#WrestleSamokov

U20 World Championships 2025 Entries

By United World Wrestling Press

SAMOKOV, Bulgaria (August 5) -- The U20 World Championships will kick off in Samokov, Bulgaria from August 17 to 24, an eight-day tournament.

Around 650 are expected to compete in Freestyle, Women's Wrestling and Greco-Roman with Freestyle kicking off the tournament followed by Women's Wrestling. Greco-Roman will the World Championships on August 24.

The full schedule of the U20 World Championships can be found here.

The competition will be live on UWW+ and followed United World Wrestling on YouTube, Instagram, X, Facebook.

Note: The entries are subject to change 72 hours before the draw of respective styles. For final draw, refer to UWW Arena.

UWW

Freestyle

57kg
Arman HARUTYUNYAN (ARM)
Vasif BAGHIROV (AZE)
Caio DUARTE ARON (BRA)
Esad BOZALI (BUL)
Chengtao WANG (CHN)
Nika ZANGALADZE (GEO)
Karoly BARATH (HUN)
Sumit MALIK (IND)
Arshia HADDADI (IRI)
Riccardo BONANNO (ITA)
Irie JACKSON (JAM)
Rin SAKAMOTO (JPN)
Nurdanat AITANOV (KAZ)
Baiaman KERIMBEKOV (KGZ)
Inseong BAK (KOR)
Ben TARIK (MAR)
Ion BULGARU (MDA)
Hayden ANCHETA (PHI)
Ethan RIVERA (PUR)
Nurettin KAPAL (TUR)
Mykola BRATOV (UKR)
Anthony KNOX (USA)
Herbert AKAPIAN (UWW)
Magomed OZDAMIROV (UWW)

61kg
Sargis BEGOYAN (ARM)
Farhad HAJIYEV (AZE)
Erdal GALIP (BUL)
Karson BROWN (CAN)
Anchao LU (CHN)
Danoush JOWKAR (GBR)
Saba GAMBASHIDZE (GEO)
Ajay KAPADE (IND)
Ahora KHATERI (IRI)
Pasquale LIUZZI (ITA)
Takuto OSEDO (JPN)
Allan ORALBEK (KAZ)
Askat TOKTOMATOV (KGZ)
Vasili LAZAREV (MDA)
Stefan STOJKOV (MKD)
Ivan OKSIUK (POL)
Omar AYOUB (PUR)
Sandro HUNGERBUEHLER (SUI)
Robert MESZAROS (SVK)
Haci ZADE (TUR)
Andrii SHOKALIUK (UKR)
Marcus BLAZE (USA)
Adlan SAITIEV (UWW)
Magomedkhan MAGAMEDKHANOV (UWW)
Abdulloh KHABIBULLAEV (UZB)

65kg
Arman MUSIKYAN (ARM)
Agha GASIMOV (AZE)
Denis NAIM (BUL)
Khalin RADEV (CAN)
Duxi GANG (CHN)
Janar LIPS (EST)
Lazare GUJARAIDZE (GEO)
Aik KAZARIAN (GRE)
Mozes LASZLO (HUN)
ASHWANI (IND)
Aliasghar TATHASHTIKEH (IRI)
Alessandro NINI (ITA)
Reiji UCHIDA (JPN)
Yeraly ZHENISSOV (KAZ)
Omurbek ASAN UULU (KGZ)
Ion BERGHI (MDA)
Janchivdorj TUVDUU (MGL)
Kaige BROWN (NZL)
Benjamin BOEJTHE (ROU)
Samilj DADAJEV (SRB)
Abdullah TOPRAK (TUR)
Viktor BOROHAN (UKR)
Luke STANICH (USA)
Amal DZHANDUBAEV (UWW)
Sanjarbek RUSTAMBEKOV (UZB)

70kg
Artavazd HARUTYUNYAN (ARM)
Nurlan AGHAZADA (AZE)
Kaloyan ATANASOV (BUL)
Kade BROWN (CAN)
Tao WEI (CHN)
Tristan FORSMAN MENDEZ (CRC)
Denis KODAKOV GIL (ESP)
Abdoullah NAKAEV (FRA)
Goga OTINASHVILI (GEO)
SAGAR (IND)
Ebrahim ELAHI (IRI)
Daniele GUBBIOTTI (ITA)
Kairi ITO (JPN)
Sungkar SEIDAKHMET (KAZ)
Zalkarbek TABALDIEV (KGZ)
Oleg KNISEVSKIJ (LTU)
Alexandr GAIDARLI (MDA)
Gabriel SANCHEZ (MEX)
Dominik JAGUSZ (POL)
Eduard LENARD (ROU)
Umut USLU (TUR)
Prokip KRALIA (UKR)
PJ DUKE (USA)
Islam KAZHAROV (UWW)

