WrestleOlegKaravaev

Oleg Karavaev Entries

By Eric Olanowski

MINSK, Belarus (July 19) --- The regular season closes out next week with the final Greco-Roman Ranking Series event, the Oleg Karavaev. The two-day tournament, which will be held in Minsk, Belarus, will feature nearly 175 wrestlers from 19 different nations.

Emrah KUS (TUR), the reigning world runner-up and No. 1-ranked wrestler in the world at 82kg, leads a field littered with 24 wrestlers who are ranked inside the top-20 of the latest Greco-Roman rankings. Kus' weight of 82kg will feature six ranked wrestlers -- which is the most top-20 guys in one bracket.

Two other stacked weight classes to pay attention to are 67kg and 130kg. Both weights house at least four top-20 competitors.

Wrestling at the Palace of Sports begins on July 26 and can be followed live on www.unitedworldwrestling.org.

ENTRIES

55kg
Manjeet MANJEET (IND)
Vijay VIJAY (IND)
Maksym VYSOTSKYI (ISR)
Vladimir ZABEYVOROTA RUS)

Emin Narimanovitch SEFERSHAEV (RUS)

60kg
Ihar DROZD (BLR)
Dzmitry BRYCHAK (BLR)
Marat GARIPOV  (BRA)
Gautam YADAV (IND)
Vijay VIJAY (IND)
Manish MANISH (IND)
Kenichiro FUMITA (JPN)
Khorlan ZHAKANSHA  (KAZ)
Amangali BEKBOLATOV (KAZ)
Zhanserik SARSENBIYEV (KAZ)
Seunghak KIM (KOR)
Artur PETROSIAN (RUS)
Sadyk LALAEV(RUS)

Ahmet UYAR   (TUR)
Andriy MARTYNYUK (UKR)
Ihor KUROCHKIN (UKR)
Javokhir MIRAKHMEDOV (UZB)
Ilkhom BAKHROMOV (UZB)

63kg
Yahor BELIAK  (BLR)
Aliaksandr PECHURENKA (BLR)
Erbatu TUO (CHN)
Sailike WALIHAN (CHN)
Juuso Aleksi LATVALA (FIN)
Sagar SAGAR (IND)
Shinobu OTA (JPN)
Aidos SULTANGALI (KAZ)
Mirambek AINAGULOV (KAZ)
Damir ZARLYKHANOV (KAZ)
Justas PETRAVICIUS (LTU)
Roman Aleksandrovich IVANOV (RUS)
Shamil Salauddinovitch MUALIEV (RUS)
Fadis VALITOV (RUS)
Nasrullakh NASIBOV (UKR)
Elmurat TASMURADOV (UZB)
Islomjon BAKHRAMOV (UZB)
Firuz TUKHTAEV (UZB)

Second-ranked Hansu RYU (KOR) will lock up the No. 2 seed at the World Championships with a win in Minsk. (Photo: Sachiko Hotaka)

67kg 
Soslan DAUROV (BLR)
Maksim NEHODA (BLR)
Mikita BARANAU (BLR)
Fredrik Holmquist BJERREHUUS (DEN)
Mohamed Ibrahim Elsayed Ibrahi ELSAYED (EGY)
Abouhalima Mohamed Elsaid ABOUHALIMA (EGY)
Manish MANISH (IND)
Tsuchika SHIMOYAMADA (JPN)
Shogo TAKAHASHI (JPN)
Daniyar KALENOV (KAZ)
Ruslan ITEMGENOV (KAZ)
Hansu RYU (KOR)
Aleksandrs JURKJANS (LAT)
Edgaras VENCKAITIS (LTU)
Alen MIRZOIAN (RUS)
Miakhdi Abubakarovitch IAKHIAEV (RUS)
Enes BASAR (TUR)
Murat FIRAT (TUR)
Vasyl SYMONENKO (UKR)
Aram VARDANYAN (UZB)
Makhmud BAKHSHILLOEV (UZB)
Mirzobek RAKHMATOV (UZB)

72kg 
Ruslan AHAMALYIEU (BLR)
Anton KORABAU (BLR)
Uladzislau MANKEVICH (BLR)
Gaoquan ZHANG (CHN)
Hassan Hassan Ahmed MOHAMED (EGY)
Miras AKHMETZHANOV (KAZ)
Meiirzhan SHERMAKHANBET (KAZ)
Kristupas SLEIVA (LTU)
Magomed YARBILOV (RUS)
Narek OGANIAN (RUS)
Arslan ZUBAIROV (RUS)
Andrii KULYK (UKR)

