#WrestleBelgrade

Preliminary Greco-Roman World Championship seeds announced

By Eric Olanowski

BELGRADE, Serbia (August 29) --- United World Wrestling has released the preliminary Greco-Roman seeds for the 2023 World Championships.

The point-based seeds were determined by a wrestler's participation and placement at the 2022 World Championships, 2023 Continental Championships and 2023 Ranking Series events.

Although it's highly unlikely that the brackets play out exactly how their seeded, but if the seeds were to hold true through the finals in the top-eight seeded system, here's how the bracket will look leading up to the gold-medal match:

Quarterfinals:
No. 1 vs. No. 8 (top side)
No. 4 vs. No. 5 (top side)

No. 2 vs. No. 7 (bottom side)
No. 3 vs. No. 6 (bottom side)

Semifinals:
No. 1 vs. No. 4 (top side)
No. 2 vs. No. 3 (bottom side)

Finals:
No. 1 vs. No. 2

*The seeds are based on the current entries provided by National Federations and are subject to change.

World Championships seeds:

55kg
No. 1 - Eldaniz AZIZLI (AZE)
No. 2 - Nugzari TSURTSUMIA (GEO)
No. 3 - Jasurbek ORTIKBOEV (UZB)
No. 4 - Poya Soulat DAD MARZ (IRI)
No. 5 - Rudik MKRTCHYAN (ARM)
No. 6 - Denis Florin MIHAI (ROU)
No. 7 - Artiom DELEANU (MDA)
No. 8 - Marlan MUKASHEV (KAZ)

60kg 
No. 1 - Edmond Armen NAZARYAN (BUL)
No. 2 - Zholaman SHARSHENBEKOV (KGZ)
No. 3 - Kerem KAMAL (TUR)
No. 4 - Liguo CAO (CHN)
No. 5 - Razvan ARNAUT (ROU)
No. 6 - Mehdi Seifollah MOHSEN NEJAD (IRI)
No. 7 - Haithem Mahmoud Ahmed Fahmy MAHMOUD (EGY)
No. 8 - Nihat Zahid MAMMADLI (AZE)


63kg 
No. 1 - Leri ABULADZE (GEO)
No. 2 - Hrachya POGHOSYAN (ARM)
No. 3 - Iman Hossein Khoon MOHAMMADI (IRI)
No. 4 - Mukhamedali MAMURBEK (KAZ)
No. 5 - Shermukhammad SHARIBJANOV (UZB)
No. 6 - Ivan LIZATOVIC (CRO)
No. 7 - Murad MAMMADOV (AZE)
No. 8 - Madiyar MALTEKBAYEV (KAZ)

67kg
No. 1 - Joni KHETSURIANI (GEO)
No. 2 - Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE)
No. 3 - Mate NEMES (SRB)
No. 4 - Mihai Radu MIHUT (ROU)
No. 5 - Murat FIRAT (TUR)
No. 6 - Mohammadreza Abdolhamid GERAEI (IRI)
No. 7 - Amantur ISMAILOV (KGZ)
No. 8 - Luis Alberto ORTA SANCHEZ (CUB)

72kg 
No. 1 - Selcuk CAN (TUR)
No. 2 - Ulvi GANIZADE (AZE)
No. 3 - Ali Feizollah ARSALAN (SRB)
No. 4 - Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamed Hassan GHANEM (FRA)
No. 5 - Ibragim MAGOMADOV (KAZ)
No. 6 - Robert Attila FRITSCH (HUN)
No. 7 - Ramaz ZOIDZE (GEO)
No. 8 - Valentin PETIC (MDA)

77kg
No. 1 - Zoltan LEVAI (HUN)
No. 2 - Yunus Emre BASAR (TUR)
No. 3 - Akzhol MAKHMUDOV (KGZ)
No. 4 - Malkhas AMOYAN (ARM)
No. 5 - Rui LIU (CHN)
No. 6 - Viktor NEMES (SRB)
No. 7 - Aik MNATSAKANIAN (BUL)
No. 8 - Iuri LOMADZE (GEO)

82kg
No. 1 - Burhan AKBUDAK (TUR)
No. 2 - Gela BOLKVADZE (GEO)
No. 3 - Yaroslav FILCHAKOV (UKR)
No. 4 - Rafig HUSEYNOV (AZE)
No. 5 - Dias KALEN (KAZ)
No. 6 - Alireza Azizkhoon MOHMADIPIANI (IRI)
No. 7 - Mihail BRADU (MDA)
No. 8 - Kristoffer Zakarias BERG (SWE)

87kg
No. 1 - Ali CENGIZ (TUR)
No. 2 - David LOSONCZI (HUN)
No. 3 - Alex KESSIDIS (SWE)
No. 4 - Naser Ghasem ALIZADEH (IRI)
No. 5 - Nursultan TURSYNOV (KAZ)
No. 6 - Semen Sergeevich NOVIKOV (BUL)
No.  7 - Jalgasbay BERDIMURATOV (UZB)
No. 8 - Kumar SUNIL (IND)

97kg
No. 1 - Kiril Milenov MILOV (BUL)
No. 2 - Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM)
No. 3 - Mohammadhadi Abdollah SARAVI (IRI)
No. 4 - Nikoloz KAKHELASHVILI (ITA)
No. 5 - Arif NIFTULLAYEV (AZE)
No. 6 - Tamas LEVAI (HUN)
No. 7 - Rustam ASSAKALOV (UZB)
No. 8 - Felix BALDAUF (NOR) 