74kg
Vladimir AZARYAN (ARM)
Aghanazar NOVRUZOV (AZE)
Stiliyan DZHOROV (BUL)
Nicholas HOOPER (CAN)
Tao SHEN (CHN)
Omar MOURAD (EGY)
Nikolai TARASSOV (EST)
Saba KOBAKHIDZE (GEO)
Manuel WAGIN (GER)
Parvinder SINGH (IND)
Mahdi MAMIVAND (IRI)
Raul CASO (ITA)
Kanata YAMAGUCHI (JPN)
Dosszhan KUL GAIYP (KAZ)
Adilet AKYLBEKOV (KGZ)
Titas PIJORAITIS (LTU)
Catalin SPINU (MDA)
Andrew BARBOSA (MEX)
Tolui MUNKHBAT (MGL)
Vatan ANNAORAZOV (TKM)
Aslan OZTURK (TUR)
Bohdan OLIINYK (UKR)
Ladarion LOCKETT (USA)
Aliaksandr VIARBITSKI (UWW)
Ismail KHANIEV (UWW)
Umarkhon MUYDINOV (UZB)

79kg
Narek NIKOGHOSYAN (ARM)
Muradkhan OMAROV (AZE)
Leandro ARAUJO (BRA)
Ivan ANDONOV (BUL)
Loki BIGRAS (CAN)
Bolati NA ERTAI (CHN)
David KODAKOV GIL (ESP)
Tristan ALEKSANDROV (EST)
Davit TCHETCHELASHVILI (GEO)
Marat KARDANOV (GER)
Avraam MOUSTOPOULOS (GRE)
AMIT (IND)
Mahdi YOUSEFI (IRI)
Daniel SIMONIAN (ISR)
Keyvan GHAREHDAGHI (JPN)
Yerkhan ABIL (KAZ)
Maksat TABYLDYEV (KGZ)
Ion MARCU (MDA)
Gan BAATARKHUU (MGL)
Antoni MAJCHRZAK (POL)
David TARTAN (ROU)
Alp Arslan BEGENJOV (TKM)
Suleyman SANLI (TUR)
Bohdan OLEKSIIENKO (UKR)
William HENCKEL (USA)
Muslim MAKHMUDAU (UWW)
Said SAIDULOV (UWW)

86kg
Razmik YEPREMYAN (ARM)
Tabriz BAYRAMOV (AZE)
Grigor CHERNAKOV (BUL)
Rohit BAL (CAN)
Yuanchong YANG (CHN)
Ali UMKHADJIEV (FRA)
Dachi PAPINASHVILI (GEO)
Panagiotis POLYCHRONIDIS (GRE)
Mukul DAHIYA (IND)
Abolfazl RAHMANI (IRI)
Tomer DROZHNIAK (ISR)
Ryogo ASANO (JPN)
Kassymzhomart ALIN (KAZ)
Elnur AKYBAEV (KGZ)
Alexandru BORS (MDA)
Bartlomiej NOWAKOWSKI (POL)
Nick SCHERRER (SUI)
Dovletgeldi MYRADOV (TKM)
Ahmet YAGAN (TUR)
Pavlo VASKOVSKYI (UKR)
Maxwell MCENELLY (USA)
Bozigit ISLAMGEREEV (UWW)

92kg
Narek IKILIKYAN (ARM)
Anar JAFARLI (AZE)
Nikola STEFANOV (BUL)
Michealjeet Singh GREWAL (CAN)
Zixu YUAN (CHN)
Teimuraz KOCHKIANI (GEO)
Grigorios SARIDIS (GRE)
Musza ARSUNKAEV (HUN)
SACHIN (IND)
Toohid NOORY (IRI)
Sorato KANAZAWA (JPN)
Kamil KURUGLIYEV (KAZ)
Serghei VIZII (MDA)
Omer MEMEDI (MKD)
Orazmuhammet HOJALYYEV (TKM)
Hamza KUCUK (TUR)
Yehor HOROKH (UKR)
Connor MIRASOLA (USA)
Aliaksei KULAKOU (UWW)
Gadzhimurad GADZHIBATYROV (UWW)
Sherzod POYONOV (UZB)

97kg
Ravan MUSAYEV (AZE)
Andriyan VALKANOV (BUL)
Tejvir Singh DHINSA (CAN)
Jiawei LI (CHN)
Aabdelrahman SHEYATAN (EGY)
Ashab DADAEV (FRA)
Konstantine PETRIASHVILI (GEO)
Nikolaos KARAVANOS (GRE)
Peter ZSIVNOVSZKI (HUN)
VISHAL (IND)
Erfan ALIZADEH (IRI)
Noah LEIBOWITZ (JPN)
Samir DURSUNOV (KAZ)
Aitenir MAKSATOV (KGZ)
Otgonbayar LUVSANDORJ (MGL)
Ibrahim BENEKLI (TUR)
Kostiantyn ZADOIANCHUK (UKR)
Justin RADEMACHER (USA)
Aliaksei KHADUNOU (UWW)
Magomedgadzhi MAGOMEDOV (UWW)

