#WrestleTokyo

#WrestleTokyo Olympic Games Preview: 87kg

By Andrew Hipps

TOKYO, Japan (July 22) – Zhan BELENIUK (UKR) will look to improve on the Olympic silver medal he won at the 2016 Rio Games. He won gold at the 2019 World Championships in Nur-Sultan, which was his second world title after claiming gold in 2015. The 30-year-old Beleniuk has five world medals and four European gold medals. Earlier this year, Beleniuk won gold at the Grand Prix of Zagreb before getting a bronze at the European Championships in April. He enters the Tokyo Olympics as the No.2 seed at 87kg.

The top seed at 87kg is Viktor LORINCZ (HUN), a three-time world medalist. He will be in search of his first world-level gold in Tokyo. Lorincz reached the finals of the 2019 World Championships before falling to Beleniuk, 2-1. Lorincz was leading the match with just over a minute remaining before Beleniuk scored the go-ahead point off passivity, which proved to be the difference in the match. Lorincz was named United World Wrestling's Greco-Roman Wrestler of the Year in 2019 after he won gold medals in three Rankings Series events, as well as a bronze at the European Games, silver at the World Championships and gold at the World Military Games. He placed fifth at the 2016 Olympics, losing in the bronze medal match.

Denis KUDLA (GER) is one of the top contenders in this weight category despite not being seeded. Kudla is a two-time world medalist (bronze in 2019, silver in 2017) and earned a bronze medalist at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. Kudla fell to Beleniuk in the bronze medal match at the 2021 European Championships.

Third-seeded Rustam ASSAKALOV (UZB) brings a strong resume to Tokyo. The 37-year-old  Uzbekistani has won two world medals, with his most recent one coming in 2019 when he claimed bronze in Nur-Sultan. His lone loss at the World Championship came to Lorincz on criteria in the semifinals. Assakalov reached the finals of the 2015 World Championships in Las Vegas before falling to Beleniuk. Assakalov, who is competing in his second Olympics, is a multiple-time Asian Games finalist, winning gold in 2014 and silver in 2018.

Daniel GREGORICH HECHAVARRIA (CUB), a silver medalist at the Pan Am Olympic Qualifier, earned the No.4 seed. He is a multiple-time U23 world medalist, winning silver in 2018 and bronze in 2019.

Lasha GOBADZE (GEO) could be in the mix for a medal. He was a 2019 world champion in a non-Olympic weight category (82kg) and also took bronze at the 2015 World Championships.

Kiryl MASKEVICH (BLR) has had a strong season. He won the Individual World Cup in December before earning a silver medal at the European Championships, where he defeated Lorincz by technical superiority in the opening round.

Three-time European champion Zurabi DATUNASHVILI (SRB) will be competing in his third Olympics after qualifying by reaching the finals of the Last Chance Olympic Qualifier. Datunashvili had an impressive run to gold at this year's European Championships, earning victories over Beleniuk and Kudla before topping Maskevich in the finals.

87kg 
No. 1Viktor LORINCZ (HUN)
No. 2 Zhan BELENIUK (UKR)
No. 3 Rustam ASSAKALOV (UZB)
No. 4 Daniel GREGORICH HECHAVARRIA (CUB)
Denis Maksymilian KUDLA (GER)
Kiryl MASKEVICH (BLR)
Atabek AZISBEKOV (KGZ)
Mohamed Moustafa Ahmed Abdall METWALLY (EGY)
Bachir SID AZARA (ALG)
John Walter STEFANOWICZ JR (USA)
Islam ABBASOV (AZE)
Lasha GOBADZE (GEO)
Nursultan TURSYNOV (KAZ)
Fei PENG (CHN)
Ivan HUKLEK (CRO)
Zurabi DATUNASHVILI (SRB)

#WrestleZagreb

Zagreb Open 2025 Ranking Series Entry List

By United World Wrestling Press

ZAGREB, Croatia (January 21) -- The first Ranking Series of the year will kick off in Zagreb, Croatia on February 5 at the Zagreb Arena.

The tournament will also mark the beginning of the new season and a new Olympic cycle for wrestlers with Ranking Series points up for grabs.

Wrestling will be on UWW+ live on uww.org and the UWW app. Follow UWW on Instagram, X, Facebook, YouTube.

