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Ukraine bringing loaded WW team to World Cup

Friday, November 18, 2022 - 17:32 By Gary Abbott

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CORALVILLE, Iowa (November 18) --- The lineup for Ukraine’s Women’s Wrestling World Cup team has been released.

The Women’s Wrestling World Cup will be held at Xtream Arena in Coralville, Iowa, Dec. 10-11. It is the first time that freestyle and women’s wrestling will be held together side-by-side at the World Cup.

The World Cup is the annual international dual meet championships, conducted by United World Wrestling. The top five teams in men’s freestyle and the top five teams in women’s wrestling from the 2022 Senior World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia in September have confirmed their participation. There is also an All World Team in each discipline, featuring the top available athlete from the World Championships in each weight class that were not from a nation which qualified for the World Cup.

The Ukraine Women’s World Cup team is talented, as nine of the 10 entries have won at least one world medal, either on the Senior level or age-group level, or both.

The team is led by 2014 world champion Yulia TKACH OSTAPCHUK, who has also won three other world medals, a 2017 world silver medal and world bronze medals in 2015 and 2018. She has also won world titles at the University and U20 age levels.

Other senior world medalists on the roster include two-time world medalist Oleksandra KHOMENETS (55kg), a 2022 world silver medalist and a 2021 world bronze medalist. Also competing are Oksana LIVACH (50kg), a 2018 world bronze medalist, Alina HRUSHYNA AKOBIIA (57kg), a 2022 world bronze medalist and Ilona PROKOPEVNIUK (62kg), a 2022 world bronze medalist. All four of these stars have also won age-group world medals, with Livach a 2013 U17 World champion.

Age-group World medalists on the team include Tetiana SOVA RIZHKO (65kg), Alla BELINSKA (68kg), Anastasiya ALPYEVA (72kg) and Anastasiia OSNIACH SHUSTOVA (76kg). Alpyeyeva was a 2021 U23 world champion and Onsiak Shustova was a 2013 U17 world champion.

Ukraine, which placed fifth at the 2022 World Championships in women’s freestyle, will be joined in the World Cup by World champion Japan, second place United States, third place China and fourth place Mongolia, in addition to the All-World Team.         

Ukraine’s women’s team will spend an extended time in the United States, training with Team USA and others prior to and after the World Cup. The Ukrainian women will also compete in the Beat the Streets Los Angeles International Wrestling event in San Marino, Calif. on December 18, where it will take on a U.S. women’s all-star team.

The rosters of the World Cup teams for the other nations will be announced over the next week by USA Wrestling.

Ticket packages for the 2022 Men’s and Women’s Freestyle World Cup are currently on sale. The seating capacity for Xtream Arena for the World Cup will be approximately 5,300. Ticket packages include a Gold package for $275, Silver package for $200 and All-Session tickets for $90.

A special Presentation of Teams and Team USA Meet & Greet will also be held on Friday, December 9 at 6:45 pm. It is free and open to the public.

Men’s and Women’s Wrestling World Cup tickets -> https://worldcupiowacity.com/tickets/

Ukraine Women’s Freestyle World Cup team
50 kg – Oksana LIVACH
53 kg – Lilija MALANCHUK
55 kg – Oleksandra KHOMENETS
57 kg – Alina HRUSHYNA AKOBIIA
59 kg – Yuliia TKACH OSTAPCHUK
62 kg – Ilona PROKOPEVNIUK
65 kg – Tetiana SOVA RIZHKO
68 kg – Alla BELINSKA
72 kg – Anastasiya ALPYEVA
76 kg – Anastasiia OSNIACH SHUSTOVA   

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UWW Most Dominant Wrestlers 2025: Amouzad, Motoki, Esmaeili

Thursday, December 25, 2025 - 11:08 By Eric Olanowski

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (December 24) -- There were several dominant performances in 2025 on the wrestling mat. But it was three wrestlers who remained at the top of their weight classes and racked up dominant wins one after another. Two were Olympic champions while one was an Olympic silver medalist. All three became world champions in Zagreb.

Freestyle Most Dominant Wrester: Rahman AMOUZAD (IRI)

- 14–0
- Rank 1 at 65kg 
- 58,000 RS points 
- Outscored world and Olympic medalists 42–4
- World Championships, Tirana RS and ISG golds

Rahman AMOUZAD (IRI) was about as perfect as you could be in a season, returning to prominence with title-winning efforts at the World Championships, Islamic Solidarity Games and Muhamet Malo Ranking Series event and finishing the season as the No.1 ranked wrestler in the world at 65kg with 58,000 Ranking Series points.

The Paris silver medalist, collected an unblemished 14-0 record in 2025 -- with five of those wins coming against top-level opponents who have world or Olympic medals on their resumes in Olympic champion Kotaro KIYOOKA (JPN), Umidjon JALALOV (UZB), Taiyrbek ZHUMASHBEK UULU (KGZ) and Real WOODS (USA). The craziest part about those five matches against the world’s best, Amouzad outscored 42-4.

But without a doubt, the highlight of Amouzad’s season came in Zagreb when he finally got his long awaited rematch, beating Kotaro KIYOOKA in a revenge match from the Paris 2024 Olympic finals.

The scariest part about Amouzad’s dominance -- he’s only 23 years old and he’s still getting better.

Women's Wrestling Dominant Wrestler: Sakura MOTOKI (JPN)

- 9-0
- Five pins, two technical superiorities
- 45,000 RS points 
- 8/9 bouts finished before regulation
- Completed Golden Grand Slam (U17, U20, U23, Senior World and Olympic gold)

Coming into the 2025 season, Motoki made her goals crystal clear -- become the third wrestler in history of the sport to win wrestling’s Golden Grand Slam -- and for those who don’t know, that is gold medals at the U17, U20, U23, Senior World Championships and the Olympic Games.

The only two missing from the Olympic champ's resume were the U23 and Senior World golds.

At the 2025 U23 and senior World Championships, Motoki showed that she’s in a league of her own, as she went 9-0, with eight  matches finishing before time expired. She scored five falls and two technical superiority wins.

Her win in the final of the World Championships will be one that will be talked about for ages as the most dramatic win of the season. Motoki scored a buzzer-beating takedown against Ok Ju KIM (PRK) with a 10-second flurry that consisted of a head outside single, arm throw, over-under knee pick, before head locking Kim with four tenths of a second left to keep her history making hopes alive.

In the end, Motoki’s heart and courage under fire helped her close out the year as the third wrestler to complete the Golden Grand Slam and she did it with a level of dominance we may not see again for a very long time.

Greco-Roman Dominant Wrestler: Saeid ESMAEILI (IRI)

- Rank 1 at 67kg 
- 58,000 RS points  
- 11–0 Record
- World Championships, Asian Championships and  ISG golds

In a 2025 campaign that saw him become a world champion, Esmaeili's season was immaculate, as he cemented his place among the sport’s top pound-for-pound wrestler with a season full of titles, stacking gold-medals at the World Championships, Asian Championships and Islamic Solidarity Games, rounding out the season ranked No. 1 in the world at 67kg.

The Paris Olympic champion remained unbeaten in 2025, winning all 11 bouts of his bouts in dominant fashion -- scoring eight shutout wins, with seven technical falls -- including a pair of 9-0 win against world champions Aytjan KHALMAKHANOV (UZB) and Sebastian NAD (SRB). The reigning Olympic gold medalist also collected two victories over Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medalist Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE), one in the world final and one in the Islamic Game gold-medal match, where he tossed his Azeri opponent for four as time expired to rob his rival of the title.

His opponents should not ease up because at just 22 years old, Esmaeili is still sharpening his tool set and leveling up his skills.