125kg
Henrik HAYKYAN (ARM)
Yusif DURSUNOV (AZE)
Dian MANEV (BUL)
Chanjot KANG (CAN)
Ruijie LI (CHN)
Levan LAGVILAVA (FRA)
Aleksandre ABRAMISHVILI (GEO)
Jaspoorn SINGH (IND)
Abolfazl NEZHAD (IRI)
Hosei FUJITA (JPN)
Yedige KASSIMBEK (KAZ)
Zhargalan BUDAZHAPOV (KGZ)
Baejoon JANG (KOR)
Narantulga DARMAABAZAR (MGL)
Sertac AKSOY (TUR)
Ivan MYROSHNYCHENKO (UKR)
Cole MIRASOLA (USA)
Inal GAGLOEV (UWW)

Sakura ONISHI (JPN)Defending and senior Asian champion Sakura ONISHI (JPN) will be in Samokov at 59kg. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Women's Wrestling

50kg
Kamryn MASON (CAN)
Na HU (CHN)
Juliette LESCURE (FRA)
Josephine WRENSCH (GER)
Laura FATH (HUN)
SHRUTI (IND)
Rinka OGAWA (JPN)
Meiramgul AKHMETZHAN (KAZ)
Dilnaz ABDYKADYROVA (KGZ)
Lonisa REKA (KOS)
Adriana DANISEVICIUTE (LTU)
Olivia VAN KLEUNEN (NED)
Anna YATSKEVYCH (POL)
Reka HEGEDUS (SVK)
Songul KAVAK (TUR)
Diana RYSOVA (UKR)
Audrey JIMENEZ (USA)
Sviatlana KATENKA (UWW)
Violetta BIRIUKOVA (UWW)
Nilufar NURMUKHAMMADOVA (UZB)

53kg
Nikol ALEKSANDROVA (BUL)
Brooklyn GLASGOW (CAN)
Tianyu SUN (CHN)
Lisette BOETTKER (EST)
Liliana KAPUVARI (HUN)
SAARIKA (IND)
Angela CRAPIO CASAROLA (ITA)
Natsumi MASUDA (JPN)
Dorentina NEZAJ (KOS)
Ilona VALCHUK (POL)
Ana ROTARU (ROU)
Ya Hsin CHEN (TPE)
Sevval CAYIR (TUR)
Anastasiia POLSKA (UKR)
Abigale COOPER (USA)
Ekaterina CHIKANOVA (UWW)
Kseniya KOSTSENICH (UWW)

55kg
Nesrin SYULEYMANOVA (BUL)
Madisyn GROF (CAN)
Jing HONG (CHN)
Pau GIMENO FRANCO (ESP)
Lilya COHEN (FRA)
Evdoxia PAPADOPOULOU (GRE)
Gerda TEREK (HUN)
REENA (IND)
Fabiana RINELLA (ITA)
So TSUTSUI (JPN)
Aliana MAKHAMBETOVA (KAZ)
Khaliun BYAMBASUREN (MGL)
Amelia TOMALA (POL)
Alexandra VOICULESCU (ROU)
Tuba DEMIR (TUR)
Diana KOTVYTSKA (UKR)
Everest LEYDECKER (USA)
Kira SOLOBCHUK (UWW)

57kg
Agnia KRAKOVSKA (CAN)
RIXIWANGMU (CHN)
Romaissa EL KHARROUBI (FRA)
Anna KOEBLO (HUN)
TAPSYA (IND)
Sowaka UCHIDA (JPN)
Anna STRATAN (KAZ)
Eunso CHO (KOR)
Inna ALIMOVA (LTU)
Csilla VAN OS (NED)
Felicitas DOMAJEVA (NOR)
Tindra DALMYR (SWE)
Busra CENGIZ (TUR)
Alina FILIPOVYCH (UKR)
Carissa QURESHI (USA)
Darya ILYASEVICH (UWW)
Dolzhon TSYNGUEVA (UWW)
Sandugash DJENBAEVA (UZB)