Freestyle

57kg
Islam BAZARGANOV (AZE)
Luka GVINJILIA (GEO)
Roberti DINGASHVILI (GEO)
RAHUL (IND)
AMAN (IND)
Ahora KHATERI (IRI)
Roman BRAVO YOUNG (MEX)
Azamat TUSKAEV (SRB)
Kamil KERYMOV (UKR)
Daniel DESHAZER (USA)
Brandon COURTNEY (USA)
Spencer LEE (USA)

61kg
Nuraddin NOVRUZOV (AZE)
Joshua KRAMER (ECU)
Arman ELOYAN (FRA)
Giorgi GONIASHVILI (GEO)
Daviti ABDALADZE (GEO)
PANKAJ (IND)
Ahmad JAVAN (IRI)
Ebrahim KHARI (IRI)
Reza Hossein MOMENI (IRI)
Leomid COLESNIC (MDA)
Andrii DZHELEP (UKR)
Nahshon GARRETT (USA)
Michael MCGEE (USA)

65kg
Ali RAHIMZADE (AZE)
Ayub MUSAEV (BEL)
Khamzat ARSAMERZOUEV (FRA)
Goga OTINASHVILI (GEO)
Nika ZAKASHVILI (GEO)
Goderdzi DZEBISASHVILI (GEO)
Zoltan MIZSEI (HUN)
SIDDHARTH (IND)
Yasin REZAEI (IRI)
Ali KHORRAMDEL (IRI)
Abbas EBRAHIM (IRI)
Austin GOMEZ (MEX)
Krzysztof BIENKOWSKI (POL)
Erik ARUSHANIAN (UKR)
Joseph MCKENNA (USA)
Evan HENDERSON (USA)

70kg
Kanan HEYBATOV (AZE)
Akaki KEMERTELIDZE (GEO)
Iszmail MUSZUKAJEV (HUN)
Anuj KUMAR (IND)
Ebrahim ELAHI (IRI)
Sina KHALILI (IRI)
Vasile DIACON (MDA)
Patryk OLENCZYN (POL)
Ihor NYKYFORUK (UKR)
James GREEN (USA)
Jarrett JACQUES (USA)
Alec PANTALEO (USA)

74kg
Aghanazar NOVRUZOV (AZE)
Vedran LUKETIN (CRO)
Giorgi ELBAKIDZE (GEO)
Luka CHKHITUNIDZE (GEO)
Murad KURAMAGOMEDOV (HUN)
JAIDEEP (IND)
Ali REZAEI (IRI)
Andrzej SOKALSKI (POL)
Szymon WOJTKOWSKI (POL)
Kamil RYBICKI (POL)
Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK)
David CARR (USA)

79kg
Zelimkhan KHADJIEV (FRA)
Vladimeri GAMKRELIDZE (GEO)
Otari ADEISHVILI (GEO)
AMIT (IND)
Mahdi YOUSEFI (IRI)
Akhsarbek GULAEV (SVK)
Evan WICK (USA)
Rocco WELSH (USA)

86kg
Arsenii DZHIOEV (AZE)
Tariel GAPHRINDASHVILI (GEO)
Mukul DAHIYA (IND)
Abolfazl RAHMANI (IRI)
Matthew FINESILVER (ISR)
Eugeniu MIHALCEAN (MDA)
Krzysztof SADOWIK (POL)
Mukhammed ALIIEV (UKR)
Zahid VALENCIA (USA)
Trent HIDLAY (USA)
Nathan JACKSON (USA)

92kg
Abubakr ABAKAROV (AZE)
Osman NURMAGOMEDOV (AZE)
Adlan VISKHANOV (FRA)
Miriani MAISURADZE (GEO)
Iuza TSERTSVADZE (GEO)
Krisztian ANGYAL (HUN)
SACHIN (IND)
Mohammadmobin AZIMI (IRI)
Amirhossein FIROUZPOUR (IRI)
Uri KALASHNIKOV (ISR)
Benjamin HONIS (ITA)
Ivan ICHIZLI (MDA)
Cezary SADOWSKI (POL)
Boris MAKOEV (SVK)
Aaron BROOKS (USA)
Michael MACCHIAVELLO (USA)

97kg
Merab SULEIMANISHVILI (GEO)
Richard VEGH (HUN)
SAHIL (IND)
Abolfazl BABALOO (IRI)
Radu LEFTER (MDA)
Batyrbek TSAKULOV (SVK)
Kyle SNYDER (USA)
Jonathan AIELLO (USA)

125kg
Solomon MANASHVILI (GEO)
DINESH (IND)
Amirreza MASOUMI (IRI)
Kamil KOSCIOLEK (POL)
Murazi MCHEDLIDZE (UKR)
Trent HILLGER (USA)
Hayden ZILLMER (USA)
Mason PARRIS (USA)

Aiperi MEDET KYZY (KGZ)Aiperi MEDET KYZY (KGZ) and Kennedy BLADES (USA) at the Paris Olympics. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

Women's Wrestling

50kg
Nadezhda SOKOLOVA (AIN)
Kamila BARBOSA (BRA)
Emma LUTTENAUER (FRA)
Shivanee PAWAR (IND)
Gabija DILYTE (LTU)

