Five New No.1’s in Men’s Freestyle Rankings after Continental Championships

By William May

FILA

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland – Five new names appeared atop the FILA World Rankings in men’s freestyle as the dust settled from four continental championship meets held in April around the world.

Rasul KALIEV (KAZ), Haji ALIEV (AZE), Moustafa HOSSEINKHANI (IRI), Abdul Rashid SADULAEV (RUS) and Taha AKGUL (TUR) all moved to the top of their respective weight categories after winning performances in the European and Asia championships.

Yarygin Grand Prix winner Magomed KURBANALIEV (RUS) was the only wrestler to emerge from the continental meets in April with his No.1 ranking intact. Kurbanaliev rolled up four wins by technical superiority and another by fall at 65kg in Helsinki to win his first European championship title.

Jordan BURROUGHS (USA) at 74kg and Reza YAZDANI (IRI) at 97kg remain the only 2013 world champions still on top of their respective rankings after April. Burroughs won the U.S. Open at 74kg, while Yazdani turned in a solid performance at 97kg in March to pace Iran to the World Cup crown.

Meanwhile, three wrestlers from the African championships and Florian TEMEGIL (PLW) all broke into rankings with championship performances in Tunis and Pago Pago.

Ayad IBRAHIM (EGY) won a gold medal in freestyle and bronze in Greco-Roman in Tunis, Augusto MIDANA (GBS) won a fourth African championship title, and Mohamed Ali ZAGHOUL (EGY) was a double-winner with titles in freestyle and Greco-Roman.

Temengil, meanwhile, won freestyle and Greco-Roman titles in the Oceania championships for a second year in a row to add to his two earlier Oceania freestyle titles in 2011 and 2012.

57kg – Rasul KALIEV (KAZ), a fifth-place finisher at last year’s world meet, rolled over Paris Golden Grand Prix winner DAMDINBAZAR Tsogtbaatar (MGL) in the Asian championships final to take over the top position at 57kg.

London 2012 silver medalist at 55kg Vladimir KHINCHEGASHVILI (GEO) quietly fashioned four wins on the way to his first senior-level European championships crown.

61kg – Haji ALIEV (AZE), 30th in the 2013 world championships, picked world champion Bekhan GOYGEREEV (RUS) apart for a 12-5 triumph in the final of the European championships to leapfrog to the top spot at 61kg.

Masoud ESMAILPOUR (IRI) won the battle of world bronze medalists over Bajneesh BAJRANG (IND) at the Asia championships to claim No.4 in the rankings, while Takhti Cup winner Daulet NIYAZBEKOV (KAZ) won a bronze medal to climb to No.5.

65kg – Franklin GOMEZ MATOS (PUR) followed up his triumph at Dan Kolov in February with a win at the Central American and Caribbean Games in San Juan to move in behind European champion Magomed KURBANALIEV (RUS) as No.2 in the rankings.

Borislav NOVACHKOV (BUL), who finished second to Gomez Matos at Dan Kolov, stunned London 2012 gold medalist Togrul ASGAROV (AZE) at the European championships on his way to a bronze medal and No.4 in the rankings.

70kg – Takhti Cup winner Moustafa HOSSEINKHANI (IRI) notched three technical falls on his way to his first senior-level Asian title and, along with a dominating showing at the World Cup, moves to the top of the 70kg poll.

Ruslan DIBIRGADZHIYEV (AZE) defeated previously top-ranked Yakup GOR (TUR) in the semifinals of the European championships to move to grab the No.2 ranking with technical fall triumph over Grigor GRIGORYAN (ARM) in the Helsinki final.

74kg – Two-time Yarygin Grand Prix winner Aniuar GEDUEV (RUS) won his second European championship title with a late four-point takedown and leapt to No.2 in the rankings.

Takhti Cup titlist Reza AFZALI PAEMAMI (IRI) outscored three opponents 26-0 to vault 15 places to No.3 in the rankings after winning his first senior Asia wrestling crown. Alzali Paemami won the Asia cadet title in 2007 and junior crown in 2010.

86kg – Two-time cadet world champion Abdul Rashid SADULAEV (RUS) notched four technical falls in the preliminary rounds, then edged veteran Medved Prizes winner Murad GAIDAROV (BLR), 5-2, for his first European championship crown and the No.1 ranking.

Alexander DOLLY (IRL) battled back from his opening loss to Gaidarov for a berth in the bronze medal finals and had 2012 silver medalist Musa MURTAZALIEV (ARM) on the ropes in the second period. Dolly, however, gave up a late takedown and lost on criteria, but still becomes Ireland’s first wrestler in the FILA World Rankings at No.17.

97 kg– Abdusalam GADISOV (RUS) won his second European championship title with a 5-2 victory over world silver medalist Khetag GAZUMOV (AZE) for No.2 in the rankings behind two-time world champ Reza YAZDANI (IRI).

