Weekly FIVE!

Weekly FIVE! January 29th, 2018

By Eric Olanowski

Reviewing results from the Ivan Yarygin in Krasnoyarsk and the Takhti Cup in Iran. Also reviewing the worldwide rankings being released this week, a look revamped women’s team from China, and much more ....

1. Russia Heats Up a Frigid Krasnoyarsk, Taylor and Snyder Lead USA
Russian entries at the Ivan Yarygin, United World Wrestling’s first first ranking event of the season took home eight out of a possible ten gold medals. If that wasn’t impressive enough, seven of those eight gold medals came from Dagestan, Russia, a region located on the Caspian Sea, 2000km south of Moscow.

The only Russian gold medalist that did not hail from from Dagestan was 74kg winner, Khetik TSABOLOV (RUS), who is from North Ossetia-Alania, Russia, which is located just north of the Georgian border.

David TAYLOR (USA) and Kyle SNYDER (USA) rounded out the gold medal finalists. Snyder's win made him the first American wrestler to win back-to-back Yarygin titles, while Taylor won his first tournament since finishing with gold at the 2017 Freestyle World Cup in Iran.

Team Table: http://uww.io/qcP84
Results Table: http://uww.io/AyVo2

2. Iran Takes Takhti, Kazakhstan + Kyrgyzstan Score Big
Five different nations took home gold medals at the Takhti Cup with emerging powers Kazakstan and Kyrgyzstan each winning a pair of gold medals. Turkey also won a pair of gold medals while a depleted Azerbaijani squad limped away with onyl one gold medal.

Team Table: https://goo.gl/WTbPfF
Results Table: https://goo.gl/hwN8Dr

3. New-Look China Women’s Team Wins FIVE at Yarygin
After three days of action in Krasnoyarsk, China's women made their way to the finals in seven out of ten weight classes -- winning five. Team China wrestled for a medal in all ten weight classes, winning at least a bronze in eight.

This was the first individual events that the Chinese women have competed under the tutelage of their new coaching staff. Taking the helm is former Azerbaijan head women's coach Semen SHTEREV origninally of Bulgaria. Joingin him on the sidelines is 2006 world champion, Radislov VELIKOV (BUL).

China will host a Ranking Series event in women's wrestling in late June.

Team Table: http://uww.io/qcP84
Results Table: http://uww.io/AyVo2

4. Worldwide Rankings to be Released on February 1
United World Wrestling will be releasing the first set of world rankings on February 1. These rankings will be based on points earned during the new ranking series events. All points will be automatically updated post-event, with a recap of the action and rankings posted on the first Monday of each month.

Ranking Series points are a calculation of the number of total entries at a weight plus placement: 8 points for gold, 6 points for silver, 4 for bronze and 2 for fifth place.

5. Klippan and Cerro Pelado in Two Weeks
The Klippan Lady Open begins February 16 and is the first women’s wrestling ranking event of the season. 

The Granma y Cerro Pelado kicks off February 15 in Havana and is the second Greco-Roman Ranking Series event of the year 

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UWW Top Ranked Wrestlers of 2025: Verbina, Komarov, Aoyagi

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (December 17) -- United World Wrestling has announced the three Best Ranked Wrestlers in 2025. The three wrestlers earned the most ranking points in the year 2025.

The most ranking points in the year 2025 were earned by world champion Aleksandr KOMAROV (SRB) in Greco-Roman as he scored 83,500 points. In Women's Wrestling, world silver medalist Ekaterina VERBINA (UWW) was the highest ranked wrestler as she earned 64,200 points.

In Freestyle, world champion Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN) earned 76,900 points, the best among all wrestlers.

Verbina: Women's 55kg

Verbina may not have won the gold medal at the World Championships but she had a busy year, wrestling more often than others. That earned her more ranking points than many as she finished at the top of the rankings in Women's Wrestling.

Her first competition was the Zagreb Open Ranking Series in which she finished fifth for just 4,000 points. In the Muhamet Malo Ranking Series in Tirana, Albania where she finished with a bronze medal that earned her 5,2000 points. She added 10,000 points for her gold medal at the European Championships. Another gold, at the Budapest Ranking Series, added 8,000 points.

Verbina entered the World Championships with 27,200 points. She jumped ahead of many with 37,000 points for her silver medal at 55kg. Her total went up to 64,200 points, taking her past the likes of world champions Sakura ONISHI (JPN) and Miwa MORIKAWA (JPN). Both finished 1,200 points less than Verbina.

Komarov: Greco 87kg

Komarov began his season with the Zagreb Open Ranking Series and finished fifth, giving him 9,000 points. A similar result at the Muhamet Malo Ranking Series gave him 9,000 points.

A big boost came at the European Championships in which Komarov won a bronze medal at 87kg to earn 11,500 points. In June, another fifth place finish at the Budapest Ranking Series added 9,000 points to his name to take the total to 38,500 points before the World Championships.

In Zagreb at the Worlds, Komarov won the gold medal and earned a stunning 45,000 points to 83,500 points, the most among all wrestlers and 13,780 points more than second most -- Aytjan KHALMAKHANOV (UZB).

Aoyagi: Freestyle 70kg

World champion was the top ranked freestyle wrestler with 76,900 points, 9,600 points more than the second place wrestler.

His first competition was the Muhamet Malo Ranking Series in which he bagged the gold medal to earn 11,000 points. He then added a bronze medal at the Asian Championships and earned 9,500 points for the same.

The Budapest Ranking Series gold gave him another 11,000 points, taking his total to 31,500 points before the World Championships. He became a world champion in Zagreb and that gold medal was worth 45,000 points, sending his total to 76,500 points.

Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK), with 66,900 points, is the second-best wrestler, 9,600 points less than Aoyagi.