrahim CIFTCI (TUR)
No. 5 Givi MATCHARASHVILI (GEO)
No. 6 Erik THIELE (GER)
No. 7 Alisher YERGALI (KAZ)
No. 8 Zbigniew BARANOWSKI (POL)

125kg
No. 1 Amir ZARE (IRI)
No. 2 Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO)
No. 3 Mason PARRIS (USA)
No. 4 Taha AKGUL (TUR)
No. 5 Daniel LIGETI (HUN)
No. 6 Giorgi MESHVILDISHVILI (AZE)
No. 7 Robert BARAN (POL)
No. 8 Zhiwei DENG (CHN)

Women’s Wrestling
50kg

No. 1 Yui SUSAKI (JPN)
No. 2 Otgonjargal DOLGORJAV (MGL)
No. 3 Ziqi FENG (CHN)
No. 4 Evin DEMIRHAN (TUR)
No. 5 Alisson CARDOZO REY (COL)
No. 6 Sarah HILDEBRANDT (USA)
No. 7 Mariya STADNIK (AZE)
No. 8 Oksana LIVACH (UKR)

53kg
No. 1 Lucia YEPEZ GUZMAN (ECU)
No. 2 Emma MALMGREN (SWE)
No. 3 Akari FUJINAMI (JPN)
No. 4 ANTIM (IND)
No. 5 Maria PREVOLARAKI (GRE)|
No. 6 Christianah OGUNSANYA (NGR)
No. 7 Qianyu PANG (CHN)
No. 8 Andreea ANA (ROU)

57kg
No. 1 Tsugumi SAKURAI (JPN)
No. 2 Anastasia NICHITA (MDA)
No. 3 Odunayo ADEKUOROYE (NGR)
No. 4 Anhelina LYSAK (POL)
No. 5 Helen MAROULIS (USA)
No. 6 Kexin HONG (CHN)
No. 7 Giulia PENALBER (BRA)
No. 8 Luisa VALVERDE (ECU)

62kg
No. 1 Aisuluu TYNYBEKOVA (KGZ)
No. 2 Sakura MOTOKI (JPN)
No. 3 Grace BULLEN (NOR)
No. 4 Iryna KOLIADENKO (UKR)
No. 5 Bilyana DUDOVA (BUL)
No. 6 Luisa NIEMESCH (GER)
No. 7 Ana GODINEZ (CAN)
No. 8 Kayla MIRACLE (USA)

68kg
No. 1 Buse CAVUSOGLU TOSUN (TUR)
No. 2 Delgermaa ENKHSAIKHAN (MGL)
No. 3 Koumba LARROQUE  (FRA)
No. 4 Irina RINGACI (MDA)
No. 5 Tetiana SOVA RIZHKO (UKR)
No. 6 Blessing OBORUDUDU (NGR)
No. 7 Soleymi CARABALLO HERNANDEZ (VEN)
No. 8 Feng ZHOU (CHN)

76kg
No. 1  Aiperi MEDET KYZY (KGZ)
No. 2 Yuka KAGAMI (JPN)
No. 3 Tatiana RENTERIA (COL)
No. 4 Catalina AXENTE (ROU)
No. 5 Milaimys MARIN (CUB)
No. 6 Hannah RUEBEN (NGR)
No. 7 Justina DI STASIO (CAN)
No. 8 Bernadett NAGY (HUN)

Greco-Roman
60kg

No. 1 Zholaman SHARSHENBEKOV (KGZ)
No. 2 Liguo CAO (CHN)
No. 3 Victor CIOBANU (MDA)
No. 4 Kenichiro FUMITA (JPN)
No. 5 Mehdi MOHSEN NEJAD (IRI)
No. 6 Islomjon BAKHRAMOV (UZB)
No. 7 Raiber RODRIGUEZ (VEN)
No. 8 Razvan ARNAUT (ROU)

67kg
No. 1 Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE)
No. 2 Luis ORTA (CUB)
No. 3 Slavik GALSTYAN (ARM)
No. 4 Mate NEMES (SRB)
No. 5 Amantur ISMAILOV (KGZ)
No. 6 Mamadassa SYLLA (FRA)
No. 7 Saeid ESMAEILI (IRI)
No. 8 Valentin PETIC (MDA)

77kg
No. 1 Nao KUSAKA (JPN)
No. 2 Sanan SULEYMANOV (AZE)
No. 3 Akzhol MAKHMUDOV (KGZ)
No. 4 Malkhas AMOYAN (ARM)
No. 5 Yosvanys PENA FLORES (CUB)
No. 6 Demeu ZHADRAYEV (KAZ)
No. 7 Zoltan LEVAI (HUN)
No. 8 Aram VARDANYAN (UZB)

