#WrestleZagreb

Zagreb Open Ranking Series 2026 Entries

By United World Wrestling Press

ZAGREB, Croatia (January 22) -- The 2026 season will kick off with the Ranking Series in Zagreb. Zagreb Open will begin February 4 to 8 and will be held at Arena Zagreb, the same venue as the World Championships.

Freestyle will kick off the competition on February 4 with six weight classes. February 5 will see the remaining four Freestyle weight classes and two Women's Wrestling weights in action. Day three will be four Women's Wrestling weights and two Greco-Roman.

Both Women's Wrestling and Greco-Roman will be held on day four, February 7, with women's in four and Greco in two weight classes. Last and day five will be all Greco with six weight classes.

Click here for full schedule of Zagreb Open 2026 Ranking Series. 

All action will be live on UWW+. Subscribe to UWW+ to watch.

Greco-Roman

55kg
Filip BARTOSIK (CZE)
Koba KARUMIDZE (GEO)
LALIT (IND)
Poya DAD MARZ (IRI)
Mohammad IRIHOSSEINVAND PANAHISANI (IRI)
Arsen ZHUMA (KAZ)
Nurzat KABDYRAKHIMOV (KAZ)
Yersin ABYIR (KAZ)
Artiom DELEANU (MDA)
Sebastian KOLOMPAR (SRB)
Omer RECEP (TUR)
Brady KOONTZ (USA)
Ikhtiyor BOTIROV (UZB)
Jasurbek ORTIKBOEV (UZB)

60kg
Giorgi KOCHALIDZE (GEO)
SAHIL (IND)
Sajjad ABBASPOUR (IRI)
Pouya NASERPOUR (IRI)
Koto GOMI (JPN)
Yu SHIOTANI (JPN)
Amangali BEKBOLATOV (KAZ)
Galym KABDUNASSAROV (KAZ)
Yerbol KAMALIYEV (KAZ)
Corneliu RUSU (MDA)
Georgij TIBILOV (SRB)
Mert ILBARS (TUR)
Dalton ROBERTS (USA)
Maxwell BLACK (USA)
Zane RICHARDS (USA)
Alisher GANIEV (UZB)
Mehroj BAKHRAMOV (UZB)

63kg
Nikolay VICHEV (BUL)
Adham ELSAYED (EGY)
CHETAN (IND)
Meysam DALKHANI (IRI)
Erfan JARKANI (IRI)
Aidos SULTANGALI (KAZ)
Dastan ZARLYKHANOV (KAZ)
Saifulla KURMAN (KAZ)
Vitalie ERIOMENCO (MDA)
Morten THORESEN (NOR)
Dejan BERKEC (SRB)
Ildar HAFIZOV (USA)
Rhett PEAK (USA)
Islomjon BAKHRAMOV (UZB)
Khusniddin OLIMBOEV (UZB)

67kg
Aker SCHMID (AUT)
Dominik ETLINGER (CRO)
Mohamed ABDELREHIM (EGY)
Anri KHOZREVANIDZE (GEO)
Diego CHKHIKVADZE (GEO)
Rati KHOZREVANIDZE (GEO)
Sachin SAHRAWAT (IND)
Mohammad KAMALI (IRI)
Ahmadreza MOHSEN NEZHAD (IRI)
Katsuaki ENDO (JPN)
Kyotaro SOGABE (JPN)
Din KOSHKAR (KAZ)
Dinmukhamed OMAROV (KAZ)
Yerzhet ZHARLYKASSYN (KAZ)
Valentin PETIC (MDA)
Sebastian NAD (SRB)
Niklas OEHLEN (SWE)
Murat FIRAT (TUR)
Alston NUTTER (USA)
Otto BLACK (USA)
Aytjan KHALMAKHANOV (UZB)
Oybek SHARIBJONOV (UZB)

