#Trnava2018

Returning Freestyle World Champs Steveson, Fix Enter #Trnanva2018 Field

Tuesday, September 4, 2018 - 10:58 By Eric Olanowski

TRNAVA, Slovakia (September 4) - Daton FIX (USA) and Gable STEVESON (USA), the duo of American returning champions lead a freestyle #Trnava2018 field that boasts 245 wrestlers from 40 different nations.

Fix, the 55kg champion from a year ago enters the Junior World Championships at 57kg, while Steveson, the 120kg gold-medal winner enters at 125kg.

Steveson will be looking for his fourth age-level world title. Since stepping on the international scene in 2015, Steveson has yet to drop a match on his way to claiming two Cadet World titles, and a Junior World gold medal.

Fix, the three-time world medalist will be trying to win back-to-back Junior World titles while competing in his fifth age-level World Championship. Since taking tenth place at the 2014 Cadet World Championships, Fix has rallied to win two bronzes, and most recently, a gold medal.

Freestyle action begins on Friday, September 21 and will close the Junior World Championships.

ALB
65kg - Eriglent PRIZRENI
125kg - Paris KAREPI

ALG
57kg - Salah Eddine KATEB
65kg - Fares LAKEL
79kg - Oussama ABDELLAOUI
97kg - Mohammed FARDJ

ARM
57kg - Arsen HARUTYUNYAN
61kg - Vazgen TEVANYAN
65kg -  Gegham GALSTYAN
70kg -  Arman ANDREASYAN
74kg - Hrayr ALIKHANYAN
79kg -  Arman AVAGYAN
86kg -  Mher MARKOSYAN
125kg - Hovhannes MAGHAKYAN

AUT
74kg -Simon MARCHL
79kg -Benjamin GREIL

AZE
57kg -  Aliabbas RZAZADE
61kg -  Intigam VALIZADA
65kg -  Royal AGHAMALIYEV
70kg -  Khadzhimurad GADZHIYEV
74kg -  Ismail ABDULLAEV
79kg -  Orkhan ABASOV
86kg -  Magomed ASIYATILOV
92kg -  Askhab HAMZATOV
97kg -  Alimagomed ALIKHMAEV
125kg - Rahid HAMIDLI

BLR
57kg -  Uladzislau KOIKA
61kg -  Dzmitry HERASIMENKA
65kg -  Mikita STRAKH
70kg -  Aliaksandr KURYSHTA
86kg -  Arkadzi PAHASIAN
92kg -  Vasil PAULIUCHENKA
97kg -  Yaraslau SLAVIKOUSKI
125kg - Uladzislau ASIPENKA

BUL
61kg -  Alish Gyoksel ALISH
65kg -  Nikola Delchev LEVENOV
70kg -  Veselin Georgiev PETROV
74kg -  Dzhemal Rushen ALI
79kg -  Oktay Ruzhdi HASAN
86kg -  Ivan Kostadinov STEFANOV
125kg - Daniel Milanov VESELINOV

CAN
57kg -  Brayden TODD
61kg -  Marco PALERMO
65kg -  Connor MCNEICE
70kg -  Gunnar SALES
74kg - Ty BRIDGWATER
86kg - Connor PATTISON
92kg - Hunter LEE
97kg -  Richard DESCHATELETS
125kg - Aly BARGHOUT

CHN
57kg -  Wanhao ZOU
61kg -  Minghu LIU
65kg -  Chao ZHENG
70kg -  Jun ZHAO
74kg -  Yi LI
79kg -  Gangsuhe GANGSUHE
86kg -  Danan XU
92kg -  Awusayiman HABILA
97kg - Qirui BING
125kg - Benxin DUAN

Vojtech PISKOR (CZE), two-time World Team represenative.