59kg
Hiunai HURBANOVA (AZE)
Viktoria BOYNOVA (BUL)
Ella FINDING (CAN)
Yifan ZHU (CHN)
Rahma BEDIWY (EGY)
Rosa MOLINA (ESP)
Eda BALAZS (HUN)
NEHA (IND)
Sakura ONISHI (JPN)
Anel SHOKAYEVA (KAZ)
Anna TIELIEGINA (LTU)
Madalina PRISACARI (MDA)
Erdenebolor LKHAGVASUREN (MGL)
Karin SAMUELSSON (SWE)
Kai Yi LI (TPE)
Sevim AKBAS (TUR)
Mariia MIZIURKO (UKR)
Aubre KRAZER (USA)
Elena KUROVA (UWW)
Marta HETMANAVA (UWW)

62kg
Ruzanna MAMMADOVA (AZE)
Ivena BLIZNAKOVA (BUL)
Annika FINES (CAN)
YANGZHEN (CHN)
Nella HONKANIEMI (FIN)
Naemi LEISTNER (GER)
Mairi MANI (GRE)
ANJLI (IND)
Shirin TAKEMOTO (JPN)
Aidana SHORAYEVA (KAZ)
Gabriela RUDOI (MDA)
Neevis RODRIGUEZ (MEX)
Tzu Ling WU (TPE)
Busra EFE (TUR)
Anna KARBOVSKA (UKR)
Haylie JAFFEE (USA)
Ekaterina RADYSHEVA (UWW)
Karyna FISHCHUK (UWW)
Nigina SABIROVA (UZB)

65kg
Mackenzie CAYER (CAN)
Zaixue RUI (CHN)
Mouda HAMDOUN (EGY)
Leonie STEIGERT (GER)
Nikoleta BARMPA (GRE)
Viktoria PUPP (HUN)
Mansi BHADANA (IND)
Momoko KITADE (JPN)
Kyzzhibek ZHARKYNBAYEVA (KAZ)
Asema ANARKULOVA (KGZ)
Narkhajid NYAMSUREN (MGL)
Emilija JAKOVLJEVIC (SRB)
Viktoria FOELDESIOVA (SVK)
Saga SVENSSON (SWE)
Kang Yu CHIANG (TPE)
Beyza AKKUS (TUR)
Iryna BORYSIUK (UKR)
Daniella NUGENT (USA)
Aliautsina SHKURATAVA (UWW)
Margarita SALNAZARIAN (UWW)
Mukhayyo NARZILLOEVA (UZB)

68kg
Joseth MAVUNGU (ANG)
Eduarda RODRIGUES BATISTA (BRA)
Ilinka STEFANOVA (BUL)
Lene MCCRACKIN (CAN)
Wenjin QIU (CHN)
Laura KOEHLER (GER)
Maja MUNK (HUN)
SRISHTI (IND)
Ray HOSHINO (JPN)
Sabina TOREY (KAZ)
Gulnura TASHTANBEKOVA (KGZ)
Yeonwoo SONG (KOR)
Lorena DURAJ (KOS)
Odzaya ERDENEBAT (MGL)
Dominika POCHOWSKA (POL)
Maria PANTIRU (ROU)
Masa PEROVIC (SRB)
Michaela SEBOEKOVA (SVK)
Sheng Fang CAI (TPE)
Ayse ERKAN (TUR)
Oleksandra RYBAK (UKR)
Jordyn FOUSE (USA)
Liliana KAZMINA (UWW)

72kg
Zahra KARIMZADA (AZE)
Emili APOSTOLOVA (BUL)
Yuqi LIU (CHN)
Veronika VILK (CRO)
Petra MUELLER (HUN)
KAJAL (IND)
Ai SAKAI (JPN)
Meiramgul MAKSOT (KAZ)
Kaiyrkul SHARSHEBAEVA (KGZ)
Auguste GENDVILAITE (LTU)
Karolina JAWORSKA (POL)
Elvira ERSSON (SWE)
Haticenur SARI (TUR)
Daria KONSTANTYNOVA (UKR)
Jasmine ROBINSON (USA)
Viktoryia ALISEYENKA (UWW)
Kristina BRATCHIKOVA (UWW)

76kg
Rupinder JOHAL (CAN)
Cancan LIU (CHN)

Veronika NYIKOS (HUN)
PRIYA (IND)
Ayano MORO (JPN)
Alina YERTOSTIK (KAZ)
Aizharkyn ZHANYBEKOVA (KGZ)
Tuvshinjargal TARAV (MGL)
Evelin UJHELJI (SRB)
Elmira YASIN (TUR)
Nadiia SOKOLOVSKA (UKR)
Naomi SIMON (USA)
Diana TITOVA (UWW)
Sevinchoy POLVONOVA (UZB)

Erzu ZAKRIEV (UWW)Erzu ZAKRIEV (UWW), the 63kg world U20 champion, will wrestle at 67kg. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Greco-Roman

