Lopez Nunez, Vlasov Stand Tall in GR Rankings with Repeat Wins at Rio 2016

By William May

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY (September 8) – Mijain LOPEZ NUNEZ (CUB) and Roman VLASOV (RUS) closed out the 2016 international wrestling season with repeat triumphs at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and No.1 rankings in the United World Wrestling list of the top Greco-Roman wrestlers.

Lopez claimed his third Olympic Games gold medal at super heavyweight by sneaking past reigning world champion Riza KAYAALP (TUR) in the 130kg final at Rio 2016, while world champion Vlasov followed up a win in London four years ago with another gold medal performance in Rio de Janeiro.

Of the four remaining Greco-Roman champions crowned at Carioca Arena, only Ismael BORRERO MOLINA (CUB) at 59kg was able to match Vlasov by moving seamlessly from world champion to the Olympic Games gold medal – his first.

[[{"fid":"12398","view_mode":"wysiwyg","type":"media","link_text":null,"attributes":{"height":800,"width":1200,"class":"media-element file-wysiwyg"}}]]

Like Lopez, two-time world champion Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM), who slipped to No.2 in the rankings at 98kg after a loss at the European championships in March, reclaimed the top spot with a 3-0 victory over Yasmany LUGO CABRERA (CUB).

Meanwhile, Davit CHAKVETADZE (RUS) went from third to No.1 at 85kg with a win over world champ Zhan BELENYUK (UKR) and 2014 world champion Davor STEFANEK (SRB) carved his way through a crowded field at 66kg to go from No.6 in the rankings to No.1.

Rasul CHUNAYEV (AZE), world champion at the non-Olympic category of 71kg, dropped to 66kg and won a bronze medal there, leaving the top spot at light welterweight open for Balint KORPASI (HUN).

Among the biggest movers in the rankings, Shinobu OTA (JPN) vaulted from No.12 to No.2 after winning the silver medal at 59kg, while teammate Tomohiro INOUE (JPN) went from unranked to fifth place and No.6 in the rankings at 66kg.

Former world champion Elis GURI (BUL) also went from unranked to No.8 after a seventh place finish in the Rio 2016 results at 98kg.

The top six finishers at the Olympic Games and world championships at each category are initially accorded the top six positions in the rankings, while the places No.7 to No.20 are determined by a combination of factors, including the results from the championships as well as from competition over the previous 12 months.

Wrestlers in the rankings are listed by name, country code, most notable or most recent result over the last 12 months, and their position in the previous rankings.

(NOTE: The United World Wrestling rankings will take a break until the world championships for non-Olympic weight categories are held in Budapest, December 10-11.)

59kg – Shinobu OTA (JPN) launched his bid for a Rio 2016 medal with his second win over defending Olympic Games champion Hamid SORYAN (IRI) in five months and pinned two-time Olympic silver medalist Rovshan BAYRAMOV (AZE) in the semifinals to leap 10 places to No.2 in the rankings.

1. Ismael BORRERO MOLINA (CUB) – Rio OG No.1 (1)
2. Shinobu OTA (JPN) – Rio OG No.2 (12)
3. Stig Andre BERGE (NOR) – Rio OG No.3 (8)
4. Elmurat TASMURADOV (UZB) – Rio OG No.3 (9)
5. Arsen ERALIEV (KGZ) – Rio OG No.5 (7)
6. Rovshan BAYRAMOV (AZE) – Rio OG No.5 (2)
7. Almat KEBISPAYEV (KAZ) – GGP Final No.1 (3)
8. WANG Lumin (CHN) – Hungarian GP No.3 (not ranked)
9. Mingiyan SEMENOV (RUS) – Europe No.1 (4)
10. YUN Won-Chol (PRK) – Asia No.5 (5)
11. Kenichiro FUMITA (JPN) – Pytlasinski Cup No.1 (11)
12. Haitham Mahmoud FAHMY (EGY) – Pytlasinski Cup No.2 (10)
13. Soslan DAUROV (BLR) – Pytlasinski Cup No.3 (6)
14. Hamid SORYAN (IRI) – Istanbul OG Qualifier No.1 (14)
15. Jesse THIELKE (USA) – Istanbul OG Qualifier No.2 (19)
16. Stepan MARYANYAN (RUS) – Spanish GP No.1 (15)
17. Kristijan FRIS (SRB) – Zagreb GP No.3 (18)
18. LEE Jung-Baek KOR) – German GP No.2 (nr)
19. Ibragim LABAZANOV (RUS) – Ivan Poddubny No.1 (17)
20. Andres MONTANO (ECU) – Spanish GP No.2 (16)

66kg – World champion at 71kg Rasul CHUNAYEV (AZE) defeated Beijing 2008 gold medalist Islambek ALBIEV (RUS), 3-2, in the round of 16 to join the lightweight rankings at No.3 after taking a bronze medal ahead of 2013 world champion RYU Han-Soo (KOR).