72kg
Estebane TSCHARNER (CIV)
Pavel PUKLAVEC (CRO)
Moustafa ALAMELDIN (EGY)
Mishiko ALEKSANDRIA (GEO)
Nika BROLADZE (GEO)
Krisztian VANCZA (HUN)
Krisztofer KLANYI (HUN)
Kuldeep MALIK (IND)
Javad REZAEI (IRI)
Almatbek AMANBEK (KAZ)
Daniyar KALENOV (KAZ)
Nikolay KHAPKO (KAZ)
Henrik DAHLEN (SWE)
Cengiz ARSLAN (TUR)
Alejandro SANCHO (USA)
Benjamin PEAK (USA)
Abror ATABAEV (UZB)
Shakhzod KUCHKOROV (UZB)

77kg
Stoyan KUBATOV (BUL)
Antonio KAMENJASEVIC (CRO)
Luka IVANCIC (CRO)
Ehab KHALIL (EGY)
Yehia ABDELKADER (EGY)
Temuri ORJONIKIDZE (GEO)
Levente LEVAI (HUN)
Robert FRITSCH (HUN)
Zoltan LEVAI (HUN)
AMAN (IND)
Ali OSKOU (IRI)
Ahoura BOUVEIRI PIANI (IRI)
Amir SAEIDI NAVA (IRI)
Isami HORIKITA (JPN)
Merey MAULITKANOV (KAZ)
Tamerlan SHADUKAYEV (KAZ)
Alexandru SOLOVEI (MDA)
Aleksa ILIC (SRB)
Artur POLITAIEV (UKR)
Kamal BEY (USA)
Abdullo ALIEV (UZB)
Aram VARDANYAN (UZB)
Doniyorkhon NAKIBOV (UZB)

82kg
Ibrahim TABAEV (BEL)
Filip SACIC (CRO)
Karlo KODRIC (CRO)
Marek VRBA (CZE)
Michal ZELENKA (CZE)
Emad ABOUELATTA (EGY)
Tornike MIKELADZE (GEO)
PRINCE (IND)
Abolfazl MOHMEDI (IRI)
Reza MOKHTARI (IRI)
Demeu ZHADRAYEV (KAZ)
Ibragim MAGOMADOV (KAZ)
Omar SATAYEV (KAZ)
Mihail BRADU (MDA)
Shahin BADAGHIMOFRAD (QAT)
Antal VAMOS (SRB)
Ognjen JAKOVLJEVIC (SRB)
Alexander JOHANSSON (SWE)
Yuksel SARICICEK (TUR)
Mykyta POLITAIEV (UKR)
Beka MELELASHVILI (USA)
Jesse PORTER (USA)
Azimjon SOATULLAEV (UZB)
Samandar BOBONAZAROV (UZB)

87kg
Deyvid DIMITROV (BUL)
Antonio LUKAC (CRO)
Ivan HUKLEK (CRO)
Matej MANDIC (CRO)
Turpal BISULTANOV (DEN)
Fares GHALY (EGY)
Mahmoud IBRAHIM (EGY)
Achiko BOLKVADZE (GEO)
Aivengo RIKADZE (GEO)
Erik SZILVASSY (HUN)
Istvan TAKACS (HUN)
Tamas LEVAI (HUN)
ROHIT (IND)
Islam YEVLOYEV (KAZ)
Maksat SAILAU (KAZ)
Nursultan TURSYNOV (KAZ)
Marcel STERKENBURG (NED)
Andrija MIHAJLOVIC (SRB)
Dogan KAYA (TUR)
Payton JACOBSON (USA)
Zachary BRAUNAGEL (USA)
Jalgasbay BERDIMURATOV (UZB)
Mukhammadkodir RASULOV (UZB)
Rahimjon UZOKOV (UZB)