55kg
Armen GEVORGYAN (ARM)
Turan DASHDAMIROV (AZE)
Yordan TOPALOV (BUL)
Huoying SHI (CHN)
Filip BARTOSIK (CZE)
Koba KARUMIDZE (GEO)
Lenny WOERNER (GER)
Anil MOR (IND)
Payam AHMADI (IRI)
Daisuke MORISHITA (JPN)
Arsen ZHUMA (KAZ)
Omur YNTYMAK UULU (KGZ)
Abdallah DAHMANI (MAR)
Maxim SARMANOV (MDA)
Raducu BEDRIAGA (ROU)
Nuryagdy DOVRANOV (TKM)
Mehmet SARP (TUR)
Nazarii BABINSKYI (UKR)
Caleb NOBLE (USA)
Ivan SOLOMIN (UWW)
Rasim IBRAHIMAU (UWW)
Jonpulat TULKINBOEV (UZB)

60kg
Yurik MKHITARYAN (ARM)
Aykhan JAVADOV (AZE)
Pedro DE SOUZA (BRA)
Kristin PETROV (BUL)
Augusto VARGAS (CHI)
Yunlong HU (CHN)
Noa LJUBIC (CRO)
Ahmed SHABAN (EGY)
Lucas LO GRASSO (FRA)
Vakhtang LOLUA (GEO)
SURAJ (IND)
Mohammadamin ABDEVALI (IRI)
Takuma NAKASHIMA (JPN)
Salamat MURATULY (KAZ)
Kubanych ARINOV (KGZ)
Sorin COSTIN (MDA)
Kacper SOBCZYK (POL)
Dragos DRAGA (ROU)
Adam SILVERIN (SWE)
Husniddin ULUGBEKOV (TKM)
Omer ALTAS (TUR)
Maksut SULTANOV (UKR)
Isaiah CORTEZ (USA)
Danila CHARAPENKA (UWW)
Papik DZHAVADIAN (UWW)
Khurshidbek NORMUKHAMMADOV (UZB)

63kg
Aleks MARGARYAN (ARM)
Tural AHMADOV (AZE)
Kristiyan MILENKOV (BUL)
Hao YANG (CHN)
Clisman CARRACEDO (ECU)
Al Bara CHOPALAEV (EST)
Tsotne BUKIA (GEO)
Lukas BENZING (GER)
Bende OLASZ (HUN)
GAURAV (IND)
Javad ABOUTALEBI (IRI)
Manato NAKAMURA (JPN)
Damir IBRASHOV (KAZ)
Emirlan DUISHENALIEV (KGZ)
Dumitru RAPESCO (MDA)
Ilias LAAOUINA (NED)
Ionut MEREUTA (ROU)
William EKEROT (SWE)
Murat ARIKOGLU (TUR)
Vadym MATROS (UKR)
Landon DRURY (USA)
Igor PUNCHENKO (UWW)
Yauheni SHVED (UWW)
Aytjan KHALMAKHANOV (UZB)

67kg
Narek GRIGORIAN (ARM)
Isa BEKTEMIROV (AUT)
Faraim MUSTAFAYEV (AZE)
Lucas MARCIEL DA SILVA (BRA)
Dimitar GEORGIEV (BUL)
Zhaoyan LIU (CHN)
Martin CICHY (CZE)
Mohamed ABDELREHIM (EGY)
Ilian DOUBACH (FRA)
Anri KHOZREVANIDZE (GEO)
Kevin KARL (GER)
Attila JOZSA (HUN)
ANUJ (IND)
Gholamreza ABDOVALI (IRI)
Takaku SUZUKI (JPN)
Alibek TURLYGAZY (KAZ)
Zhantoro MIRZALIEV (KGZ)
Mingun JEONG (KOR)
Vlad DANALACHI (MDA)
Jakub SUCHECKI (POL)
Pavel ALEXE (ROU)
Dejan BERKEC (SRB)
Saya BRUNNER (SUI)
Abdullah KESKIN (TUR)
Vladyslav POKOTYLO (UKR)
Otto BLACK (USA)
Erzu ZAKRIEV (UWW)
Ihar ZVARYKIN (UWW)
Fayozbek ESHMIRZAEV (UZB)

72kg
Gaspar TERTERYAN (ARM)
Seymur GASIMOV (AZE)
Sergey STOEV (BUL)
Xin CHEN (CHN)
Jure RAJKOVIC (CRO)
Shaaban IBRAHIM (EGY)
Oliver PADA (FIN)
Aleksandre RUSITASHVILI (GEO)
Arionas KOLITSOPOULOS (GRE)
Bendeguz FELKAI (HUN)
VINIT (IND)
Ahmadreza MOHAMADIAN (IRI)
Timur NADORGIN (ISR)
Daichi TSUTSUMI (JPN)
Yussuf ASHRAPOV (KAZ)
Kutman TEMIRBEKOV (KGZ)
Vladimir PASCARI (MDA)
Jorge GOMEZ (MEX)
Hubert SIDORUK (POL)
Ruben STRAAKEVED (SWE)
Ibrahim OZDEMIR (TUR)
Anatolii PASNAK (UKR)
Joel ADAMS (USA)
Rabil ASKEROV (UWW)
Ahmad KODIROV (UZB)