77kg 
Pavel LIAKH (BLR)
Tsimur BERDYIEU (BLR)
Anton SAKHNO (BLR)
Ridong ZHANG (CHN)
Hujun ZHANG  (CHN)
Jakub BIELESZ (CZE)
Mohamed Ehab Mohamed Zahab KHALIL (EGY)
Sakke Petteri PUROLAINEN (FIN)
Niko Olavi Oskari ERKKOLA (FIN)
Yogesh YOGESH (IND)
Sajan SAJAN (IND)
Naotsugu SHOJI (JPN)
Shohei YABIKU (JPN)
Ibragim MAGOMADOV (KAZ)
Paulius GALKINAS (LTU)
Rafael IUNUSOV (RUS)
Islam OPIEV (RUS)
Akhmed KAYTSUKOV  (RUS)
Serkan AKKOYUN (TUR)
Ivan KRAICHEV (UKR)
Yasaf ZEINALOV (UKR)


Top-ranked Emrah KUS (TUR) leads an 82kg field that has six ranked wrestler that'll be in action. (Photo: Gabor Martin) 

82kg 
Viktar SASUNOUSKI (BLR)
Stanislau SHAFARENKA (BLR)
Mikita KLIMOVICH (BLR)
Haitao QIAN (CHN)
Bin YANG (CHN)
Oldrich VARGA (CZE)
Rajbek Alvievich BISULTANOV (DEN)
Singh GURPREET (IND)
Singh HARPREET (IND)
Igor PETRISHIN (ISR)
Maxat YEREZHEPOV (KAZ)
Askhat ZHANBIROV (KAZ)
Miras BARSHYLYKOV (KAZ)
Milad Valerikovitch ALIRZAEV (RUS)
Emrah KUS (TUR)
Ruslan KONIEV (UKR)
Jalgasbay BERDIMURATOV (UZB)
Bilan NALGIEV (UZB)
Nurbek KHASHIMBEKOV (UZB)

87kg
Radzik KULIYEU (BLR)
Mikalai STADUB (BLR)
Kiryl MASKEVICH (BLR)
Junjie NA (CHN)
Mohamed Moustafa Ahmed Abdall METWALLY (EGY)
Kumar SUNIL (IND)
Takahiro TSURUDA (JPN)
Masato SUMI  (JPN)
Azamat KUSTUBAYEV (KAZ)
Baurzhan MUSSIN (KAZ)
Laimutis ADOMAITIS (LTU)
Martynas NEMSEVICIUS (LTU)
Julius MATUZEVICIUS (LTU)
Vaag MARGARIAN (RUS)
Gazi KHALILOV (RUS)
Dogan GOKTAS (TUR)
Muhammadali SHAMSIDDINOV (UZB)
Rustam ASSAKALOV (UZB)

97kg
Aliaksandr HRABOVIK (BLR)
Siarhei STARADUB (BLR)
Dzmitry KAMINSKI (BLR)
Yanan CHEN (CHN)
Yan LIU (CHN)
Artur OMAROV (CZE)
Ondrej DADAK (CZE)
Mathias BAK (DEN)
Ravi RAVI (IND)
Yuta NARA (JPN)
Olzhas SYRLYBAY (KAZ)
Yerulan ISKAKOV (KAZ)
Alimkhan SYZDYKOV (KAZ)
Vilius LAURINAITIS (LTU)
Ruslan BEKUZAROV (RUS)
Fatih BASKOY (TUR)
Suleyman DEMIRCI (TUR)
Ibrahim TIGCI (TUR)
Zielimkhan DZIHASOV (UKR)
Oleksandr SHYSHMAN (UKR)
Jahongir TURDIEV (UZB)

KIM Minseok (KOR), a Budapest world bronze medalist, only need one point to lock up at least a top-four seed at the World Championships. (Photo: Max Rose-Fyne)