97kg
Daniel GASTL (AUT)
Filip SMETKO (CRO)
Kristian LUKAC (CRO)
Tomislav BRKAN (CRO)
Mathias BAK (DEN)
Mohamed GABR (EGY)
Luka GABISONIA (GEO)
Giorgi MELIA (GEO)
Alex SZOKE (HUN)
NITESH (IND)
Naser ALIZADEH 
Hadi SEYDI AVENDI (IRI)
Takahiro TSURUDA (JPN)
Iussuf MATSIYEV (KAZ)
Nurassyl AMANALY (KAZ)
Tyrone STERKENBURG (NED)
Luka KATIC (SRB)
Mihail KAJAIA (SRB)
Uros KRSTIN (SRB)
Aleksandar STJEPANETIC (SWE)
Abdul CEBI (TUR)
Michial FOY (USA)
Javokhir SHODIYAROV (UZB)

130kg
Marko MILANOVIC (CRO)
Artur SARKISJAN (CZE)
Rati TALIKISHVILI (GEO)
Darius VITEK (HUN)
Laszlo DARABOS (HUN)
Joginder RATHEE (IND)
Alimkhan SYZDYKOV (KAZ)
Olzhas SYRLYBAY (KAZ)
Oskar MARVIK (NOR)
Jacob LOGAARD (SWE)
Riza KAYAALP (TUR)
Aden ATTAO (USA)
Cohlton SCHULTZ (USA)
Courtney FREEMAN (USA)

Georgios KOUGIOUMTSIDIS (GRE)World champion at 79kg Georgios KOUGIOUMTSIDIS (GRE) is moving up to 86kg. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Freestyle

57kg
Nikoloz BOTCHORISHVILI (GEO)
Roberti DINGASHVILI (GEO)
AMAN (IND)
ANKUSH (IND)
Atish TODKAR (IND)
Milad VALIZADEH (IRI) 
Ali YAHYAPOUR (IRI)
Fuga SASAKI (JPN)
Roman BRAVO YOUNG (MEX)
Azamat TUSKAEV (SRB)
Anthony KNOX (USA)
Liam CRONIN (USA)
Spencer LEE (USA)

61kg
Giorgi GONIASHVILI (GEO)
Reza MOMENI (IRI)
Ali ABURUMAILA (PLE)
Austin DESANTO (USA)

65kg
Khamzat ARSAMERZOUEV (FRA)
Nika ZAKASHVILI (GEO)
Gamzatgadzsi HALIDOV (HUN)
Zoltan MIZSEI (HUN)
SUJEET (IND)
Vishal KALIRAMANA (IND)
Peyman NEMATI (IRI)
Takara SUDA (JPN)
Joseph MCKENNA (USA)

70kg
Alexander SEIWALD (AUT)
Muhammad ABDURACHMANOV (BEL)
Akaki KEMERTELIDZE (GEO)
Iszmail MUSZUKAJEV (HUN)
ABHIMANYOU (IND)
Ebrahim ELAHI (IRI)
Sina KHALILI (IRI)
Patryk OLENCZYN (POL)
Caleb HENSON (USA)
Ian PARKER (USA)
Tyler KASAK (USA)

74kg
Adam THOMSON (CAN)
Seyfulla ITAEV (FRA)
Giorgi ELBAKIDZE (GEO)
Benjamin DOBLER (HUN)
Murad KURAMAGOMEDOV (HUN)
CHANDERMOHAN (IND)
DEEPAK (IND)
Aliakbar FAZLI (IRI)
Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN)
Kamil RYBICKI (POL)
Alfred DANIEL (SLE)
David CARR (USA)
James GREEN (USA)
Jarrett JACQUES (USA)
Farhad NOURIKHORJESTAN (UWW)

79kg
Muhamed BEKTEMIROV (AUT)
Zelimkhan KHADJIEV (FRA)
Otari ADEISHVILI (GEO)
Luka CHKHITUNIDZE (GEO)
AMIT (IND)
Sobhan ESMI (IRI)
Adel PANAEIAN (IRI)
Krisztian BIRO (ROU)
Daniel BRAUNAGEL (USA)
Dean HAMITI (USA)
Evan WICK (USA)

