#WrestleBelgrade

Tokyo silvers Fumita, Aleksanyan book Paris Olympic trip in Belgrade

By Vinay Siwach

BELGRADE, Serbia (September 22) – Two Tokyo Olympic silver medalists will look to win a gold medal in Paris next year after Kenichiro FUMITA (JPN) and Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM) qualified for the Paris Olympics by reaching the final in the respective weight classes at the World Championships in Belgrade.

Fumita, a two-time world champion, reached the final at 60kg while Aleksanyan, a three-time Olympic medalist including gold, reached the gold medal bout at 97kg.

Kyrgyzstan and Cuba earned Paris Olympic quotas as well with world champion Zholaman SHARSHENBEKOV (KGZ) reaching the final at 60kg and Gabriel ROSILLO (CUB) at 97kg after he stunned Tokyo bronze medalist Mohammadhadi SARAVI (IRI) in the semifinal.

Fumita defeated Gevorg GHARIBYAN (ARM), who defeated returning silver medalist Edmond NAZARYAN (BUL) in the first round, 5-1 in the semifinal as he got two turns from par terre while defending successfully when he was put in the same position.

But the Japan star's biggest test was in the first bout when he faced former world champion Victor CIOBANU (MDA). Fumita was saved by a challenge from the Japan corner after Ciobanu was awarded a takedown and a four-point throw. In the replay, it was seen that Ciobanu blocked Fumita's attack by hands below Fumita's waist. As a result, Fumita was awarded two penalty points.

The two also met in the quarterfinals at the 2019 World Championships, with Fumita notching a wild 12-5 win en route to his second career gold.

“In the first round, more than my ability, it was the decision of the gods,” Fumita said. “I didn't feel like he touched my leg. But it was definitively shown and I went on to win. If there is a wrestling god, I thought I can't waste the opportunity it gave me.”

As per Japan federation rules, a wrestler who earns the Paris Olympic quota with a medal at the World Championships automatically secures a spot on the Japanese team to Paris.

For Fumita, the trip to Paris will be extra special as his father, who was also his high school coach, and his wife will join him on the trip.

“My condition is not at the very best,” he said. “I went through various things to get here. But my feeling is strong that I have to return with [the Paris berth]. My father also really wants me to take him to Paris. My wife, too. I'm really happy that I can proudly bring them with me to the arena in Paris.”

The 3-1 win over Ciobanu and the 5-1 victory in the semifinal were unlike the Fumita of old. The Japanese star was known for his big moves, which even cost him a few bouts in the past, but he has made peace with his subdued way of wrestling to earn wins.

“Last year was really disappointing,” he said. “But if that's the way world wrestling is, instead of doing spectacular moves, to win I can just be very basic. I've spent the past year thinking about it. It's really plain now. Honestly speaking, it's not interesting for me to do it. And it's probably not interesting to watch.”

Fumita will hope to continue his form in the final against defending champion Sharshenbekov who he defeated in the Asian Championships final 4-0 in 2020 in New Delhi.

“He's the defending champion and I'll be the one as the challenger. I'll try to do like I did four years ago,” Fumita said referring to his gold-medal run in Astana in 2019.

Zholaman SHARSHENBEKOV (KGZ)Zholaman SHARSHENBEKOV (KGZ) won his semifinal against Mehdi MOHSEN NEJAD (IRI) 4-3. (Photo: UWW / Kostadin Andonov)

Sharshenbekov has since improved significantly, winning the World and Asian Championships last year along with the world silver in 2021.

He was in a league of his own, making it to the semifinal against Mehdi MOHSEN NEJAD (IRI) with three technical superiority wins.

Mohsen Nejad was on his way to upset the world champion but Sharshenbekov scored a stepout to earn a 4-3 lead and defended it to beat the Iranian.

Sharshenbekov led 3-0 after a front roll from par terre but gave up a takedown when failing to get through a headlock. Mohsen Nejad got the criteria 3-3 lead when Sharshenbekov was called passive in the second period but that was short-lived as Sharshenbekov scored a stepout for one point.

At 97kg, Aleksanyan showed unreal par terre game winning three of his four bouts when his opponent was put in the par terre. He took only a minute and 57 seconds to beat Artur OMAROV (CZE) in the quarterfinal and five seconds more to beat Mindaugas VENCKAITIS (LTU) in the semifinals.

Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM)Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM) works a gut-wrench against Mindaugas VENCKAITIS (LTU). (Photo: UWW / Amirreza Aliasgari)

Aleksanyan will look to win his fifth world title on Saturday against former U20 world champion and Tokyo Olympian Rossilo who secured a 3-0 win over 2021 world champion and returning bronze medalist Saravi in the semifinal.

Rosillo got the 1-0 lead when Saravi was called passive in the first period. But he used an arm drag to body-lock Saravi and get two points for a correct throw. Saravi never got going after that.

Rosillo's win brings Peter OHLER (GER), Rustam ASSAKALOV (UZB), and U20 world champion Abubakar KHASLAKHANAU (AIN) to the repechage. One of them will wrestle Saravi for the bronze medal.

In the only non-Olympic weight class in action on Friday, 72kg, returning world champion Ali ARSALAN (SRB), silver medalist Ulvi GANIZADE (AZE) and bronze medalist Selcuk CAN (TUR) failed to reach the final.

Ibrahim GHANEM (FRA) became the first French Greco-Roman wrestler since 2014 to reach the final of the World Championships after he defeated Can 4-0 in the semifinals while Robert FRITSCH (HUN) managed to see off Shingo HARADA (JPN) 3-1 in the other semifinal.

Fritsch, who lost to Arsalan last year, was trailing 9-5 in the quarterfinal against Arsalan but scored a pin over the Serb who seemed to have given up due to exhaustion.

With Arsalan's loss, U20 world champion Daniel SHORABI (IRI) will return to Iran without a medal as he lost to Arsalan 7-7.

#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)