#WrestleZagreb

WATCH: 10 Zagreb Open freestyle finals

By Eric Olanowski

ZAGREB, Croatia (February 8) -- The first Ranking Series event of the season, the Zagreb Open, just wrapped up in the Croatian capital. Wrestlers used the point-based competition to earn points towards their seeds at the five Continental Championships and Belgrade World Championships.

The United States topped the team standings with 174 points, while Iran and Azerbaijan rounded out the top three.

The Stars and Stripes had wrestlers win medals in seven of ten weight classes--including gold-medal performances from Alec William PANTALEO (USA)Jason Michael NOLF (USA)Kollin Raymond MOORE (USA) and Kyle Frederick SNYDER (USA) at 70kg, 74kg, 92kg and 97kg, respectively.

Iran finished in second place with 140 points, 34 points behind the United States, thanks to bracket winners Reza Ahmadali ATRINAGHARCHI (IRI)Ali Bakhtiar SAVADKOUHI (IRI),  Hassan Aliazam YAZDANICHARATI (IRI) and Amir Hossein Abbas ZARE (IRI).

Aliabbas RZAZADE (AZE) won gold at 57kg and helped Azerbaijan close out the competition in the third position. They had seven medalists--one gold, two silver and four bronze medals--and finished with 135 points.

Here are the 10 freestyle finals from Zagreb.

57kg Aliabbas RZAZADE (AZE) df. Yuto NISHIUCHI (JPN), 2-0

#UWWAwards

UWW 2023 Women’s Wrestler of the Year Nominees

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (December 12) — United World Wrestling has released the five nominations for the 2023 Women’s Wrestler of the Year, which is awarded to the best senior-level women’s wrestler.

The nominations reflect the results from this year’s World Championships, Continental Championships, Continental Games and Ranking Series events.

 
The five finalist are:

Aisuluu TYNYBEKOVA (KGZ)
- 62kg world champion  
- Asian Championships gold medalist 
- Hungarian Ranking Series champion  
- Egypt Ranking Series champion 
- 19th Asian Games bronze medalist  
- Ranked No. 1 in the world with 95,575 points

Yui SUSAKI (JPN)
- 50kg world champion  
- Zagreb Open Ranking Series champion 
- Ranked No. 2 in the world with 58,000 points 

Akari FUJINAMI (JPN)
- 53kg world champion  
- Asian Championships gold medalist 
- 19th Asian Games Champion 
- Zagreb Open Ranking Series champion 
- Ranked No. 2  in the world with 81,000 points 

Amit ELOR (USA)
- 72kg senior world champion  
- U23 world champion 
- U20 world champion  
- Pan-American Championships gold medalist  
- Ranked No. 2 in the world with 50,000 points

Buse TOSUN (TUR)
- 2023 68kg world champion 
- 2023 European silver medalist 
- Ranked No.3  in the world with 50,505 points