86kg
Simon MARCHL (AUT)
Connor CHURCH (CAN)
Vladimeri GAMKRELIDZE (GEO)
Georgios KOUGIOUMTSIDIS (GRE)
Mukul DAHIYA (IND)
Sandeep MANN (IND)
Ali SAVADKOUHI (IRI)
Abolfazl SHAMSIPOUR (IRI)
Cezary SADOWSKI (POL)
Shane JONES (PUR)
Gabriel MC DUFFIE (SLE)
Parker KECKEISEN (USA)
Zahid VALENCIA (USA)

92kg
Zaur BERADZE (GEO)
Jointy KUMAR (IND)
Mobin AZIMI (IRI)
Abolfazl RAHMANI (IRI)
Dustin PLOTT (USA)
Michael MACCHIAVELLO (USA)
Trent HIDLAY (USA)

97kg
Benjamin GREIL (AUT)
Magomed SHARIPOV (BRN)
Samuel PEREIRA (CAN)
Adlan VISKHANOV (FRA)
Konstantine PETRIASHVILI (GEO)
Merab SULEIMANISHVILI (GEO)
Musza ARSUNKAEV (HUN)
Richard VEGH (HUN)
Deepak CHAHAL (IND)
VICKY (IND)
Hassan YAZDANI (IRI)
Kamil KURUGLIYEV (KAZ)
Stephen BUCHANAN (USA)
Zane LANHAM (USA)

125kg
Johannes LUDESCHER (AUT)
Shamil SHARIPOV (BRN)
Aleksandre ABRAMISHVILI (GEO)
Vlagyiszlav BAJCAJEV (HUN)
DINESH (IND)
Mahendra GAIKWAD (IND)
Mortaza JANMOHAMMADZADEH (IRI)
Kamil KOSCIOLEK (POL)
Robert BARAN (POL)
Demetrius THOMAS (USA)
Wyatt HENDRICKSON (USA)

Miwa MORIKAWA (JPN)Miwa MORIKAWA (JPN), world 65kg champion, is entered at 68kg. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Women's Wrestling

50kg
Asmar JANKURTARAN (AZE)
Elnura MAMMADOVA (AZE)
Kamila BARBOSA (BRA)
Katie DUTCHAK (CAN)
Ena ZEMUNIC (CRO)
Laura BOGATIC (CRO)
Laura FATH (HUN)
MUSKAN (IND)
NEELAM (IND)
Emanuela LIUZZI (ITA)
Haruna MORIKAWA (JPN)
Zeinep BAYANOVA (KAZ)
Agata GOLUCHOWSKA WALERZAK (POL)
Natalia WALCZAK (POL)
Nipuni HEWA PEDIGE (SRI)
Kendra RYAN (USA)
Elizaveta SMIRNOVA (UWW)

53kg
Nargiz SAMADOVA (AZE)
Emma LUTTENAUER (FRA)
Annika WENDLE (GER)
Gerda TEREK (HUN)
Anjali KACHHAWA (IND)
ANTIM (IND)
Umi IMAI (JPN)
Roksana ZASINA (POL)
Nethmi PORUTHOTAGE (SRI)
Everest LEYDECKER (USA)
Katie GOMEZ (USA)
Sydney PETZINGER (USA)

55kg
Karla GODINEZ (CAN)
JYOTI (IND)
Nagisa HARADA (JPN)
Beatrice FERENT (ROU)
Tuba DEMIR (TUR)
Amani JONES (USA)
Areana VILLAESCUSA (USA)
Ekaterina VERBINA (UWW)

57kg
Zhala ALIYEVA (AZE)
Giullia PENALBER (BRA)
Samantha STEWART (CAN)
Amory ANDRICH (GER)
Roza SZENTTAMASI (HUN)
Tamara DOLLAK (HUN)
MANISHA (IND)
Himeka TOKUHARA (JPN)
Nilufar RAIMOVA (KAZ)
Felicitas DOMAJEVA (NOR)
Evelina HULTHEN (SWE)
Tindra DALMYR (SWE)
Elvira KAMALOGLU (TUR)
Amanda MARTINEZ (USA)