130kg
No. 1 - Riza KAYAALP (TUR)
No. 2 - Alin ALEXUC CIURARIU (ROU)
No. 3 - Amin MIRZAZADEH (IRI)
No. 4 - Iakobi KAJAIA (GEO)
No. 5 - Lingzhe MENG (CHN)
No. 6 - Dariusz Attila VITEK (HUN)
No. 7 - Oscar PINO HINDS (CUB)
No. 8 - Oskar MARVIK (NOR)

#WrestleZagreb

Zagreb Open 2026 Day 2 Highlights: Yazdani in 97kg final

By Vinay Siwach

ZAGREB, Croatia (February 5) -- The Ranking Series event, Zagreb Open, enters day two and it will be Hassan YAZDANI (IRI) making his 97kg debut for Iran. The Olympic champion at 74kg in 2016, and two-time Olympic silver medalist at 86kg, is chasing that second gold, this time at 97kg.

WATCH LIVE | LIVE MATCH ORDER | DAY 1 RESULTS

13:45: 55kg WW semifinals - World silver medalist Verbina EKATERINA (UWW) with a 1-1 victory over Nagisa HARADA (JPN) in the semifinals. She got an activity point in the second period to keep the criteria lead. Ekaterina will face Karla GODINEZ (CAN) in the final after the Canadian defeated Areana VILLAESCUSA (USA), 2-1, in another low scoring semifinal.

13:30: 50kg WW semifinals - Haruna MORIKAWA (JPN) with a controlled 8-2 win over Elizaveta SMIRNOVA (UWW) at 50kg. She will wrestle NEELAM (IND) for the gold medal. Neelam defeated MUSKAN (IND), 7-4, in an all-Indian semifinal

13:20: 125kg semifinals - A fall for Shamil SHARIPOV (BRN) over Kamil KOSCIOLEK (POL) in just over two minutes as he reaches the final at 125kg. He will face Wyatt HENDRICKSON (USA) in the final after the U.S. wrestler scored an 11-1 win over Robert BARAN (POL).

13:10: 97kg semifinals - Stephen BUCHANAN (USA) with a quick fall over Adlan VISKHANOV (FRA) in the first semifinal. Now he earns himself a chance to wrestle against Hassan YAZDANI (IRI) after Iranian managed another technical superiority win. While it's rare on Yazdani, Andro MARGISHVILI (GEO) scored two takedowns on Yazdani but failed to keep the pressure before losing 14-4

12:55: 92kg semifinals - Mobin AZIMI (IRI) gets a dominant 11-0 win over Dustin PLOTT (USA) as he used a double-leg for four to finish. He earns a chance to avenge his 5-5 loss to Trent HIDLAY (USA) in the final after the American scored another come-from-behind victory. He defeated Michael MACCHIAVELLO (USA), 3-3, to setup the gold medal bout against Azimi

12:40: 79kg semifinals - Zelimkhan KHADJIEV (FRA) is back in the Ranking Series final with a 10-1 victory over Otari ADEISHVILI (GEO). He looked in complete control of the bout. Khadjiev will face Dean HAMITI (USA) for the gold medal after he defeated Evan WICK (USA), 6-5, in a thrilling semifinal

12:15: Trent HIDLAY (USA) once again shows how to come back and win a bout. Down 6-0 against Abofazl RAHMANI (IRI), he scores a four-pointer and keeps the pressure on the Iranian to win 11-9 and make his spot in the semifinal at 92kg.

11:45: Hassan YAZDANI (IRI) gives up a takedown against Richard VEGH (HUN) but that is the only slip in an otherwise dominant bout at 97kg. Two four point throws for Yazdani as he advances to the semifinals.

11:35: Ekaterina VERBINA (UWW) with a big four-pointer in her 5-0 win against Beatrice FERENT (ROU) at 55kg. The world silver medalist is the favorite to win gold here.

11:25: Mobin AZIMI (IRI) bounces back from his loss to Trent HIDLAY (USA) and beats Abolfazl RAHMANI (IRI) in his second bout at 92kg round robin. Azimi managed to score a takedown with less than 30 second left to beat Rahmani 4-3.

11:10: Two quick results at women's 50kg. Haruna MORIKAWA (JPN) beats Kendra RYAN (USA) 12-1 at 50kg before NEELAM (IND) also wins via technical superiority, 10-0, against Agata GOLUCHOWSKA (POL). 

11:00: 92kg world champion Trent HIDLAY (USA) makes a comeback from 5-0 down to beat Mobin AZIMI (IRI) 5-5 in the group stage bout. Hidlay scored a takedown in the second period before adding two stepouts. Iran challenged the second one but lost which gave the criteria lead to Hidlay

10:50: Hassan YAZDANI (IRI) doesn't the trademark jump before entering the mat but his bout against Merab SULEIMANISHVILI (GEO) is a typical Yazdani bout. He uses the underhook to start scoring and then rallies to score takedowns at will before turning Suleimanishvili and winning his bout 11-0

10:45: Magomed SHARIPOV (BRN) wrestled well but it is Yaraslau SLAVIKOUSKI (UWW) who manages to win 6-4 at 97kg and win the opening bout.

10:30: Hassan YAZDANI (IRI) will be on Mat B but before that, a few big results in Zagreb. Richard VEGH (HUN) manages to hang on for a 3-0 victory over Kamil KURUGLIYEV (KAZ) at 97kg.