55kg
Ekaterina VERBINA (AIN)
Elnura MAMMADOVA (AZE)
Samantha STEWART (CAN)
Tatiana DEBIEN (FRA)
Gerda TEREK (HUN)
Roza SZENTTAMASI (HUN)
JYOTI (IND)
MEENAKSHI (IND)
Mariana DRAGUTAN (MDA)
Areana VILLAESCUSA (USA)
Jacarra WINCHESTER (USA)

57kg
Olga KHOROSHAVTSEVA (AIN)
Zhala ALIYEVA (AZE)
Ramona GALAMBOS (HUN)
TAPSYA (IND)

59kg
Hiunai HURBANOVA (AZE)
Alyona KOLESNIK (AZE)
Erika BOGNAR (HUN)
ANJLI (IND)
Mariana CHERDIVARA (MDA)
Michaela BECK (USA)
Sofia MACALUSO (USA)

62kg
Amina TANDELOVA (AIN)
Bilyana DUDOVA (BUL)
Ameline DOUARRE (FRA)
Nikolett SZABO (HUN)
Yasmine SOLIMAN (HUN)
Bhagyashree FAND (IND)
Adaugo NWACHUKWU (USA)

65kg
Milla ANDELIC (CRO)
Eniko ELEKES (HUN)
MANISHA (IND)

68kg
Elizaveta PETLIAKOVA (AIN)
Adela HANZLICKOVA (CZE)
Pauline LECARPENTIER (FRA)
Noémi SZABADOS (HUN)
Karolina POK (HUN)
RADHIKA (IND)
Delgermaa ENKHSAIKHAN (MGL)
Kennedy BLADES (USA)

72kg
Zahra KARIMZADA (AZE)
Veronika VILK (CRO)
Noemi OSVATH NAGY (HUN)
PRIYANKA (IND)
Skylar GROTE (USA)

76kg
Valeriia TRIFONOVA (AIN)
Veronika NYIKOS (HUN)
PRIYA (IND)
Kamile GAUCAITE (LTU)
Yelena MAKOYED (USA)

Turpal BISULTANOV (DEN)Paris Olympic bronze medalist Turpal BISULTANOV (DEN) is entered at 87kg. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari) 

Greco-Roman

55kg
Elmir ALIYEV (AZE)
Eldaniz AZIZLI (AZE)
Peter TOTOK (HUN)
LALIT (IND)
Mahdi AHADI (IRI)
Artiom DELEANU (MDA)
Alexander CUEVAS (SGP)
Andrew KOONTZ (USA)
Jasurbek ORTIKBOEV (UZB)

60kg
Sadyk LALAEV (AIN)
Emin SEFERSHAEV (AIN)
Nihat MAMMADLI (AZE)
Huseyn GARIBOV (AZE)
PRAVESH (IND)
Pouya NASERPOUR (IRI)
Abere FETENE (ISR)
Melkamu FETENE (ISR)
Denis MIHAI (ROU)
Georgij TIBILOV (SRB)
Dalton ROBERTS (USA)
Maxwell BLACK (USA)
Alisher GANIEV (UZB)
Mehroj BAKHRAMOV (UZB)

63kg
Hleb MAKARANKA (AIN)
Dinislam BAMMATOV (AIN)
Ziya BABASHOV (AZE)
Murad MAMMADOV (AZE)
UMESH (IND)
Mohammad KESHTKAR (IRI)
Erfan JARKANI (IRI)
Vitalie ERIOMENCO (MDA)
Corneliu RUSU (MDA)
Ellis COLEMAN (USA)
Ildar HAFIZOV (USA)
Otto BLACK (USA)
Aytjan KHALMAKHANOV (UZB)
Islomjon BAKHRAMOV (UZB)

67kg
Daniial AGAEV (AIN)
Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE)
Farid KHALILOV (AZE)
Dominik ETLINGER (CRO)
Erik TORBA (HUN)
Vinayak PATIL (IND)
Mohammadreza GHOLAMI (IRI)
Ahmadreza MOHSEN NEZHAD (IRI)
Valentin PETIC (MDA)
Morten THORESEN (NOR)
Haavard JOERGENSEN (NOR)
Razvan ARNAUT (ROU)
Sebastian NAD (SRB)
Noe POC (SRB)
Alejandro SANCHO (USA)
Nozimjon BOYKUZIEV (UZB)