59kg
Hiunai HURBANOVA (AZE)
Iris SLATKA (CRO)
Elena BRUGGER (GER)
Erika BOGNAR (HUN)
RAJNITA (IND)
Sena NAGAMOTO (JPN)
Bediha GUN (TUR)
Abigail NETTE (USA)
Alexis JANIAK (USA)

62kg
Lais NUNES (BRA)
Lana NOGIC (CRO)
Ameline DOUARRE (FRA)
Luisa SCHEEL (GER)
Naemi LEISTNER (GER)
Eniko ELEKES (HUN)
ANJLI (IND)
Bhagyashree FAND (IND)
Nonoka OZAKI (JPN)
Irina KUZNETSOVA (KAZ)
Grace BULLEN (NOR)
Johanna LINDBORG (SWE)
Alara BOYD (USA)
Macey KILTY (USA)
Marilyn GARCIA (USA)
Anastasiia SIDELNIKOVA (UWW)

65kg
Marijana SUMSKI (CRO)
PULKIT (IND)
Nana IKEHATA (JPN)
Kriszta INCZE (ROU)
Agnes NYGREN (SWE)

68kg
Birgul SOLTANOVA (AZE)
Aleah NICKEL (CAN)
Pauline LECARPENTIER (FRA)
Gerda BARTH (GER)
Laura KOEHLER (GER)
Karolina POK (HUN)
Noémi SZABADOS (HUN)
Mansi LATHER (IND)
NISHA (IND)
Miwa MORIKAWA (JPN)
Kateryna ZELENYKH (ROU)
Masa PEROVIC (SRB)
Tindra SJOEBERG (SWE)
Nesrin BAS (TUR)
Kennedy BLADES (USA)
Solin PIEARCY (USA)
Alina SHEVCHENKO (UWW)

72kg
Zahra KARIMZADA (AZE)
Veronika VILK (CRO)
Sophia SCHAEFLE (GER)
Diksha MALIK (IND)
Mahiro YOSHITAKE (JPN)
Buse TOSUN (TUR)
Alexandria GLAUDE (USA)
Kristina BRATCHIKOVA (UWW)

76kg
Shauna KUEBECK (CAN)
Kendra DACHER (FRA)
Jyoti BERWAL (IND)
PRIYA (IND)
Enrica RINALDI (ITA)
Yasuha MATSUYUKI (JPN)
Gulmaral YERKEBAYEVA (KAZ)
Kamile GAUCAITE (LTU)
Alexandra ANGHEL (ROU)
Tristan KELLY (USA)

Esmaeili survives Jafarov shock to win ISG 2025 gold

By Vinay Siwach

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (November 18) -- He needed some strong defense to win the world title and on Tuesday, Saeid ESMAEILI (IRI) needed some clutch offense to beat Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE) for the second time in two one month.

Esmaeili and Jafarov clashed in the final of the 67kg weight class at the Islamic Solidarity Games 2025 in Riyad, Saudi Arabi and it seemed that the latter was on his way to upset the Olympic champion and avenge his loss from the World Championships final.

Down 3-3 on criteria, all seemed to be over for Esmaeili as the clock ticked down. In the last 10 seconds, Esmaeili worked on a double-arm lock and then managed to throw Jafarov in danger from standing for four points which changed the result and gave him the win.

Azerbaijan challenged the call but there was no change in the result and Esmaeili defeated Jafarov 8-3, to capture yet another gold medal this year after Asian and World Championships.

Saeid ESMAEILI (IRI)Saeid ESMAEILI (IRI) throws Aytjan KHALMAKHANOV (UZB) during their 67kg bout. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

In Zagreb, Esmaeili was put in par terre for third passivity call. Jafarov, down 2-1, needed a point to turn the result but he failed to score any points as Esmaeili defended the par terre position and captured his first world title.

