#WrestleZagreb

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

Monday, January 19, 2026 - 10:21 By Vinay Siwach

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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.

Development

Croatia organizes 'Learn, Wrestle, Use' in Porec

Wednesday, July 3, 2024 - 13:03 By United World Wrestling Press

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POREC, Croatia (July 3, 2024)—The Croatian Wrestling Federation organized an international wrestling camp titled “Learn, Wrestle, Use.” The camp took place in the well-established wrestling center of sunny Poreč from April 1 to 6. It catered to girls and boys in the age categories of U13, U15, and U17. In addition to wrestling, participants learned the official languages of UWW—English and French.

The camp was run by Croatian experts – Hrvoje Šavuk, coach (U13 Boys Group), Eugen Jakovljević, coach of the Croatian U15 boys national team (U15 and U17 Boys Group) and coaches of women’s wrestling Croatian national team Nenad Žugaj and Ivan Lončarić (Girls Group).

Collectively, 240 children from four European countries, including Croatia, Italy, Slovakia, and Slovenia, participated in the camp.

CROParticipants of the 'Learn, Wrestle, Use' camp work on technique with the Croatian coastline in the background. (Photo: United World Wrestling)

The significant potential of this camp was acknowledged by the UWW, and UWW Development Officer Vincent Aka was present, from whom both the leaders of groups and the young coaches learned a lot. Namely, the camp was attended by 22 young female and male coaches, in addition to the leader, who received valuable education at this camp, primarily from Vincent Aka, who greatly contributed to the quality of this camp with his knowledge and commitment. It was the opportunity to present United World Wrestling Academy to the coaches and invite them to use it to the fullest because all the educational resources are available and free for everyone (coaches, referees, athletes, administration)

Apart from wrestling and language learning sessions, the camp also featured organized swimming lessons, sea swimming, evening recreational activities and time to watch the European qualifying tournament for the Olympic Games in Paris 2024.

Wrestling training took place in three groups on indoor and outdoor courts. Learning languages was taught in four groups - three English groups and one French group. The atmosphere during the entire camp was excellent, as was the food, which has long been recognized by the wrestlers who come here in large numbers for sport preparations.

“I had a great time here and I would like to come back next year!”, “If only it had lasted longer!”, “Everything was great, especially the tuna steak.” and “It's painful, but there's no fun without pain.” are just some of the comments collected from young female and male wrestlers who attended the first camp in a series called “Learn, wrestle, use”.