1. Davor STEFANEK (SRB) – Rio OG No.1 (6)
2. Migran ARUTUNYAN (ARM) – Rio OG No.2 (8)
3. Rasul CHUNAYEV (AZE) – Rio OG No.3 (1@71)
4. Shmagi BOLKVADZE (GEO) – Rio OG No.3 (10)
5. RYU Han-Soo (KOR) – Rio OG No.5 (3)
6. Tomohiro INOUE (JPN) – Rio OG No.5 (nr)
7. Frank STAEBLER (GER) – German GP No.1 (1)
8. Islambek ALBIEV (RUS) - Europe No.1 (9)
9. Artem SURKOV (RUS) – German GP No.2 (3)
10. Tamas LORINCZ (HUN) – Spanish GP No.1 (2)
11. Omid NOROOZI (IRI) – Asian OG Qualifier No.2 (18)
12. Mehdi ZEIDVAND (IRI) – Pytlasinski Cup No.1 (7)
13. Miguel MARTINEZ PALACIOS (CUB) – Spanish GP No.1 (9)
14. Wuileixis RIVAS ESPINOZA (VEN) – Pan Am OG Qualifier No.1 (13)
15. Tarek Aziz BENAISSA (ALG) – All-African Games No.1 (11)
16. Edgaras VENCKAITIS (LTU) – Ulaanbaatar OG Qualifier No.3 (16)
17. Hasan ALIYEV (AZE) – Europe No.3 (12)
18. Ionut PANAIT (ROU) – Ulaanbaatar OG Qualifier No.1 (14)
19. David KARECINSKI (POL) – Pytlasinski No.2 (15)
20. Mateusz BERNATEK (POL) – European U23 No.1 (17)

71kg – With Rasul CHUNAYEV (AZE) ranked at 66kg after winning a bronze medal at Rio 2016, Hungarian Grand Prix winner Balint KORPASI (HUN) takes over at No.1 and Ukraine International champion Azim GARMSIRI (IRI) rejoins the rankings at No.20.

1. Balint KORPASI (HUN) – Hungarian GP No.1 (2)
2. Afshin BYABANGARD (IRI) – Asia No.1 (3)
3. Adam KURAK (RUS) – German GP No.3 (4)
4.  Varsham BORANYAN (ARM) – Europe No.1 (5)
5. Aleksandar MAKSIMOVIC (SRB) – Europe No.2 (6)
6. Armen VARDANYAN (UKR) – Trophee Milone No.2 (7)
7. Tero VAELIMAEKI (FIN) – Ulaanbaatar OG Qualifier No.2 (8)
8. ZHANG Ridong (CHN) – Pytlasinski Cup No.3 (9)
9. Ruslan TSAREV (KGZ) – Istanbul OG Qualifier No.2 (10)
10. Zackarias TALLROTH (SWE) – World No.3 (11)
11. Mathias MAASCH (GER) – Paris GP No.1 (12)
12. Danijel JANECIC (CRO) – LIG Int’l No.3 (13)
13. Tomi HINOVEANU (ROU) – Corneanu Int’l No.2 (14)
14. Abuyazid MANTSIGOV (RUS) – German GP No.3 (15)
15. Timur BERDIEV (BLR) – World No.5 (16)
16. Yunus OZEL (TUR) – Europe No.5 (17)
17. Darkhan BAYAKMETOV (KAZ) – Asia No.3 (18)
18. Maximilian SCHWABE (GER) – German GP No.1 (19)
19. Yunus Emre BASAR (TUR) – Vehbi Emre No.1 (20)
20. Azim GARMSIRI (IRI) – Ukraine Int’l No.1 (nr)

75kg – Four current and former world champions reached the medal finals at Rio 2016 with Roman VLASOV (RUS) nailing down his second Olympic Games gold medal with a 5-1 victory over four-time world silver medalist Mark MADSEN (DEN).