Jafarov blamed a lapse in concentration in the final seconds that costed him the gold medal in Riyadh.

Gholamreza FAROKHI (IRI)Gholamreza FAROKHI (IRI) won his fourth gold medal this year. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Iran's other world champion from Zagreb, Gholamreza FAROKHI (IRI) made it seem a little easier as he defeated former world U20 champion Islam YEVLOYEV (KAZ), 6-0, winning his third gold in one month.

Farokhi, who won gold at 82kg at the World Championships, moved to 87kg for U23 World Championships and won gold without giving up a point in Novi Sad. Just two weeks later, he now gold at 87kg on Tuesday.

Against Yevloyev in the final, Farokhi was awarded both par terre position which gave him a 2-0 lead. From the second par terre, he managed to score a point as he threw Yevloyev for a stepout. The Kazakhstan wrestler was docked two points for defensive foul making it 5-0.

Kazakhstan challenged the foul call but Yevloyev had clearly blocked Farokhi using his elbow on the Iranian's face. The lost challenged made it 6-0 for Farokhi, giving him the win.

Farokhi had a tough match in semifinals against world bronze medalist Asan ZHANYSHOV (KGZ) and needed a takedown in the final minute to win 7-6, first time he has shown some difficulty winning bouts.

Akzhol MAKHMUDOV (KGZ)Akzhol MAKHMUDOV (KGZ) won the 77kg gold medal at the Islamic Solidarity Games. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Two other gold medals were awarded on Tuesday with former U23 world champion Alisher GANIEV (UZB) winning the 60kg one and two-time Olympic medalist Akzhol MAKHMUDOV (KGZ) marking his comeback with gold medal at 77kg.

Makhmudov, who has not wrestled in a full tournament since winning bronze in Paris, was in some form as he made no mistake in his run to the gold medal. In the final, he wrestled Amir ABDI (IRI) and performed a reverse lift throw for five points before securing the fall in the second period.

Abdi got the par terre position in the first period but Makhmudov defended the position, giving only a 1-0 lead to the Iranian. When he got the par terre position, he jumped to the front before performing the lift and holding Abdi on the mat for fall.

Ganiev, who defeated European champion Nihad MAMMADLI (AZE) in the quarterfinal, defeated Ali AHMADI VAFA (IRI) in the semifinal and humbled Ekrem OZTURK (TUR), 8-0, in the final.

RESULTS

60kg
GOLD: Alisher GANIEV (UZB) df. Ekrem OZTURK (TUR), 8-0

BRONZE: Ali AHMADI VAFA (IRI) df. Nihat MAMMADLI (AZE), 3-2
BRONZE: Sajjad ALBIDHAN (IRQ) df. Fergat ABDELKRIM (ALG), 5-1

67kg
GOLD: Saeid ESMAEILI LEIVESI (IRI) df. Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE), 8-3

BRONZE: Aytjan KHALMAKHANOV (UZB) df. Aref MOHAMMADI (QAT), 5-2
BRONZE: Razzak BEISHEKEEV (KGZ) df. Hassan ABDELREHIM (EGY), via fall (9-0)

77kg
GOLD: Akzhol MAKHMUDOV (KGZ) df. Amir ABDI (IRI), via fall (6-1)

BRONZE: Abdullo ALIEV (UZB) df. Ulvu GANIZADE (AZE), 2-2
BRONZE: Shahin BADAGHIMOFRAD (QAT) df. Sami SLAMA (TUN), via fall (8-1)

87kg
GOLD: Gholamreza FAROKHI (IRI) df. Islam YEVLOYEV (KAZ), 6-0

BRONZE: Sid BACHIR (ALG) df. Sukhrob ABDULKHAEV (TJK), 9-0
BRONZE: Asan ZHANYSHOV (KGZ) df. Islam ABBASOV (AZE), 5-1