World University Games bronze medalist DORJKHAND Khuderbulga (MGL) scored with an early four-point throw and held on for a 7-5 win over Medved Prizes bronze medal winner Magomed MUSAEV (KGZ) for the Asia title and No.11 in the rankings.

125kg – World bronze medalist Taha AKGUL (TUR) wrapped up Russian challenger Alan KHUGAEV (RUS) by technical fall for his third European championship title in a row and the No.1 ranking at 125kg.

Newly minted Asia champion Komeil GHASEMI (IRI), a London 2012 bronze medalist, moved to No.3 in the rankings ahead of world champion Khadshimourad GATSALOV (RUS), who has not wrestled internationally since the world meet last September.

57kg Rank Wrestler Nation Previous 1 Rasul KALIEV Kazakhstan 8 2 Vladimir KHINCHEGASHVILI Georgia 15 at 61 3 DAMDINBAZAR Tsogtbaatar Mongolia 13 4 Fumitaka MORISHITA Japan 8 5 Samat NADYRBEK UULU Kyrgyzstan 14 6 Viktor LEBEDEV Russia 6 7 Hassan RAHIMI Iran 1 8 Rustam AMPAR Russia 10 9 Amit KUMAR India 2 10 BATBOLD Nomin Mongolia 3 11 Ghenadi TULBEA Monaco NR 12 Garik BARSEGHYAN Armenia NR 13 Zoheir EL QUARRAGQE France NR 14 JIN Jong-Hak North Korea 7 15 Sezer AKGUL Turkey 5 16 Andrei DUKOV Romania 17 17 Vladislav ANDREEV Belarus 17 18 Mehrab REZAZADEH Iran NR 19 Sergey RATUSHNIY Ukraine 19 20 Nikolaj NOEV Tajikistan 20 61kg 1 Haji ALIEV Azerbaijan 3 2 Dyamal OTARSULTANOV Russia 2 3 Bekhan GOYGEREEV Russia 1 4 Masoud ESMAILPOUR Iran 6 5 Daulet NIYAZBEKOV Kazakhstan 8 6 Bajneesh BAJRANG India NR 7 ENKHSAIKHAN Nyam-Ochir Mongolia 4 8 Akhmednabi GVARZATILOV Azerbaijan 5 9 LHAMGARMAA Nazmandakh Mongolia 18 10 Vasyl SHUPTAR Ukraine NR 11 Andrei PERPELITA Moldova NR 12 Krzysztof BIENKOWSKI Poland 11 13 Vladimir DUBOV Bulgaria 7 14 James KENNEDY United States 9 15 Bazar BAZARGURUEV Kyrgyzstan 17 at 65 16 Vasyl FEDORISHIN Ukraine 12 17 Noriyuki TAKATSUKA Japan 13 18 Alexander SEMISOROW Germany NR 19 Muenir Recep AKTAS Turkey 14 20 Beka LOMTADZE Georgia NR 65kg 1 Magomed KURBANALIEV Russia 1 2 Franklin GOMEZ MATOS Puerto Rico 4 3 Servet COSKUN Turkey 6 4 Borislav NOVACHKOV Bulgaria 9 5 Konstantin KHABALASHVILI Georgia 12 6 Sayed Ahmad MOHAMMADI Iran 17 at 61 7 Mustafa KAYA Turkey 15 8 KANG Jin-Hyeok North Korea NR 9 GANZORIG Mandakhnaran Mongolia 3 10 Daichi TAKATANI Japan 11 11 BATMAGNAI Batchuluun Mongolia 16 12 Furkat FARMANOV Uzbekistan NR 13 Andrey KVIATKOVSKI Ukraine 7 at 70 14 Magomed MUSLIMOV Azerbaijan 10 15 Azamat NURIKOV Belarus 20 16 Dauren ZHUMAGAZIEV Kazakhstan 13 17 Alibeggadzhi EMEEV Russia 5 18 Frank CHAMIZO MARQUEZ Italy 8 19 Alexander KONTOEV Belarus 18 20 Hernan GUZMAN IPUZ Colombia NR 70kg 1 Moustafa HOSSEINKHANI Iran 2 2 Ruslan DIBIRGADZHIYEV Azerbaijan 8 3 Yakup GOR Turkey 1 4 Peyman YARAHMADI Iran 3 5 Grigor GRIGORYAN Armenia NR 6 Israil KASUMOV Russia 5 7 Khetag TSABOLOV Russia 4 8 Miroslav KIROV Bulgaria 9 9 Somirshoh VOKHIDOV Tajikistan NR 10 Ken HOSAKA Japan NR 11 Ibrahim NURIDDINOV Uzbekistan NR 12 LING Haiwei China NR 13 Amit Dhankar KUMAR India NR 14 Zhombor GULYAS Hungary NR 15 Adrian Ionut MOISE Romania NR 16 Geandry GARZON CABALLERO Cuba 10 17 Zaur EFENDIEV Serbia 11 18 Emin AZIZOV Azerbaijan 16 19 BUYANJAV Batzorig Mongolia 15 20 Ayad IBRAHIM Egypt NR 74kg 1 Jordan BURROUGHS United States 1 2 Aniuar GEDUEV Russia 10 3 Reza AFZALI PAEMAMI Iran 18 4 Soner DEMIRTAS Turkey 3 