77kg
Samvel TERTERYAN (ARM)
Davud MAMMADOV (AZE)
Azis ATANASOV (BUL)
Renheng CEN (CHN)
Miro LEINONEN (FIN)
Anri PUTKARADZE (GEO)
Dominik BOTOS (HUN)
AMAN (IND)
Ahoura BOUVEIRI PIANI (IRI)
Ruslan NESTERENKO (ISR)
Naoki KADODE (JPN)
Akzhan YKYLASSOV (KAZ)
Raatbek PAIAZBEKOV (KGZ)
Constantin TASCA (MDA)
Zalan PEK (SRB)
Yusuf TOSUN (TUR)
Petro SHAFRANSKYI (UKR)
Leister BOWLING (USA)
Kiryl VALEUSKI (UWW)
Zaur BESLEKOEV (UWW)
Amirshoh VAHOBOV (UZB)

82kg
Martik PETROSYAN (ARM)
Elmin ALIYEV (AZE)
Martin SHISHEKOV (BUL)
Shengsong WANG (CHN)
Mihael LUKAC (CRO)
Santeri KARPPINEN (FIN)
Anri DAVITADZE (GEO)
Dominic ARNOLD (GER)
Emmanouil NIKOLAIDIS (GRE)
Szabolcs SZINAY (HUN)
PRINCE (IND)
Hamed AZARSHAB (IRI)
Taizo YOSHIDA (JPN)
Dias SEITKALIYEV (KAZ)
Yrisbek KALYEV (KGZ)
Oskar LUBERA (POL)
Antal VAMOS (SRB)
Omer ILDES (TUR)
Kyrylo SHNYROV (UKR)
Arvin KHOSRAVY (USA)
Mikhail SHKARIN (UWW)
Azimjon SOATULLAEV (UZB)

87kg
Erik TER MATEVOSYAN (ARM)
Paul MAIER (AUT)
Orkhan HAJIYEV (AZE)
Petyo ANGELOV (BUL)
Tianming ZHANG (CHN)
Antonio LUKAC (CRO)
Josef CERNY (CZE)
Elias LYYSKI (FIN)
Luka KOCHALIDZE (GEO)
ROHIT (IND)
Amirsam MOHAMMADI (IRI)
Itzhak NEMSADZE (ISR)
Isshin ONITSUKA (JPN)
Temirlan TURDAKYN (KAZ)
Adilet KENZHEBEKOV (KGZ)
Martin LJOSAAK (NOR)
Wojciech IWANOWSKI (POL)
Gabriel STAN (ROU)
Branko DUKIC (SRB)
Yasin CAKIR (TUR)
Pavlo TORIANYK (UKR)
Nicholas NOSLER (USA)
Abdurakhman ABDULKADYROV (UWW)

97kg
Grisha VOSKANYAN (ARM)
Ismayil RZAYEV (AZE)
Affan SMAJIC (BIH)
Yikai KAN (CHN)
Andrej RODIN (CRO)
Gor AYVAZYAN (GEO)
Darius KIEFER (GER)
Dimitrios PAPPAS (GRE)
Vendel VITAI (HUN)
NAMAN (IND)
Hadi SEYDI AVENDI (IRI)
Ryosei KATAMATSU (JPN)
Nurassyl AMANALY (KAZ)
Salakhidin AKNAZAROV (KGZ)
Jaeno CHOI (KOR)
Sebastian WARCHOL (POL)
Emir BOZBAG (TUR)
Yehor YAKUSHENKO (UKR)
Soren HERZOG (USA)
Ilia KOMAROV (UWW)
Pavel SAVITSKI (UWW)
Amirkhon BERDIKULOV (UZB)

130kg
Davit BAGHRAMYAN (ARM)
Leonhard JUNGER (AUT)
Mazaim MARDANOV (AZE)
Yeersheng YEERGEN (CHN)
Saba PURTSELADZE (GEO)
Dionysios ZOUGRIS (GRE)
Koppany LASZLO (HUN)
Uttam RANA (IND)
Abolfazl FATHITAZANGI (IRI)
Kosei MIYAKE (JPN)
Kuanysh AMANGELDI (KAZ)
Talasbek BOOBEKOV (KGZ)
Seunggyu MIN (KOR)
Mateusz BIENCZAK (POL)
Cemal BAKIR (TUR)
Ivan YANKOVSKYI (UKR)
Shilo JONES (USA)
Ali ILIASOV (UWW)
Viachaslau FEDARYNA (UWW)

#WrestleBratislava

European history for Serbia; Matcharashvili makes 3rd straight final

By Vinay Siwach

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (April 7) -- Paris silver medalist and defending 97kg champion Givi MATCHARASHVILI (GEO) posted his photo on Instagram last week and captioned it: "I declare the hunting season open."