CZE
61kg -  David KOPRIVA
86kg -  Vojtech PISKOR
92kg -  Matous VONDAL

EGY
57kg -  Gamal MOHAMED
74kg -  Samy MOUSTAFA
86kg -  Hassan FOUAD

EST
65kg - Marek KUETT
74kg - Erik REINBOK

FRA
61kg - Arman ELOYAN
79kg - Charles AFA

GEO
57kg -  Teimuraz VANISHVILI
61kg -  Ramaz TURMANIDZE
65kg -  Giorgi ELBAKIDZE
70kg -  Iveriko JULAKIDZE
74kg -  Goga MAMIAURI
79kg -  Tornike KVINIKADZE
86kg -  Demur MEGENEISHVILI
92kg -  Beka NADASHVILI
97kg -  Zuriko URTASHVILI
125kg - Aleksi ZHORZHOLIANI

GER
57kg -  Horst Junior LEHR
70kg -  Tino RETTINGER
74kg -  Kevin LUCHT
86kg -  Johannes DEML
92kg -  Ertugrul AGCA

HUN
57kg -  Rajmund FARKAS
70kg -  Botond GULYAS
74kg -  Botond LUKACS
79kg -  Milan MESTER
86kg -  Patrik SZUROVSZKI

Naveen NAVEEN (IND), Junior Asian runner-up. Photo by Sachiko Hotaka.

IND
57kg -  Naveen NAVEEN
61kg -  Suraj Rajkumar KOKATE
65kg -  Karan KARAN
70kg -  Vishal KALIRAMANA
74kg -  Sachin RATHI
79kg -  Sachin GIRI
86kg -  Deepak PUNIA
92kg -  Somveer SOMVEER
97kg -  Hussain NASIR
125kg - Mohit MOHIT

IRI
57kg -  Reza ALIJANZADEHJOUYBARI
61kg -  Mehdi ESHGHIVASOUKOLAEI
65kg -  Amirhossein MAGHSOUDI
70kg -  Amirhossein KAVOUSI
74kg -  Ali SAVADKOUHI
79kg -  Sajjad GHOLAMI
86kg -  Seyedabolfazl HASHEMIJOUYBARI
92kg -  Abbas Ali FOROUTANRAMI
97kg -  Sajad AZIZI
125kg - Amir YARI

ISR
79kg - David LABKOVSKY
86kg -  Uri KALASHNIKOV
125kg - Lior ALTSHULER

JPN
57kg -  Daiki ARAKI
61kg -  Kodai OGAWA
65kg -  Takuma TANIYAMA
70kg -  Jintaro MOTOYAMA
74kg -  Yuto MIWA
79kg -  Hayato ISHIGURO
86kg -  Shutaro YAMADA
92kg -  Takuma OTSU
92kg -  Shohei YAMAZAKI
97kg -  Hiroto NINOMIYA
125kg - Akiho MORI / Kota TOYAMA

Serik BAKYTKHANOV (KAZ), Junior Asian runner-up. Photo by Sachiko Hotaka.

KAZ
57kg -  Rakhat KALZHAN
61kg -  Syrbaz TALGAT
65kg -  Kuanysh DUISENKUL
70kg -  Nurkozha KAIPANOV
74kg -  Aibar ZHYLKAIDAROV
79kg -  Daniyar MELDEBEK
86kg -  Aslan DZICOEV
92kg -  Alisher YERGALI
97kg -  Serik BAKYTKHANOV
125kg - Omar EYUBOV

KOR
57kg -  Hyeonsu CHO
61kg -  Minsu CHO
65kg -  Sangho HAN
70kg -  Jinwoo MOON
74kg -  Gihwan LEE
79kg -  Jaegyun GO
86kg -  Jayong JIN
92kg -  Myeongseok CHOO
97kg -  Hyunsu HAN
125kg - Ki Bum KIM

KSA
57kg - Tuorki HAZOAZI
61kg - Hassan M WADDAN

LTU
65kg - Gytis JOVAISA
79kg - Dominykas VILIUSIS

MDA
57kg -  Ion BUTNARU
61kg -  Leomid COLESNIC
65kg -  Nicolai GRAHMEZ
70kg -  Vasile DIACON
74kg -  Piotr CARASENI
79kg -  Andrian GROSUL
86kg -  Ivan NEDEALCO
92kg -  Gheorghe ERHAN
125kg - Samhan JABRAILOV

BYAMBASUREN Bat-Erdene (MGL), Junior Asian runner-up. Photo by Sachiko Hotaka.