5 Krystian BRZOZOWSKI Poland 11 6 Ali SHABANOV Belarus 2 7 Akhmed GADZHIMAGOMEDOV Russia 4 8 Yabrail HASANOV Azerbaijan 15 9 PUREVJAV Unurbat Mongolia 13 10 Nicholas MARABLE United States 6 11 Leonid BAZAN Bulgaria 8 12 Innokenti INNOKENTYEV Kyrgyzstan NR 13 Ryoichi YAMANAKA Japan NR 14 Essadollah AKBARI Iran 7 15 Kiril TERZIEV Bulgaria NR 16 Yakob MAKARASHVILI Georgia 9 17 Parveen RANA India NR 18 Akzhurek TANATAROV Kazakhstan 17 19 Stefan REICHMUTH Switzerland NR 20 Augusto MIDANA Guinea-Bissau NR 86kg 1 Abdul Rashid SADULAEV Russia 5 2 Murad GAIDAROV Belarus 10 3 Meisam MOSTAFA JOUKAR Iran 13 4 Rashid KURBANOV Uzbekistan 5 at 74 5 Azlan KAKHIDZE Kazakhstan 12 6 Ibragim ALDATOV Ukraine 1 7 Reineris SALAS PEREZ Cuba 2 8 Ehsan LASHGARI Iran 3 9 Istvan VEREB Hungary NR 10 Gamzat OSMANOV Azerbaijan 6 11 Shamil KUDIYAMAGOMEDOV Russia 7 12 Dato MARSAGISHVILI Georgia 8 13 Musa MURTAZALIEV Armenia NR 14 Albert SARITOV Russia 16 15 Uitumen ORGODOL Mongolia NR 16 Clayton FOSTER United States 11 17 Alexander DOLLY Ireland NR 18 Taymuraz FRIEV NASKIDEAVA Spain 4 19 Pedro CEBALLAS FUENTES Venezuela 20 20 Mohamed Ali ZAGHOUL Egypt NR 97kg 1 Reza YAZDANI Iran 1 2 Abdusalam GADISOV Russia 4 3 Khetag GAZUMOV Azerbaijan 2 4 Ivan YANKOUSKI Belarus 8 5 Sharif SHARIFOV Azerbaijan 5 6 Pavlo OLEYNIK Ukraine 3 7 Nicolae CEBAN Moldova 13 8 William HARTH Germany NR 9 Lyuben ILIEV Bulgaria 7 10 Riza YILDIRIM Turkey 6 11 DORJKHAND Khuderbulga Mongolia 14 12 Magomed MUSAEV Kyrgyzstan 9 13 Satyavart KADIAN India NR 14 Rustam ISKANDARI Tajikistan NR 15 Ibrahim BOLUKBASI Turkey 11 16 Dato KERASHVILI Georgia 12 17 Valeri ANDRIITSEV Ukraine 10 18 Hamed TALEBIZARRINKAMAR Iran 15 19 Yusup JALILOV Belarus 16 20 Ali BONCEOGLU Turkey 17 125kg 1 Taha AKGUL Turkey 3 2 Komeil GHASEMI Iran 6 3 Alan KHUGAEV Russia 10 4 Khadshimourad GATSALOV Russia 1 5 Aleksander KHOTSIANIVSKI Ukraine 4 6 Jamalladin MAGOMEDOV Azerbaijan 5 7 Alen ZASEEV Ukraine 2 8 Parviz HADI Iran 7 9 Daniel LIGETI Hungary NR 10 Daulet SHABANBAY Kazakhstan 9 11 NATSAGSUREN Zolboo Mongolia NR 12 Andranik GALSTYAN Armenia 19 13 Aiaal LAZAREV Kyrgyzstan NR 14 JARGALSAIKHAN Chuluunbat Mongolia 12 15 Tervel DLAGNEV United States 13 16 David MODZMANASHVILI Georgia NR 17 Kurban KURBANOV Uzbekistan NR 18 SHANG Hai China NR 19 Luis VIVENES URBANESA Venezuela 20 20 Florian TEMENGIL Palau NR

William May conducts the World Rankings for FILA. He has been active in wrestling across three continents for more than 40 years as a competitor, coach, referee and journalist. William worked as the “Sports Information Specialist” for wrestling at the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Olympic Games. He can be reached on his Facebook page or by email, wmay52@hotmail.com

About FILA

FILA, the International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles, is the global governing body of the sport of wrestling. It works to promote the sport and facilitate the activities of its 177 national federations from around the world. It is based in Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland.

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(For more information please contact FILA at 41.21 312 84 26 or Bob Condron, Press Officer, condron@fila-wrestling.com or rscondron@yahoo.com. Also see rankings on www.fila-official.com