Two weeks later, Matcharashvili is doing exactly that. He marked the start of the season at 97kg by making it to his third European Championships final in Bratislava.

The first day of the European Championships, which got underway at the X-Bionic Sphere on Monday, turned out to be historic for Serbia as it got its first-ever Freestyle finalist at the European Championships and France ended its drought of missing out on the finals.

Matcharashvili, who participated in the Zagreb Open at 125kg, returned to his preferred 97kg and spent only 4 minutes and 45 seconds in his two bouts in Bratislava to make the final.

In the semifinal, Richard VEGH (HUN) failed to challenge Matcharashvili who scored a takedown and four gut-wrenches to post 10-0 technical superiority in just a minute and 24 seconds.

Matcharashvili has never lost at the European Championships, winning two back-to-back golds in 2023 and 2024. He is a step closer to a third straight gold medal and will take on Magomed KURBANOV (UWW) for it.

Kurbanov, a former European champion at 92kg, had to tougher path to the final. He scored a 5-2 win over Radu LEFTER (MDA) in the other semifinal. He was ahead 3-0 but got surprised by a Lefter front headlock exposure for two. However, Kurbanov recovered and scored a match-winning takedown to win and book a spot in the final.

Kurbanov was a late replacement for Abdulrashid SADULAEV (UWW) at 97kg after Sadulaev failed to travel to Bratislava with the team

Azamat TUSKAEV (SRB)Azamat TUSKAEV (SRB) became the first Serbian Freestyle wrestler to enter final of European Championships. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kostadin Andonov)

History for Serbia

Azamat TUSKAEV (SRB) created history for Serbia when he reached the 57kg final, becoming the first Freestyle wrestler from the country to make it to the final.

The 2020 European champion for Russia, Tuskaev switched to Serbia in 2024 and returned to the final after five years. He will face Nachyn MONGUSH (UWW) for the gold medal bout at 57kg.

In the semifinal, Tuskaev defeated Aryian TIUTRIN (UWW), 3-1, after the two were put on 30-second activity clocks. Tuskaev scored a stepout in addition to the activity clock point to take the lead in the final minute of the bout. Tiutrin tried to get the one point for a criteria win but failed to break Tuskaev's defense.

Mongush blanked Islam BAZARGANOV (AZE) 5-0 in the other semifinal which he controlled for full six minutes. He got on the scoreboard when Bazarganov as cautioned for one point for hitting him with open hands.

Bazarganov was on activity clock when he was cautioned and as the clock expired, Mongush led 2-0. Mongush added two stepouts to make it 4-0 at the break before another activity lock point in the second period was enough for a 5-0 win for Mongush.

Khamzat ARSAMERZOUEV (FRA)Khamzat ARSAMERZOUEV (FRA) tries to defend an attack from Ali RAHIMZADA (AZE) in the 65kg semifinal. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

France also had something to rejoice as two wrestlers reached the finals, ending a four-year drought of a finalist in Freestyle. Young star Khamzat ARSAMERZOUEV (FRA) and veteran Zelimkhan KHADJIEV (FRA) booked finals spot for France at 70kg and 79kg respectively, putting the nation in the finals for the first time since 2021.

However, their path to gold will be tricky.

Arsamerzouev will have the repeat of the European U23 Championships from 2024 and face two-time world U23 champion Ibragim IBRAGIMOV (UWW) for the 65kg gold medal. Ibragimov won that bout 6-2 for the gold medal.

The French wrestler barely made it to the final as Ali RAHIMZADA (AZE) had him in a tangle in the final 10 seconds and scored an exposure. However, Arsamerzouev also got two points for exposure to win 4-3.

Rahimzada had fallen behind 2-1 earlier when challenged for a stepout but lost the challenge, denying him any other opportunity to challenge in the match.

Ibragimov rolled into the 65kg final on his senior European Championships debut with a stunning 11-0 win over Goga OTINASHVILI (GEO) in the semifinal. He led 1-0 at the break for Otinashvili's passivity but second period saw Ibragimov break into action as he defended a leg attack and countered with a takedown. He scored two turns using gut-wrench and leg lace to lead 7-0. A go-behind takedown put him 9-0 ahead before an easy turn got him into the final 11-0.