MGL
57kg -  Tumentsogt BOLD
61kg -  Jamsranjav DUGERKHOROL
65kg -  Bud BATBAATAR
70kg -  Tergel TUMURKHUYAG
74kg -  Bat-Erdene BYAMBASUREN
79kg -  Tserendash BAASANDORJ
92kg -  Altangerel CHINBAT
97kg -  Mungunshagai TUMURBAT
125kg - Lkhagvagerel MUNKHTUR

MKD
65kg - Fati VEJSELI

PAK
70kg - Ghulam GHOUS
97kg - Haroon ABID

POL
61kg -  Karol Jakub CZEGUS
70kg -  Szymon WOJTKOWSKI
74kg -  Pawel Tomasz MALICKI
79kg -  Jakub SZYMULA
86kg -  Michal Jan BIELAWSKI
92kg -  Matthew WROBLEWSKI
125kg - Jakub BRYLEWSKI

RSA
61kg - Frederik NORTJE
74kg - Matthew BARTLETT

RUS
57kg -  Akhmed IDRISOV
61kg -  Abasgadzhi MAGOMEDOV
65kg -  Saiyn KAZYRYK
70kg -  Razambek ZHAMALOV
74kg -  Devid BETANOV
79kg -  Aslanbek GVARAMIIA
86kg -  Alik SHEBZUKHOV
92kg -  Khokh KHUGAEV
97kg -  Magomedkhan MAGOMEDOV
125kg - Soslan KHINCHAGOV

SUI
57kg - Nino LEUTERT
70kg - Tobias PORTMANN

SVK
61kg -  Pavol RAPCAN
65kg -  Balazs HAKSZER
70kg -  Daniel CHOMANIC
74kg -  Martin HORINEK
79kg -  Christopher BEDNARIK
92kg -  Dominik PECHA
97kg -  Viliam OROSS

TKM
65kg -  Perman HOMMADOV
86kg -  Azat GAJYYEV
97kg -  Zyyamuhammet SAPAROV

TPE
61kg - Chia Hung CHANG
74kg - Hsiang-Wei WENG

TUR
57kg -  Ahmet TAS
61kg -  Ertugrul KAHVECI
65kg -  Ahmet Salim YIGIT
70kg -  Hasan KAYA
74kg -  Isa DEMIR
79kg -  Ramazan Ishak SARI
86kg -  Arif OZEN
92kg -  Erhan YAYLACI
97kg -  Feyzullah AKTURK
125kg - Oktay GUNGOR

UAE
125kg -Bader ALALI

UKR
57kg -  Andrii DZHELEP
61kg -  Ihor NYKYFORUK
65kg -  Denys BOROHAN
70kg -  Stepan LYLYK
74kg -  Mahomed HADZHYMAHOMEDOV
79kg -  Adlan BATAIEV
86kg - Andrii HYKA
92kg -  Oleksandr BYKANOV
97kg -  Ruslan HEORHIIEV
125kg - Yurii IDZINSKYI

Aaron BROOKS (USA), 2017 Cadet World champion. Photo by Martin Gabor.

USA
57kg -  Brandon COURTNEY
57kg -  Daton FIX
61kg -  Josh SAUNDERS
65kg -  Domonick DEMAS
70kg -  Brady BERGE
74kg -  Mekhi LEWIS
79kg -  Aaron BROOKS
86kg -  Lou DEPREZ
92kg -  Jacob WARNER
97kg -  Daniel KERKVLIET JR
125kg - Gable STEVESON

UZB
57kg -  Gulomjon ABDULLAEV
61kg -  Abbos RAKHMONOV
65kg -  Ikhtiyor NORMURODOV
86kg -  Davlatbek ASHUROV
92kg -  Makhsud VEYSALOV
125kg - Khasanboy RAKHIMOV

#WrestleZagreb

Zagreb Open: Ozaki, Morikawa Mark Golden Return to Olympic Weights

Saturday, February 7, 2026 - 00:43 By Vinay Siwach

ZAGREB, Croatia (February 7) -- Just four months ago, Nonoka OZAKI (JPN) came to Zagreb as a training partner with Miwa MORIKAWA (JPN) at the World Championships.