87kg
No. 1 Ali CENGIZ (TUR)
No. 2 David LOSONCZI (HUN)
No. 3 Semen NOVIKOV (BUL)
No. 4 Zhan BELENIUK (UKR)
No. 5 Nursultan TURSYNOV (KAZ)
No. 6 Bachir SID AZARA (ALG)
No. 7 Aleksandr KOMAROV (SRB)
No. 8 Carlos MUNOZ (COL)

97kg
No. 1 Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM)
No. 2 Abubakar KHASLAKHANAU (AIN)
No. 3 Mohammadhadi SARAVI (IRI)
No. 4 Gabriel ROSILLO (CUB)
No. 5 Arvi SAVOLAINEN (FIN)
No. 6 Mindaugas VENCKAITIS (LTU)
No. 7 Mihail KAJAIA (SRB)
No. 8 Kevin MEJIA (HON)

130kg
No. 1 Amin MIRZAZADEH (IRI)
No. 2 Abdellatif MOHAMED (EGY)
No. 3 Lingzhe MENG (CHN)
No. 4 Alin ALEXUC CIURARIU (ROU)
No. 5 Heiki NABI (EST)
No. 6 Mantas KNYSTAUTAS (LTU)
No. 7 Yasmani ACOSTA (CHI)
No. 8 Seungchan LEE (KOR)

NOTE: These seeds are subject to change. The NOCs have until 24 hours before the start of the competition to make changes to their entries.

#WrestleBaku

Hasanli, Babashov star to give Azerbaijan two golds at U23 Euros

By United World Wrestling Press

BAKU, Azerbaijan (May 21) -- Khasay HASANLI (AZE) won the gold medal – Azerbaijan’s second of the night. But he didn't immediately celebrate, and neither did his corner.

Instead, in an incredible show of sportsmanship, he first put an arm around his opponent Yuksel SARICICEK (TUR) and checked on his well-being.

Seconds before, Saricicek attempted in vain to evade Hasanli’s speedy attack but in the process, it seemed, he hurt himself. It was a double blow for the former U20 World Championship silver medallist as he also conceded a couple of points in addition to a single point for an unsuccessful challenge, which turned the bout decisively in Hasanli’s favor.

The home favorite knew the outcome was sealed. But instead of erupting in joy, he made sure his opponent was doing okay and in a gesture of kindness, raised his arm in the air. Hasanli won by technical superiority but knew and respected Saricicek's quality.

Once Saricicek was off the mat, Hasanli draped his country’s flag around his shoulder and took a lap of honor around the mat as the local fans cheered on for their rising star. A silver medallist from last year’s edition of the U23 European Championship, Hasanli upgraded the color of his medal to gold with a 10-1 win in the 77kg Greco-Roman final.

Hasanli didn’t give Saricicek even a sniff at gold. He got the par terre advantage in the first period and executed a four-pointer. Hasanli did not lose his grip and followed up with a two-pointer, adding to his 1-0 advantage earlier. At 7-0, Saricicek scored a stepout but Hasanli then locked his arms around Saricicek and executed a headlock throw. Hasanli did not manage to land Saricicek in danger but managed to get two points by completing a go-behind to seal the tie inside the first three minutes.

It was the host country’s second gold medal of the night as minutes before, Ziya BABASHOV (AZE) beat Vitalie ERIOMENCO (MDA) in a thrilling 63kg final in which Eriomenco, the U23 World and European bronze medallist, could barely stand on his feet.

Babashov got the early lead after Eriomenco was put in par terre but the Moldovan fought back to cut the deficit to just one point, 3-2, and went all out in the closing seconds of the gold medal bout. Babashov, however, did just enough to stay away from Eriomenco and clinch the biggest title of his nascent career.

Eriomenco walked to the edge of the mat in disappointment as his jelly-like knees nearly gave up because of exhaustion due to his last-minute attack.

There were no such problems for Mykhailo VYSHNYVETSKYI (UKR), who ended the second day of the championship with a song and dance.

Vyshnyvetskyi, who reached the 130kg final after defeating his biggest rival Muhammet BAKIR (TUR) in a last-four bout on Monday, needed only 61 seconds to win the gold medal for the second time in a row.

In the final, Vyshnyvetskyi was up against Koppany LASZLO (HUN). He was the favourite but few would have guessed it would be so one-sided.

Within seconds of the referee blowing his whistle to start the encounter, Vyshnyvetskyi wrapped his arms around Laszlo and slammed him to the floor for a four-pointer. He didn’t stop there as the defending champion pinned Laszlo, who didn’t even get time to settle on the mat, even as the 18-year-old Hungarian desperately tried to escape his grip.

But Vyshnyvetskyi proved too strong for Laszlo and after one minute and one second, the umpires stopped the bout and declared the U23 World Championship silver medallist the winner.

While Laszlo buried his head in his face while lying on the mat, unable to fathom what had hit him, Vyshnyvetskyi broke into an impromptu dance as he celebrated another U23 continental title.

In the 87kg category, Aues GONIBOV (AIN) won the gold medal, denying U20 World and European champion Achiko BOLKVADZE (GEO) a title in the U23 category. The defending champion didn’t give his young opponent much chance as he raced to a 7-0 win for back-to-back gold medals.