1. Roman VLASOV (RUS) – Rio OG No.1 (1)
2. Mark MADSEN (DEN) – Rio OG No.2 (3)
3. KIM Hyeon-Woo (KOR) – Rio OG No.3 (4)
4. Saeid Mourad ABDVALI (IRI) – Rio OG No.3 (10)
5. Peter BACSI (HUN) – Rio OG No.5 (8)
6. Bozo STARCEVIC (CRO) – Rio OG No.5 (17)
7. Viktor NEMES (SRB) – Europe No.2 (7)
8. Elvin MURSALIYEV (AZE) – Rio OG No.7 (13)
9. Doszhan KARTIKOV (KAZ) – Asia No.1 (2)
10. Zurabi DATUNASHVILI (GEO) – Europe No.1 (6)
11. YANG Bin (CHN) – Pytlasinski No.3 (11)
12. Arsen JULFALAKYAN (ARM) – Vehbi Emre No.1 (9)
13. Andrew BISEK (USA) – Rio OG No.12 (5)
14. Chingiz LABAZANOV (RUS) – German GP No.2 (12)
15. Gela BOLKVADZE (GEO) – Spanish GP No.1 (14)
16. Karapet CHALYAN (ARM) – Europe No.3 (15)
17. Zied AIT OUAGRAM (MAR) – Pytlasinski Cup No.5 (18)
18. Mahmoud SEBIE (EGY) – Africa No.1 (20)
19. Yurisandi HERNANDEZ RIOS (CUB) – Spanish GP No.2 (nr)
20. Dilshod TURDIEV (UZB) – Asia No.2 (nr) 

80kg – Reigning world champion at this non-Olympic category Selcuk CEBI (TUR) and Daniel ALEKSANDROV (BUL) both lost at 75kg in the round of 16 in Rio. With no competition at 80kg in August, the rankings are unchanged for the month.

1. Selcuk CEBI (TUR) – German GP No.1 (1)
2. Lasha GOBADZE (GEO) – European U23 No.1 (2)
3. Evgeni SALEEV (RUS) – Ivan Poddubny No.1 (3)
4. Rafik HUSEYNOV (AZE) – German GP No.1, 75kg (4)
5. Ramin TAHERISARTANG (IRI) – Pytlasinski Cup No.1 (5)
6. Viktor SASUNOVSKI (BLR) – World No.2 (6)
7. Edgar BABAYAN (POL) – Europe No.2 (7)
8. Eduard SARGSYAN (ARM) – German GP No.3 (8)
9. Pavel POMINCHUK (BLR) – Pytlasinski Cup No.2 (9)
10. Daniel ALEKSANDROV (BUL) – Europe No.3 (10)
11. AISHAN Aishan (CHN) – Asia No.2 (11)
12. Aslan ATEM (TUR) – Europe No.3 (12)
13. Laszlo SZABO (HUN) – Spanish GP No.3 (13)
14. Ramazan ABACHARAEV (RUS) – Ivan Poddubny No.1 (14)
15. Yaroslav FILCHAKOV (UKR) – World Cup No.1 (15)
16. Burhan AKBUDAK (TUR) – European U23 No.2 (16)
17. Patrick MARTINEZ (USA) – Spanish GP No.3 (17)
18. Raibek BISULTANOV (DEN) – Hungarian GP No.2 (18)
19. Ashkat DILMUKHAMEDOV (KAZ) – Asia No.3 (19)
20. Yousef GHADERIAN (IRI) – World No.3 (20)

85kg – Denis KUDLA (GER) won three of four bouts on criteria, including victories over world bronze medal winners Habibollah AKHLAGHI (IRI), 1-1, and Viktor LORINCZ (HUN), 3-3, in repechage for a Rio 2016 bronze medal.

1. David CHAKVETADZE (RUS) – Rio OG No.1 (3)
2. Zhan BELENYUK (UKR) – Rio OG No.2 (1)
3. Denis KUDLA (GER) – Rio OG No.3 (6)
4. Javid HAMZATOV (BLR) – Rio OG No.3 (13)
5. Viktor LORINCZ (HUN) – Rio OG No.5 (2)
6. Nikolai BAYRAKOV (BUL) – Rio OG No.5 (14)
7. Habibollah AKHLAGHI (IRI) – Rio OG No.7 (9)
8. Saman Ahmed TAHMASEBI (AZE) – 2015 World No.3 (5)
9. Robert KOBLIASHVILI (GEO) – Europe No.2 (8)
10. Rustam ASSAKALOV (UZB) – Pytlasinski Cup No.5 (4)
11. Alexej MISHIN (RUS) – European OG Qualifier No.1 (7)
12. Islam ABBASOV (AZE) – World Cup No.1 (10)
13. Tadeusz MICHALIK (POL) – Pytlasinski Cup No.3 (11)
14. Amer HRUSTANOVIC (AUT) – Schultz Memorial No.1 (nr)
15. Rami HIETANIEMI (FIN) – Haavisto Cup No.7 (nr)
16. Maksim MANUKYAN (ARM) – Trophee Milone No.2 (16)
17. Damian JANIKOWSKI (POL) – Pytlasinski Cup No.2 (12)
18. Ramsin AZIZSIR (GER) – German GP No.2 (17)
19. Metehan BASAR (TUR) – German GP No.3 (19)
20. Zakarias BERG (SWE) – European U23 No.3 (19)

