#WrestleTokyo

#WrestleTokyo Olympic Games Preview: 87kg

Thursday, July 22, 2021 - 14:05 By Andrew Hipps

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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)

#UWWAwards

UWW's 2024 Wrestlers of the Year: Petriashvili, Tosun, Kusaka

Monday, December 16, 2024 - 16:45 By United World Wrestling Press

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (December 16) -- United World Wrestling has announced the wrestlers of the year in Freestyle, Women's Wrestling and Greco-Roman. UWW’s 2024 Wrestler of the Year award winners are Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO), Buse TOSUN (TUR) and Nao KUSAKA (JPN).

Freestyle: Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO)

The 30-year-old Georgian finished with a style-best 68,200 Ranking Series points through his finishes at the four point-based events of the year -- Olympic Games, European Championships, Croatian and Hungarian Ranking Series -- in which he collected a 13-4 record with 8 wins coming against top 20 ranked opponents.

Petriashvili’s 2024 season didn’t start well, as he finished in fifth place with a 3-2 record at the Croatian Ranking Series. This marked Petriashvili’s sixth consecutive full season in which he started on a losing note before regaining focus and peaking at the most opportune times.

In his next outing, Petriashvili scored three wins before reaching the European finals for the seventh time in his career. However, he fell short against career rival Taha AKGUL (TUR) for silver.

The three-time world champion then went to Hungary for the final tune-up before the Paris Olympics. While at the second Ranking Series event of the year, Petriashvili grabbed three wins, but not before falling to Yusup BATIRMURZAEV (KAZ) in the semifinals while nursing a left elbow injury.

Petriashvili headed to Paris hungry to improve his 2020 Tokyo Olympic silver medal. The father of two did exactly that, picking up four victories including a 10-9 shock win over two-time reigning world champion Amir Hossein ZARE (IRI), becoming Georgia’s third-ever freestyle Olympic gold medalist.
 
Greco-Roman: Nao KUSAKA (JPN)

23-year-old Nao KUSAKA (JPN), finished with a Greco-Roman best 79,200 Ranking Series points after winning golds at the Olympics, Asian Championships, and Hungarian Ranking Series events while also winning a bronze at the Croatian Ranking Series event at the beginning of the season.

After falling in the semifinals of his first competition of the year, Kusaka rallied off 14 consecutive victories -- four of which came against former world champions Burhan AKBUDAK (TUR), Ibrahim GHANEM (FRA), Malkhas AMOYAN (ARM) and Akzhol MAKHMUDOV (KGZ) -- on his way to winning golds in Paris, Bishkek and Budapest.

Kusaka’s win in Paris at 77kg, alongside his fellow teammate Kenichiro FUMITA’s gold, ended Japan’s 40-year Greco-Roman Olympic gold-medal drought.

Women's Wrestling: Buse TOSUN (TUR)

Buse TOSUN (TUR) is UWW’s Women’s wrestler of the year after topping the rankings with a style best 60,200 points. She narrowly edged Sakura MOTOKI (JPN) by 200 points for the coveted award.

Tosun, the reigning world champion at 68kg, finished 2024 with an impressive 11-2 record. Of those 11 wins during the season, a staggering eight came against wrestlers in the top 15 of the world rankings.

She dropped her first match of the season to Feng ZHOU (CHN) but went on to win 11 of her remaining 12 bouts, falling only at the Paris Olympics to eventual champion Amit ELOR (USA), en route to winning an Olympic bronze which was just Turkiye's second-ever women’s wrestling Olympic medal.

United World Wrestling congratulates Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO), Nao KUSAKA (JPN), and Buse TOSUN (TUR) for their incredible achievements this year and for being named the 2024 Wrestlers of the Year.