72kg
Aliaksandr LIAVONCHYK (AIN)
Ruslan NURULLAYEV (AZE)
Ulvu GANIZADE (AZE)
Luka IVANCIC (CRO)
Denis MERTL (CZE)
Matias LIPASTI (FIN)
Mikko PELTOKANGAS (FIN)
Krisztian VANCZA (HUN)
Levente LEVAI (HUN)
Ankit GULIA (IND)
Iman KHOON (IRI)
Danial SOHRABI (IRI)
Mohammadreza GERAEI (IRI)
Mihai PETIC (MDA)
Benjamin PEAK (USA)
Abdullo ALIEV (UZB)

77kg
Illia VALEUSKI (AIN)
Maksim SHEDZ (AIN)
Sergei KUTUZOV (AIN)
Sergei STEPANOV (AIN)
Khasay HASANLI (AZE)
Sanan SULEYMANOV (AZE)
Davud MAMMADOV (AZE)
Pavel PUKLAVEC (CRO)
Antonio KAMENJASEVIC (CRO)
Michal ZELENKA (CZE)
Oliver KRUEGER (DEN)
Akseli YLI HANNUKSELA (FIN)
Jonni SARKKINEN (FIN)
Robert FRITSCH (HUN)
Zoltan LEVAI (HUN)
KARAN (IND)
Amin KAVIYANI (IRI)
Amir ABDI (IRI)
Ali OSKOU (IRI)
Alexandrin GUTU (MDA)
Alexandru SOLOVEI (MDA)
Aryan BIN AZMAN (SGP)
Aleksa ILIC (SRB)
Artur POLITAIEV (UKR)
Doniyorkhon NAKIBOV (UZB)
Aram VARDANYAN (UZB)

82kg
Ilya BITSEYEU (AIN)
Shuai MAMEDAU (AIN)
Gurban GURBANOV (AZE)
Filip SACIC (CRO)
Karlo KODRIC (CRO)
Marek VRBA (CZE)
Peter DOEMOEK (HUN)
Erik SZILVASSY (HUN)
Dominik BOTOS (HUN)
Aman KUMAR (IND)
Gholamreza FAROKHI (IRI)
Mihail BRADU (MDA)
Vasile COJOC (ROU)
Uros LECIC (SRB)
Jesse PORTER (USA)
Samandar BOBONAZAROV (UZB)

87kg
Stanislau SHAFARENKA (AIN)
Ihar YARASHEVICH (AIN)
Aues GONIBOV (AIN)
Milad ALIRZAEV (AIN)
Rafig HUSEYNOV (AZE)
Islam ABBASOV (AZE)
Vjekoslav LUBURIC (CRO)
Matej MANDIC (CRO)
Ivan HUKLEK (CRO)
Ondrej HAVELKA (CZE)
Turpal BISULTANOV (DEN)
Istvan TAKACS (HUN)
David LOSONCZI (HUN)
Tamas LEVAI (HUN)
Sunil KUMAR (IND)
Naser ALIZADEH (IRI)
Islam YEVLOYEV (KAZ)
Marcel STERKENBURG (NED)
Exauce MUKUBU (NOR)
Patrik GORDAN (ROU)
Milos PEROVIC (SRB)
Aleksandr KOMAROV (SRB)
Spencer WOODS (USA)
Jalgasbay BERDIMURATOV (UZB)
Rahimjon UZOKOV (UZB)

97kg
Uladzislau PUSTASHYLAU (AIN)
Abubakar KHASLAKHANAU (AIN)
Kiryl MASKEVICH (AIN)
Magomed MURTAZALIEV (AIN)
Artur SARGSIAN (AIN)
Arif NIFTULLAYEV (AZE)
Murad AHMADIYEV (AZE)
Filip SMETKO (CRO)
Tomislav BRKAN (CRO)
Kristian LUKAC (CRO)
Ondrej DADAK (CZE)
Mathias BAK (DEN)
Arvi SAVOLAINEN (FIN)
Alex SZOKE (HUN)
Vendel VITAI (HUN)
SONU (IND)
Hamidreza BADKAN (IRI)
Shayan HABIBZARE (IRI)
Tyrone STERKENBURG (NED)
Nicu OJOG (ROU)
Uros KRSTIN (SRB)
Luka KATIC (SRB)

130kg
Dzmitry ZARUBSKI (AIN)
Sergei SEMENOV (AIN)
Marat KAMPAROV (AIN)
Sarkhan MAMMADOV (AZE)
Beka KANDELAKI (AZE)
Artur SARKISJAN (CZE)
Matti KUOSMANEN (FIN)
Konsta MAEENPAEAE (FIN)
Laszlo DARABOS (HUN)
Darius VITEK (HUN)
Koppany LASZLO (HUN)
Uttam RANA (IND)
Aliakbar YOUSOFI (IRI)
Courtney FREEMAN (USA)
Temurbek NASIMOV (UZB)

Note: The 53kg weight class in Women's Wrestling was removed after only one wrestler was registered for the same.