While Morikawa won the gold medal, Ozaki cheered for her close friend, even writing messages for her on a small bandage that Morikawa put on her cheek.

Back then, Ozaki wished she could compete and become world champions together.

Not the World Championships, but Ozaki and Morikawa won gold medals at the Zagreb Open Ranking Series event on Friday. Ozaki completed a dominant run to win the 62kg title while Morikawa had a bumpy ride to the 68kg gold medal, a weight class above 65kg in which she won the world gold.

"We managed to win gold with the star of Physical Asia," Morikawa wrote on social media referring to a Netflix show in which Ozaki participated.

The two do not train at the same university in Japan but the closeness of their weight classes has allowed them to practice together whenever they get a chance, including being on international tours together.

They were two of the four Japanese wrestlers who won gold medals in Women's Wrestling, joining Sena NAGAMOTO (JPN) at 59kg and Nana IKEHATA (JPN) at 65kg.

Greco-Roman also kicked off at the Zagreb Open, the season-opening Ranking Series event, and the world champion at 63kg Aytjan KHALMAKHANOV (UZB) showed that he has adjusted to the Olympic weight class 67kg, winning gold.

Iran won gold at 63kg after Erfan JARKANI (IRI) defeated CHETAN (IND) in the final.

Ozaki began her day by securing a fall over Irina KUZNETSOVA (KAZ) after building a 12-2 lead, and then pinned Eniko ELEKES (HUN) in the second bout to book a spot in the semifinal.

It was in this bout that Ozaki faced her first struggles of the day against Macey KILTY (USA). Though she ultimately secured a 5-2 win, Ozaki gave up positions against the American wrestler. She would later admit that it was not easy to keep herself calm during the bout.

In the final against Johanna LINDBORG (SWE), a silver medalist from the European Championships, Ozaki scored four different takedowns and looked in complete control. With the 8-0 win, Ozaki won her first Ranking Series gold medal.

Ozaki won the world title at 65kg in 2023 but was a phenom at 62kg when she emerged on the international scene in 2022. But after a slump in form both in Japan and internationally, she missed out on making the Japan team for the 2023 World Championships at 62kg.

However, with Ami ISHII (JPN) qualifying Japan for the 2024 Paris Games without winning a medal opened a door for Ozaki to be at the Olympics.

Ozaki set out on a daunting task of moving to 68kg and not only did she defeat Ishii while being underweight, she managed to win a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics.

Soon after, she decided to move back to 62kg but suffered two back-to-back heartbreaking losses to Olympic champion Sakura MOTOKI (JPN) and failed to make the 2025 world team.

It turned around at the Emperor's Cup in December 2025 as Ozaki avenged her loss to Motoki and earned the right to participate in the Zagreb Open and Asian Championships in April.

Miwa MORIKAWA (JPN) scores a takedown on Nesrin BAS (TUR) during the 68kg final. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

Morikawa, who also moved to 68kg after winning gold at 65kg at the World Championships in 2025, had a hiccup in the final, but managed to get the gold medal against Nesrin BAS (TUR).

The two-time world champion captured her third Ranking Series gold medal and first since 2018 but not before having a tough time on the mat. She began with an 11-0 win over Kateryna ZELENYKH (ROU) and then a 10-0 technical superiority over Alina SHEVCHENKO (UWW).

While the fall over Aleah NICKEL (CAN) in the semifinals was dominant, Morikawa did show some signs of discomfort. That showed up in the final against Bas as Morikawa fell behind 2-0 in the first period. She managed to score a point before the break and cut the lead to 2-1.

Morikawa found a way to score two takedowns in the second period to take a 5-2 lead to capture the gold medal at 68kg.