Georgia did claim a gold medal as Giorgi TOKHADZE (GEO) won his maiden title in the 55kg weight class as he overpowered Rashad MAMMADOV (AIN) 8-0 in the final, thus denying the home country a third gold medal of the night.

Blockbuster 97kg final set

Meanwhile, the 97kg final on Wednesday will feature two of the biggest stars in the weight category after defending champion Magomed MURTAZALIEV (AIN) and 2023 U20 European Championship gold medallist Abubakar KHASLAKHANAU (AIN) reached the title round.

Murtazaliev, who won the silver medal at the senior European Championship earlier this year, didn’t concede a single point in the early rounds as he overwhelmed his opponents from Moldova and Serbia en route to the gold medal match. Anton VIEWEG (GER) tried to make a match of the semifinals by nicking three points in the second period, but Murtazaliev proved too strong, winning via fall after a 10-3.

Khaslakhanau, who won the bronze at the senior continental championship, too was largely untroubled, conceding only four points as he gave himself a shot at winning his maiden U23 title. He also pinned his semifinal opponent Aapo VIITALA (FIN) after a 6-2 lead.

The host nation Azerbaijan gave themselves a strong chance to win the team title as two of their wrestlers, Gurban GURBANOV (AZE) and Nihad GULUZADE (AZE) reached the finals of the 82kg and 60kg categories respectively.

 

df

RESULTS

55kg
GOLD: Giorgi TOKHADZE (GEO) df. Emre MUTLU (TUR), 9-0

BRONZE: Rashad MAMMADOV (AZE) df. Ivan STEFANSKYI (UKR), 7-0
BRONZE: Adam ULBASHEV (AIN) df. Leonid MOROZ (MDA), 7-1

63kg
GOLD: Ziya BABASHOV (AZE) df. Vitalie ERIOMENCO (MDA), 3-2

BRONZE: Bekir ATES (TUR) df. Aleksandr ANDREEV (AIN), 6-5
BRONZE: Mairbek SALIMOV (POL) df. Abere FETENE (ISR), 6-2

77kg
GOLD: Khasay HASANLI (AZE) df. Yuksel SARICICEK (TUR), 10-1 

BRONZE: Alexandrin GUTU (MDA) df. Ismail BARAKHOEV (AIN), 3-2
BRONZE: Attila Tamas TOESMAGI (HUN) df. Temuri ORJONIKIDZE (GEO), 5-1

87kg
GOLD: Aues GONIBOV (AIN) df. Achiko BOLKVADZE (GEO), 7-0

BRONZE: Lachin VALIYEV (AZE) df. Ilya MIALESHCHYK (AIN), 4-1
BRONZE: Exauce MUKUBU (NOR) df. Samet YALDIRAN (TUR), 10-0

130kg
GOLD: Mykhailo VYSHNYVETSKYI (UKR) df. Koppany LASZLO (HUN), via fall

BRONZE: Muhammet BAKIR (TUR) df. Marcel ALBINI (CZE), 4-1
BRONZE: Giorgi TSOPURASHVILI (GEO) df. Dmitrii BABORYKO (AIN), 9-1 

Semifinals

60kg
GOLD: Mert ILBARS (TUR) vs. Nihad GULUZADE (AZE)

SF 1: Nihad GULUZADE (AZE) df. Dinislam BAMMATOV (AIN), 9-4
SF 2: Mert ILBARS (TUR) df. Georgios SCARPELLO (GER), 3-1

67kg
GOLD: Azat SARIYAR (TUR) vs. Daniial AGAEV (AIN)

SF 1: Daniial AGAEV (AIN) df. Oleg KHALILOV (UKR), 7-5
SF 2: Azat SARIYAR (TUR) df. Diego CHKHIKVADZE (GEO), 3-3

72kg
GOLD: Giorgi CHKHIKVADZE (GEO) vs. Vilius SAVICKAS (LTU)

SF 1: Giorgi CHKHIKVADZE (GEO) df. Ruslan NURULLAYEV (AZE), 5-4
SF 2: Vilius SAVICKAS (LTU) df. Giovanni ALESSIO (ITA), 2-1

82kg
GOLD: Gurban GURBANOV (AZE) vs. Islam ALIEV (AIN)

SF 1: Gurban GURBANOV (AZE) df. Leon RIVALTA (ITA), 8-0
SF 2: Islam ALIEV (AIN) df. Deni NAKAEV (GER), 8-2

97kg
GOLD: Magomed MURTAZALIEV (AIN) vs. Abubakar KHASLAKHANAU (AIN)

SF 1: Abubakar KHASLAKHANAU (AIN) df. Aapo VIITALA (FIN), via fall (6-2)
SF 2: Magomed MURTAZALIEV (AIN) df. Anton VIEWEG (GER), via fall (10-3)