Ranking Series

Yasar Dogu to Replace South African Open as Freestyle Ranking Series Event

By Tim Foley

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY (June 8) – The 46th Annual Yasar Dogu International has been named a Ranking Series event in men’s freestyle wrestling.

The tournament will be held July 27-29 in Istanbul and replaces the South African Open, which cited a lack of early sign-ups as motivation to cancel its event.

An updated list of Ranking Series events for men’s freestyle:

Ivan Yariguin (RUS) -- Completed
Tbilisi GP (GEO), July 3-5                          
Yasar Dogu, July 27-29            
Medved (BLR), September 14-16        

#Anti-Doping

CAS dismisses Datunashvili appeal against anti-doping violation

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (November 22) -- The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has upheld the five-year ban imposed on Zurabi DATUNASHVILI (SRB), dismissing his appeal against the sanction handed down last year.

The CAS Anti-Doping Division (CAS ADD) sanctioned Datunashvili with five years of ineligibility on September 19, 2024. He filed an appeal against the decision, but on November 17, 2025, CAS dismissed the appeal and confirmed the sanction. His period of ineligibility will run until April 10, 2028.

Datunashvili had been charged by the ITA with multiple anti-doping rule violations (ADRVs), including the use of urine substitution in the lead-up to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and the creation and use of a fabricated video as evidence to justify a missed out-of-competition doping control in 2022.

As a result of the sanction, all results obtained by Datunashvili from May 27, 2021, to April 11, 2023 (the date of his provisional suspension) were disqualified, including his bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics and the gold medals he won at the 2021 and 2022 World Championships.