Youth Olympic Games

Women’s Wrestling Draws, Schedule, How to Follow

By Tim Foley

BUENOS AIRES (October 12) – Women’s Wrestling wrestling at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games start tomorrow morning with 50 athletes across five weight classes vying for their first taste at Olympic glory. Cadet-level wrestlers from all five continents were selected after an extensive qualification process with names finalized by United World Wrestling on September 4th.

Wrestling will begin Saturday at 10am local/9am ET with finals beginning at 5:00pm local/4:00pm ET.

Watch the action LIVE on the Olympic Channel, HERE

The match-by-match competition schedule can be found on the official Buenos Aires YOG 2018 site, HERE

Women’s Freestyle, 43kg

Group A

Maria LEORDA (MDA)
Ella Mae DERRY (NZL)
Enkhzul BATBAATAR (MGL)
Sara Gouda Farouk MAHMOUD (EGY)
Simran SIMRAN (IND)

 

Group B

Emily King SHILSON (USA)
Heloisa Elena MARTINEZ (BRA)
Shahana NAZAROVA (AZE)
Justine Fanny VIGOUROUX (FRA)
Christianah Tolulope OGUNSANYA (NGR)

Women’s Freestyle, 49kg

Group A

Maria Jose MOSQUERA ROJAS (VEN)
Natallia VARAKINA (BLR)
Nilufar RAIMOVA (KAZ)
Tiare Lynn Masako Dizon IKEI (USA)
Shokhida AKHMEDOVA (UZB)

Group B

Paulina Jean DUENAS (GUM)
Zineb ECH CHABKI (MAR)
Emma Jonna Denise MALMGREN (SWE)
Roza SZENTTAMASI (HUN)
Sopealai SIM (CAM)

Women’s Freestyle, 57kg

Group A

Anna Hella SZEL (HUN)
Irina RINGACI (MDA)
Lydia TOIDA (CMR)
Mansi MANSI (IND)
Mayra Alejandra PARRA ALVAREZ (VEN)

Group B

Kaetlyn Rae Okada QUINTANILLA (GUM)
Hala Wael Imbabi AHMED (EGY)
Nonoka OZAKI (JPN)
Andrea Monserrat LOPEZ MARTINEZ (MEX)
Anastasia BLAYVAS (GER)

Women’s Freestyle, 65kg

Group A

Xinru ZHOU (CHN)
Oyun Erdene TAMIR (MGL)
Yetzis Camila RAMIREZ MARQUEZ (CUB)
Sandra Elena ESCAMILLA MENCHACA (MEX)
Amina Roxana CAPEZAN (ROU)

Group B

Oksana CHUDYK (UKR)
Viktoria VESSO (EST)
Natacha Véronique NABAINA (CMR)
Sunmisola Idowu BALOGUN (NGR)
Zaineb SGHAIER (TUN)

Women’s Freestyle, 73kg

Group A

Kseniya DZIBUK (BLR)
Linda Marilina MACHUCA (ARG)
Vahide Nur GOK (TUR)
Khadija JLASSI (TUN)
Svetlana OKNAZAROVA (UZB)

Group B

Yuka KAGAMI (JPN)
Milaimys de la Caridad MARIN POTRILLE (CUB)
Anika Elizabeth WHITE (CAN)
Julia Hanna Ellinor FRIDLUND (SWE)
Ioana Penina Nicole Uputaua LUDGATE (ASA)

#WrestleZagreb

Zagreb Open Flashback: Iran, U.S. opened season with success

By Vinay Siwach

ZAGREB, Croatia (January 18) -- United World Wrestling's 2026 season will kick off with the Ranking Series in Zagreb February 4. The recent memories of Zagreb may be the September World Championships but the 2025 season also kicked off with the Ranking Series in the Croatian capital.

Iran and the United States had strong performances in the first of the four stops of the Ranking Series, a theme which continued throughout the 2025 season as the U.S. dominated Freestyle while Iran dominated Greco-Roman.

Women's Wrestling participants were less in numbers but still saw U.S. and UWW wrestlers share gold medals.

Here's a trip down memory lane of the 2025 Zagreb Open Ranking Series before the 2026 season kicks off:

WATCH ZAGREB OPEN 2025 TOP BOUTS HERE

Freestyle

A young Iranian team snapped four gold medals in Zagreb with Ahmad JAVAN (IRI) winning gold at 61kg, Abbas EBRAHIM (IRI) winning at 65kg, Amirhossein FIROUZPOUR (IRI) became champion at 92kg and Amirreza MASOUMI (IRI) winning the 125kg gold.

For the U.S., Spencer LEE (USA) kicked off the season with 57kg with gold, Zahid VALENCIA (USA) won at 86kg and Kyle SNYDER (USA) at 97kg. Both Valencia and Snyder went on to win gold at the World Championships later in the season.

Azerbaijan, Slovakia and France won one gold each, with Kanan HEYBATOV (AZE) winning at 70kg for Azerbaijan, Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK) winning gold at 74kg, and Zelimkhan KHADJIEV (FRA) winning at 79kg for France.

Iran dominance began when Ahmad JAVAN (IRI) won gold at 61kg, beating the likes of Nuraddin NUVROZOV (AZE), Nashon GARRETT (USA), Giorgi GONIASHVILI (GEO) and Ebrahim KHARI (IRI). Javan would later win a silver medal at the World Championships. At 65kg, Ebrahim held his own in a thrilling final against Joseph MCKENNA (USA) to grab the second gold for Iran.

Young superstars Firouzpour and Masoumi put up a show to win gold medals at 92kg and 125kg respectively.

Lee was making a returning to competition six months after winning the silver medal at the Paris Olympics. He won the Zagreb Open gold with rather ease. For the U.S., Valencia saw himself win gold at 86kg outscoring his opponents 35-4 in four bouts. In the final, Valencia defeated world bronze medalist Arsenii DZHIOEV (AZE), 8-0.

Snyder opened his season with a 33-1 scoring run in three bouts at 97kg in Zagreb. In the final, he easily defeated Abolfazl BABALOO (IRI).

Heybatov gave early warnings to the 70kg field by winning gold in Zagreb, a run which included wins over Austin GOMEZ (MEX), two back-to-back wins over Iranian wrestlers including a 12-1 one again Sina KHALILI (IRI) in the final. The two would wrestle again towards the end of the year at the U23 World Championships. Heybatov won that final with a 9-4 score.

Two veterans, Salkazanov and Khadjiev, were at their best in the opening Ranking Series tournament. Salkazanov blanked everyone, including winning 4-0 against David CARR (USA) in the final, to win 74kg gold.

Khadjiev had a tougher bat but managed to win the 79kg gold with a 5-3 win over Mahdi YOUSEFI (IRI) in the final. The French wrestler would later win silver at the European Championships.