#WrestleZagreb

Updated Grand Prix Zagreb Open Entry List

By Eric Olanowski

ZAGREB, Croatia (January 13) -- For the first time since the Nur-Sultan World Championships, two-time world champion Zhan BELENIUK (UKR) will make his long-awaited return to the mat. The Rio Olympic runner-up and Ukrainian Parliamentary member will kick off his '21 campaign later this week at the Grand Prix Zagreb Open, which gets underway January 16-17 in Zagreb, Croatia's Dom Sportova Hall. 

Beleniuk is apart of a loaded competition list that'll feature 165 athletes from 18 different nations. In addition to Beleniuk, other starts to keep an eye on are:
60kg: Stig Andre BERGE (NOR): Rio Olympic bronze medalist 
60kg: Victor CIOBANU (MDA): '18 world silver medalist
63kg: Elmura tTASMURADOV (UZB): Rio Olympic bronze medalist 
67kg: Morten THORESEN (NOR): '20 European champion 
67kg: Gevorg SAHAKYAN (POL): '18 world bronze
77kg: Daniel CATARAGA (MDA): Two-time U23 world champion // '16 world silver medalist 
82kg: Rajbek BISULTANOV (DEN): Two-time European champion
82kg: Alex KESSIDIS (SWE): '19 world silver medalist 
97kg: Felix BALDAUF (NOR): '17 European champion

Reigning Zagreb Open champions that are entered:
67kg: Donior ISLAMOV (MDA)
77kg: Daniel CATARAGA (MDA)
87kg: Oskar JOHANSSON (SWE)

55kg
Steven ECKER (GER)
Fabian SCHMITT (GER)
Giovanni FRENI (ITA)
Artiom DELEANU (MDA)
Snorre LUND (NOR)
Jasurbek ORTIKBOEV (UZB)
Ilkhom BAKHROMOV (UZB)

60kg
Ivan LIZATOVIĆ (CRO)
Luka PRIHISTAL (CRO)
Juuso LATVALA (FIN)
Jacopo SANDRON (ITA)
Justas PETRAVICIUS (LTU)
Micha TRACZ (POL)
Dawid ERSETIC (POL)
Alexander BICA (SWE)
Ardit FAZLIJA( SWE)
Ahmet UYAR  (TUR)|
Islomjon BAKHRAMOV (UZB)
Mukhammadkodir YUSUPOV (UZB)
Firuz TUKHTAEV (UZB)


63kg
Dominik CELIČEK (CRO)
Andrej GINC (GER)
Deniz MENEKSE (GER)
Giovanni Paolo ALESSIO (ITA)
Andrea SETTI (ITA)
Edgaras VENCKAITIS (LTU)
Victor CIOBANU (MDA)
Stig Andre BERGE (NOR)
Perica DIMITRIJEVIĆ (SRB)
Niklas OHLEN (SWE)
Elmura tTASMURADOV (UZB)

67kg
Elmer MATTIL (FIN)
Witalis LAZOVSKI (GER)
Steve MOMILIA (ITA)
Francesco BELLINO (ITA)
Ruben MARVICE (ITA)
Donior ISLAMOV (MDA)
Valentin PETIC (MDA)
Morten THORESEN (NOR)
Mateusz BERNATEK (POL)
Gevorg SAHAKYAN (POL)
Roman PACURKOWSKI (POL)
Daniel SOINI (SWE)
Andreas VETSCH (SUI)
Enes BAŞAR (TUR)
Haci KARAKUŞ (TUR)
Ime NASIBOV (UKR)
Makhmud BAKHSHILLOEV (UZB)
Mirzobek RAKHMATOV (UZB)

72kg
Marko NIKOLIĆ (CRO)
Akseli YLI-HANNUKSELA (FIN)
Mikko PELTOKANGAS (FIN)
Idris IBAEV (GER)
Kristupas SLEIVA (LTU)
Titas KERSEVICIUS (LTU)
Mihai PETIC (MDA)
Sebastian AAK (NOR)
Aron PINTER (SRB)
Didrik SILVERIN (SWE)
Michael PORTMANN (SUI)
Ahmet YILMAZ (TUR)
|Aram VARDANYAN (UZB)

77kg
Božo STARČEVIĆ (CRO)
Pavel PUKLAVEC (CRO)
Antonio KAMENJAŠEVIĆ (CRO)
Oldrich VARGA (CZE)
Jakub BIELESZ (CZE)
Matias LIPASTI (FIN)
Roni PUROLAINEN (FIN)
Michael WIDMAYER (GER)
Luca DARIOZZI (ITA)
Riccardo Vito ABBRESCIA (ITA)
Ciro RUSSO (ITA)
Matteo MAFFEZZOLI (ITA)
Paulius GALKINAS (LTU)
Daniel CATARAGA (MDA)
Alexandrin GUTU (MDA)
Per Anders KURE (NOR)
Edgar BABAYAN (POL)
Mateusz WOLNY (POL)
Iwan NYLYPIUK (POL)
Dawid KLIMEK (POL)
Albin OLOFSON(SWE)
Lukas AHLGREN (SWE)
Nicolas CHRISTEN (SUI)
Fabio DIETSCHE (SUI)
Furkan BAYRAK (TUR)
Vladimir YAKOVLEV (UKR)
Yasaf ZEINALOV (UKR)
Yaroslav FILCHAKOV (UKR)
Elmar NURALIEV (UKR)
Jalgasbay BERDIMURATOV (UZB)