While this was a dominant win, Ibragimov pulled off an incredible comeback against former European champion Vazgen TEVANYAN (ARM) in the quarterfinal, beating him 3-2. Tevanyan led 2-1 with 90 seconds remaining on the clock but Ibragimov hit a collar-tie snap to score a takedown and take a 3-2 lead which he defended till the end.

Zelimkhan KHADJIEV (FRA)Zelimkhan KHADJIEV (FRA) defeated Ion MARCU (MDA) 7-0 in the 79kg semifinal. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

For Khadjiev, a two-time silver medalist, world 79kg champion Akhmed USMANOV (UWW) stands between him and the gold medal which Khadjiev lost in 2018 and 2019 after losing in two straight finals.

The 30-year-old broke Ion MARCU (MDA) down with his attacking style and claimed a 7-0 victory in the semifinal. Khadjiev had two stepouts, an activity clock point and two takedowns in his win.

"It was really tough," Khadjiev said. "Three years ago I went to Oklahoma State [University] to train and even young wrestlers were beating easily. But I didn’t give up. I wanted to win something."

While there have been many instances of Khadjiev losing in the final seconds earlier in his career, the 2025 season has begun on a positive note for the French.

He won the Zagreb Open in January and is now a win away from his first gold medal at the European Championships. Khadjiev put the success on wrestling more 'professionally.'

"I can say that now my wrestling in more mature," he said. "I don’t risk it or do something aimlessly. I even watch the matches of my opponents, try to analyze them. I never did that before. I would say I wrestle more professionally now."

Akhmed USMANOV (UWW)Akhmed USMANOV (UWW) defends an attack from Mohammad MOTTAGHINIA (ESP) in the 79kg semifinal. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

If he watched Usmanov's wrestling videos from Monday, Khadjiev may think he has a chance. Usmanov was a shadow of himself from the 2023 World Championships. Though he reached the final, Usmanov never got going, winning the final 7-0 against Mohammad MOTTAGHINIA (ESP) with his counter wrestling.

In the quarterfinal, Usmanov barely managed to sneak through against former European champion Vasyl MYKHAILOV (UKR). Usmanov was trailing 1-1 on criteria after the two wrestlers failed to score in the activity periods. In the final minute of the bout, Mykhailov was put on the activity clock for the second time. He failed to score, giving Usmanov a 2-1 lead which he defended for the final 28 seconds and secured the win.

European Championships debutant David BAEV (UWW), wrestling internationally for the first time since winning the world gold in 2019, booked spot in the 70kg final with a cautious 3-0 win over Kanan HEYBATOV (AZE) in the semifinal.

In his opening bout, he defeated world 65kg champion Iszmail MUSZUKAJEV (HUN) rather easily with a score of 10-0.

Baev will take on defending champion Arman ANDREASYAN (ARM) for the gold medal after the Armenian managed to hang on for a 3-1 win over Akaki KEMERTELIDZE (GEO).

Andreasyan scored takedown and got a point for Kemertelidze's passivity which took him to his third European final.

Photo

RESULTS

Freestyle Semifinals

57kg
GOLD: Azamat TUSKAEV (SRB) vs. Nachyn MONGUSH (UWW)

SF 1: Nachyn MONGUSH (UWW) df. Islam BAZARGANOV (AZE), 5-0
SF 2: Azamat TUSKAEV (SRB) df. Aryian TIUTRIN (UWW), 3-1

65kg
GOLD: Ibragim IBRAGIMOV (UWW) vs. Khamzat ARSAMERZOUEV (FRA)

SF 1: Khamzat ARSAMERZOUEV (FRA) df. Ali RAHIMZADA (AZE), 4-3
SF 2: Ibragim IBRAGIMOV (UWW) df. Goga OTINASHVILI (GEO), 11-0

70kg
GOLD: Arman ANDREASYAN (ARM) vs. David BAEV (UWW)

SF 1: David BAEV (UWW) df. Kanan HEYBATOV (AZE), 3-0
SF 2: Arman ANDREASYAN (ARM) df. Akaki KEMERTELIDZE (GEO), 3-1

79kg
GOLD: Zelimkhan KHADJIEV (FRA) vs. Akhmed USMANOV (UWW)

SF 1: Zelimkhan KHADJIEV (FRA) df. Ion MARCU (MDA), 7-0
SF 2: Akhmed USMANOV (UWW) df. Mohammad MOTTAGHINIA (ESP), 7-0

97kg
GOLD: Givi MATCHARASHVILI (GEO) vs. Magomed KURBANOV (UWW)

SF 1: Givi MATCHARASHVILI (GEO) df. Richard VEGH (HUN), 10-0
SF 2: Magomed KURBANOV (UWW) df. Radu LEFTER (MDA), 5-2