130kg
Kiryl HRYSHCHANKA (BLR)
Georgi CHUGOSHVILI (BLR)
Javid HAMZATAU (BLR)
Yasmani ACOSTA FERNANDEZ (CHI)
Di XIAO (CHN)
Lingzhe MENG (CHN)
Stepan DAVID (CZE)
Abdellatif Mohamed Ahmed MOHAMED (EGY)
Konsta Johannes MAEENPAEAE (FIN)
Tuomas Heikki Juhani LAHTI (FIN)
Naveen NAVEEN (IND)
Damir KUZEMBAYEV (KAZ)
Mansur SHADUKAYEV (KAZ)
Minseok KIM (KOR)
Romas FRIDRIKAS (LTU)
Oleg Kahaberovitch AGAKHANOV (RUS)
Osman YILDIRIM (TUR)
Muminjon ABDULLAEV (UZB)

#IranWrestling

Inspired by Olympic Gold, Esmaeili's Cousins Win U17 Asian Titles

By Vinay Siwach

DA NANG, Vietnam (June 11) -- When 20-year-old Saeid ESMAEILI (IRI) returned to Iran after winning Olympic gold in Greco-Roman 67kg at the Paris Games, he came home with more than just a medal around his neck. He returned with proof that wrestling could change lives.

Raised in poverty in Dezful, Khuzestan Province, Esmaeili's improbable run to Olympic gold transformed him overnight into a national sensation. He was showered with gifts, cash awards and job offers.

The ripples of that triumph are still being felt. Last month, two of Esmaeili's own cousins, Ali ESMAEILI (IRI) and Vahid ASHIRI (IRI), won gold medals at the U17 Asian Championships in Da Nang after taking up wrestling only two years ago, inspired by his Olympic success and the hero's welcome he received back home.

Saeid ESMAEILI (IRI)
Paris Olympic champion Saeid ESMAEILI (IRI), left, with his cousin Ali who won 48kg gold medal at the U17 Asian Championships.

Ali, whose father is Esmaeili's uncle, competed in Greco-Roman 48kg and won three bouts to capture the gold medal. He outscored his opponents 22-2 including two technical superiority wins.

Another cousin from his mother's side, Ashiri, competed in the Greco-Roman 55kg weight class and was crowned champion after four victories. He defeated wrestlers from India, Jordan, China and Kyrgyzstan with scores of 6-1, 5-2, 11-1, and 3-1 to capture the Asian title.

While they were winning gold medals in Vietnam, Olympic champion Esmaeili was watching from Iran.

"I watched their Asian finals and I always follow their training," Esmaeili told United World Wrestling. "We are from the same club and both are talented."

Ali ESMAEILI (IRI)Ali ESMAEILI (IRI) became the U17 Asian champion at 48kg in Greco-Roman. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

The two took up wrestling at the age of 14 and quickly rose through the province before making it to the Iran team for the U17 Asian Championships. Ali Esmaeili feels that Saeid's presence motivates him to work harder to achieve medals in wrestling.

"I got into wrestling after watching Saeid's Olympic final. In 2 years, with his help, I managed to become the Asian champion. Every time I see Saeid, I feel really good and I am proud of him."

Though Esmaeili trains at the national camp in Tehran, he does not miss a chance to train the youngsters when he returns home and practices in Dezful.

"I tried to answer every question they asked me about wrestling carefully and I also taught them some of my techniques," he said.

Vahid ASHIRI (IRI)Vahid ASHIRI (IRI) claimed the 55kg gold medal. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

Ashiri also stepped foot in the club after watching Esmaeili's thrilling Paris campaign. Two years later, he is proud to represent both the Esmaeili family and the club.

"After Saeid won the gold medal, I went to the club where he trains and whenever I had any questions, he explained them to me carefully," Ashiri said. "I am truly proud to be a member of the club and a family with such a personality."

The next stop for both Ali and Ashiri will be the U17 World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan from July 28 to August 2.

"Just like the Asian Championships, I want to repeat the success at the World Championships," Ali said.

RESULTS

48kg
Final: Ali ESMAEILI (IRI) df. Javokhir SHARIFBOEV (UZB), 4-2
Semifinal: Ali ESMAEILI (IRI) df. Umarali BERDALIEV (KGZ), 9-0
Quarterfinal: Ali ESMAEILI (IRI) df. Liaotan LAN (CHN), 9-0

55kg
Final: Vahid ASHIRI (IRI) df. Syimyk ASKAROV (KGZ), 3-1
Semifinal: Vahid ASHIRI (IRI) df. Zihao ZHANG (CHN), 11-1
Quarterfinal: Vahid ASHIRI (IRI) df. Adam ABU FARE (JOR), 5-2
Qualification: Vahid ASHIRI (IRI) df. HARION (IND), 6-1