82kg
Filip ŠAČIĆ (CRO)
Antun BORČIĆ (CRO)
Vjekoslav LUBURIĆ (CRO)
Rajbek BISULTANOV (DEN)
Hannes WAGNER (GER)
Marius BRAUN (GER)
Simon OLLINGER (GER)
Arminas LYGNUGARIS (LTU)
Magnus GRONVIK (NOR)
Alex KESSIDIS (SWE)
Marc WEBER (SUI)

87kg
Tomislav HADER (CRO)
Filip SMETKO (CRO)
Matej MANDIĆ (CRO)
Petr NOVAK (CZE)
Turpal BISULTANOV (DEN)
Vili ROPPONEN (FIN)
Juho PAHIKAINEN (FIN)
Ilias PAGKALIDIS (GRE)
Simone FIDELBO(ITA)
Veronica PARISI (ITA)
Mirco MINGUZZI (ITA)
Julius MATUZEVICIUS (LTU)
Martynas NEMSEVICIUS (LTU)
Eividas STANKEVICIUS (LTU)
Gabriel LUPASCO (MDA)
Vladislav GUTU (MDA)
Aleksandar ST JEPANETIC (SWE)
Oskar JOHANSSON (SWE)
Zakarias BERG (SWE)
Ramon BETSCHART (SUI)
Dogan GÖKTAŞ (TUR)
Ali CENGIZ (TUR)
Zhan BELENYUK (UKR)
Joe RAU (USA)

97kg
Ivan RATKOVIĆ (CRO)
Nikola CONAR (CRO)
Artur OMAROV (CZE)
Ondrej DADAK (CZE)
Mathias BAK (DEN)
Elias KUOSMANEN (FIN)
Arvi SAVOLAINEN (FIN)
Ilja KLASNER (GER)
Patrick NEUMAIER (GER)
Jan ZIRN (GER)
Laokratis KESIDIS (GRE)
Luca SVAICARI (ITA)
Nikoloz KAKHEKASHVILI (ITA)
Vilius LAURINAITIS (LTU)
Felix BALDAUF (NOR)
Marcus WORREN (NOR)
Tadeusz MICHALIK (POL)
Pontus LUND (SWE)
Christian ZEMP (SUI)
Damian VON EUW (SUI)
Ibrahim TIGCI (TUR)
Dzihasov ZIELIMKHAN (UKR)
Vladlen KOZLIUK (UKR)
Jahongir TURDIEV (UZB)

130kg
Stepan DAVID (CZE)
Konsta MAENPAA (FIN)
Jello KRAHMER (GER)
Franz RICHTER (GER)
Samuele VARICELLI (ITA)
Mantas KNYSTAUTAS (LTU)
Romas FRIDRIKAS (LTU)
Oskar MARVIK (NOR)
Rafał KRAJEWSKI (POL)
Delian ALISHAHI (SUI)
Osman YILDIRIM (TUR)
Muhammet Hamza BAKIR (TUR)
Aleksander CHERNETSKI (UKR)
Nikolai KUCHMIY (UKR)
Muminjon ABDULLAEV (UZB)

#development

Turkey hosts first UWW women's referee course

By United World Wrestling Press

ANTALYA, Turkey (May 14) --- On May 11, 2022 in beautiful Antalya Turkey, a precedent was set for all UWW Women referees. For the 1st time in United World Wrestling history, HIS-story became HER-story.  Women from 16 different countries have come together with 1 goal in mind; the advancement and recognition of Women officials within this heralded organization.

The Women's Referee Course, which consisted of two courses and three competition days, was preparation for the upcoming Commonwealth Games, and the 2024 & 2028 Olympic Games. 28 women referees from around the world were selected to participate in this first-of-its-kind educational program. 

On the first day of the course, UWW Bureau member Lucio CANEVA attended the opening ceremony and spoke to attendance. He thanked the referees for their support. He also explained why women referees are important for wrestling and all bureau members support this program.

Instructors Antonio SILVESTRI, Ibrahim CICIOGLU and Edit DOZSA collectively contributed to ensuring a successful platform for each woman that took part. Their combined knowledge only helped to propel the confidence of all the participants whether it was about rules or team-building activities and exercises. 

Dozsa, a pioneer of women's refereeing, was fully aware and empathic of the unique struggles women face in a male-dominated sport. Having been selected for the 2008 Olympic Games, Dozsa was able to bring the women together and give them an open forum to voice their individual experiences and struggles, without contradiction or judgments. The idea was for the women to learn how to empower one another. She provided tools and support that have enabled the women to grow and learn with each other over the years.

TUR
Participants from Turkey's women's wrestling course join together for a photo. (Photo: United World Wrestling)

The group at the course was experienced and talented. While some referees had wrestled, others were carrying the family torch. Regardless of experience, each member agreed that wrestling is in their blood and has forever changed their lives, for the better.

"Being a female official has many obstacles and nothing is easy about this job," Dozsa said. "We continue to sacrifice to be a part of this wrestling culture we all love so much. This course has given us renewed hope and an optimistic outlook for the future of women referees all over the world. We came in as 28 individuals and left as 1 empowered sisterhood."

The first two days of the course were dedicated to the theoretical aspect of refereeing and important rules were discussed and explained by instructors. A practice session was organized on the second day. All the questions of the attendees were answered by the instructors who also showed critical situations like referee mechanism, out of bounds situations, takedown and control, illegal wrestling and fouls.

During the last three days of the course, referees attended the International Champions tournament for the age group in all styles. They had a chance to officiate throughout the competition in both styles which was an experience for them as well.

The course was the first step for the women referees toward their Olympic hopes. The instructors thanked UWW president Nenad LALOVIC and all the bureau members for their support. They also expressed their gratitude toward the Sports and Development Departments for their collaboration and the Turkish Wrestling Federation for their attributions.