Bas, who was at the Paris Olympics at 62kg but won world silver medal in 2025 at 72kg, was another wrestler trying to adjust to a new weight class. Her biggest test came in the semifinal against Olympic silver medalist Kennedy BLADES (USA).

Blades led 1-0 at the end of the first period but Bas seemed unfazed. The American was put on the shot clock in the second period and after 30-second activity time exchanged, Bas took a 1-1 criteria lead. Bas also got a point for stepout to make it 2-1.

She then defended the lead until the end of the time to claim a victory over Blades and a spot in the final against Morikawa. Bas is likely to continue at the weight and the silver medal in Zagreb will be a huge boost for her going forward.

Khalmakhanov adjusts to 67kg

Another star wrestler shifting to an Olympic weight class was 63kg world champion Khalmakhanov and he performed strongly at 67kg. His first battle came in the semifinal when he faced Kyotaro SOGABE (JPN).

But an arm-throw and turn gave him a 6-0 lead against Sogabe who got a few stepouts in the bout. Khalmakhanov scored two correct throws to add four more points in the bout and got one point for a lost challenge to win 11-5.

From the other side of the bracket, Diego CHKHIKVADZE (GEO) made it to the final after beating Katsuaki ENDO (JPN), 11-3, in the semifinals.

For the gold medal, Khalmakhanov and Chkhikvadze were matched evenly. While the scoreline points to a low-scoring bout, both wrestlers left it all on the mat.

Chkhikvadze was the first to get par terre but he failed to score any more points from the position and led 1-0 at the break. Khalmakhanov also got a point for the par terre position in the second period but Chkhikvadze held criteria.

The Georgian managed to score a stepout to extend his lead to a clear 2-1 score. But as the bout grew in intensity, it was Chkhikvadze who suffered, giving up a stepout with less than 30 seconds left.

With the score at 2-2, Khalmakhanov held criteria for the last point scored. He managed to hold his lead and won the gold medal in Zagreb, thus making a smooth transition to the Olympic weight class, three months after winning bronze at the Islamic Solidarity Games at 67kg.

RESULTS

Women's Wrestling

59kg
GOLD: Sena NAGAMOTO (JPN) df. Alexis JANIAK (USA), 10-0

BRONZE: Elena BRUGGER (GER) df. Hiunai HURBANOVA (AZE), via fall (7-0)
BRONZE: Abigail NETTE (USA) df. Iris SLATKA (CRO), via fall (10-0)

62kg
GOLD: Nonoka OZAKI (JPN) df. Johanna LINDBORG (SWE), 8-0

BRONZE: Macey KILTY (USA) df. Eniko ELEKES (HUN), via fall
BRONZE: ANJLI (IND) df. Bhagyashree FAND (IND), 5-4

65kg
GOLD: Nana IKEHATA (JPN)
SILVER: PULKIT (IND)
BRONZE: Kriszta INCZE (ROU)

68kg
GOLD: Miwa MORIKAWA (JPN) df. Nesrin BAS (TUR), 5-2

BRONZE: NISHA (IND) df. Kennedy BLADES (USA), via inj. def.
BRONZE: Alina SHEVCHENKO (UWW) df. Aleah NICKEL (CAN), 9-0

Greco-Roman

63kg
GOLD: Erfan JARKANI (IRI) df. CHETAN (IND), 8-4

BRONZE: Vitalie ERIOMENCO (MDA) df. Khusniddin OLIMBOEV (UZB), 6-1
BRONZE: Meysam DALKHANI (IRI) df. Dastan ZARLYKHANOV (KAZ), 8-0

67kg
GOLD: Aytjan KHALMAKHANOV (UZB) df. Diego CHKHIKVADZE (GEO), 2-2

BRONZE: Kyotaro SOGABE (JPN) df. Valentin PETIC (MDA), 5-0
BRONZE: Katsuaki ENDO (JPN) df. Mahmoud KAMALI (IRI), 3-2

Returning Freestyle World Champs Steveson, Fix Enter #Trnanva2018 Field

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Zagreb Open: Ozaki, Morikawa Mark Golden Return to Olympic Weights