98kg – Former world champion Elis GURI (BUL), who slipped out of the rankings after finishing 17th at the European championships and 16th at the Pytlasinski Cup, notched a pair of wins in the early rounds to claim seventh place for a second straight Olympic Games and No.8 in the rankings.

1. Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM) – Rio OG No.1 (2)
2. Yasmany LUGO CABRERA (CUB) – Rio OG No.2 (8)
3. Ghasem REZAEI (IRI) – Rio OG No.3 (3)
4. Cenk ILDEM (TUR) – Rio OG No.3 (6)
5. Fredrik SCHOEN (SWE) – Rio OG No.5 (17)
6. Alin ALEXUC-CIURARIU (ROU) – Rio OG No.5 (19)
7. Nikita MELNIKOV (RUS) - Europe No.1 (1)
8. Elis GURI (BUL) – Rio OG No.7 (nr)
9. Islam MAGOMEDOV (RUS) – Rio OG No.8 (4)
10. Mahdi ALIYARI FEYZABADI (IRI) – Pytlasinski Cup No.1 (7)
11. Balasz KISS (HUN) – Pytlasinski Cup No.3 (15)
12. Aleksander HRABOVIK (BLR) – Europe No.3 (5)
13. Dimitri TIMCHENKO (UKR) – Ukraine Int’l No.1 (9)
14. Daigoro TIMONCINI (ITA) – Hungarian GP No.2 (10)
15. Timofej DZEYNICHENKO (BLR) – Pytlasinski Cup No.3 (14)
16. Muhammad Etka SEVER (GER) – European U23 No.1 (12)
17. Musa EVLOEV (RUS) – German GP No.1 (13)
18. XIAO Di (CHN) – Hungarian GP No.1 (11)
19. Luillys PEREZ MORA (VEN) – Spanish GP No.3 (20)
20. Ardo ARUSAAR (EST) – European OG Qualifier No.1 (16)

130kg – Sabah SHARIATI (AZE), fifth-place at the Las Vegas world meet, recorded a technical fall and fall in repechage to secure his first world level medal, leaping from No.15 to fourth in the rankings.

1. Mijain LOPEZ NUNEZ (CUB) – Rio OG No.1 (2)
2. Riza KAYAALP (TUR) – Rio OG No.2 (1)
3. Sergey SEMENOV (RUS) – Rio OG No.3 (6)
4. Sabah SHARIATI (AZE) – Rio OG No.3 (15)
5. Eduard POPP (GER) – Rio OG No.5 (4)
6. Heiki NABI (EST) – Rio OG No.5 (12)
7. Iakobi KAJAIA (GEO) – European U23 No.1 (11)
8. Johan Magnus EUREN (SWE) – Europe No.3 (5)
9. Aleksander CHERNETSKI (UKR) – Europe No.2 (3)
10. Bashir BABAJANZADEH (IRI) – Pytlasinski Cup No.3 (12)
11. Iosif CHUGOSHVILI (BLR) – Europe No.3 (8)
12. MENG Qiang (CHN) – Hungarian GP No.1 (10)
13. Murat RAMONOV (KGZ) – Asia No.2 (16)
14. Vitali SHCHUR (RUS) – German GP No.2 (10)
15. Nurmakhan TINALIEV (KAZ) – GGP Final No.2 (9)
16. Amir GHASEMI MONJAZI (IRI) – Asia No.1 (19)
17. Muminjon ABDULLAEV (UZB) – Ulaanbaatar OG Qualifier No.3 (18)
18. Mantas KNYSTAUTAS (LTU) – German GP No.3 (17)
19. Eduard SOGHOMONYAN (BRA) – Pan America No.2 (20)
20. Miloslav METODIEV (BUL) – Nikola Petrov No.2 (nr)