World Cup Performances Propel Several Wrestlers to Improved Rankings

By William May

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland – With many national team wrestlers and coaches preparing to shift gears in preparation for the 2014 World Championships in Tashkent, several of fastest climbing wrestlers in June’s rankings came after outstanding individual performances mid-May at the Greco-Roman World Cup in Tehran.

Hungarian Golden Grand Prix winner Habibollah AKHLAGHI (IRI) notched four wins at 80kg without a loss to help Iran to the team title, while catapulting himself from 13th in the rankings to No.3 behind European champion Peter BACSI (HUN) and two-time world champion Selcuk CEBI (TUR).

London 2012 bronze medalist Mingiyan SEMENOV (RUS) also posted four wins in the preliminaries at 59kg to bound from No.10 to No.4 and had London gold medalist Hamid SORYAN (IRI) on the ropes in the World Cup final before dropping a 6-5 decision.

European silver medalists and second-ranked Hasan ALIYEV (AZE) and Rasul CHUNAYEV (AZE) both went 4-0 at 66kg and 71kg, respectively, but did not get the chance to wrestle their top-ranked rivals in Tehran.

European champion Adam KURAK (RUS) was in the group opposite Aliyev and wrestled Olympic champion Omid NOROOZI (IRI) in the final, while top-ranked Tamas LORINCZ (HUN) sat out the World Cup, leaving Chunayev to wrestle 4-1 Balint KORPASI (HUN) in the third-place team final.

Former world champion Saeid Mourad ABDVALI (IRI), meanwhile, went 3-0 with a win over Ivan Poddubny champion Chingiz LABAZANOV (RUS) to move from No.6 at 75kg to No.3 in his new home at 71kg.

Olympic, world and Asia champion KIM Hyeon-Woo (KOR) was the only top-ranked wrestler at the World Cup to the finish the dual meet competition as the unofficial “individual champion” with a perfect 5-0 record at 75kg.

The World Cup was the premier event in Greco-Roman at the senior level in May along as the international wrestling calendar featured junior and cadet competitions while giving national federations a chance to hold national team trials and prepare for the drive to the world championships in September.

In the rankings, wrestlers are listed by name, country code, their most notable or most recent result, and their position in the previous rankings.

Click Here for FILA Ranking Criteria

59kg – Olympic Games and world champion Hamid SORYAN (IRI) came from behind to defeat London 2012 bronze medalist Mingiyan SEMENOV (RUS) in the World Cup final to edge up one position to No.2 in the rankings.

World bronze medalist Roman AMOYAN (ARM) returned to action with three technical falls to win the Trophee Milone and claim No.14 in the rankings.

1. Aleksandar KOSTADINOV (BUL) – Europe No.1 (1)

2. Hamid SORYAN (IRI) – Hungarian GP No.1 (3)

3. Ivan KUYLAKOV (RUS) – Europe No.3 (2)

4. Mingiyan SEMENOV (RUS) – Vehbi Emre No.1 (10)

5. Elmurat TASMURADOV (UZB) – Asia No.1 (4)

6. Rahman BILICI (TUR) – Hungarian GP No.2 (5)

7. Shinobu OTA (JPN) – Asia No.2 (6)

8. Kamran MAMMADOV (AZE) – Europe No.3 (7)

9. YUN Won-Chol (PRK) – Asia No.3 (8)

10. Kanybek ZHOLCHUBEKOV (KGZ) – Asia No.3 (9)

11. Victor CIOBANU (MDA) – Europe No.2 (11)

12. CHOI Gyu-Jin (KOR) – Asia No.7 (12)

13. Kristijan FRIS (SRB) – Europe No.5 (13)

14. Roman AMOYAN (ARM) – Trophee Milone No.1 (not ranked)

15. Mohsen HAJIPOUR (IRI) – Yadegar Imam No.1 (14)

16. Soslan DAUROV (BLR) – Vehbi Emre No.2 (15)

17. Taleh MAMMADOV (AZE) – World Cup No.3 (nr)

18. Jani HAAPAMAEKI (FIN) – Europe No.7 (16)

19. Stig Andre BERGE (NOR) – Hungarian GP No.3 (17)

20. Hatham MAHMOUD FAHMY (EGY) – Africa No.1 (18)

66kg – European champion Adam KURAK (RUS) stopped London 2012 gold medalist Omid NOROOZI (IRI) in the final of Greco-Roman World Cup to reaffirm his position on top of the rankings.

World champion RYU Han-Soo (KOR) suffered a pair of losses in the World Cup preliminaries, including a 2-0 loss to European silver medalist Hasan ALIYEV (AZE), and tumbled all the way to No.8.

1. Adam KURAK (RUS) – Europe No.1 (1)

2. Hasan ALIYEV (AZE) – Europe No.2 (2)

3. Frank STAEBLER (GER) – Europe No.3 (3)

4. Istvan LEVAI (SVK) – Europe No.3 (6)

5. Revaz LASHKHI (GEO) – Europe No.5 (7)

6. Davor STEFANEK (SRB) – Hungarian GP No.1 (8)

7. Omid NOROOZI (IRI) – Hungarian GP No.3 (9)

8. RYU Han-Soo (KOR) – Asia No.3 (4)

9. Islambek ALBIEV (RUS) – Ivan Poddubny No.2 (5)

10. Aram JULFALAKYAN (ARM) – Nikola Petrov No.1 (10)

11. Atakan YUKSEL (TUR) – Vehbi Emre No.1 (11)

12. Ruslan TSAREV (KGZ) – Asia No.1 (12)

13. Khusrav OBLOBERDIEV (TJK) – Asia No.2 (13)

14. David KARECINSKI (POL) – Europe No.5 (14)

15. Sachino DAVITAIA (GEO) – Hungarian GP No.2 (15)

16. Marius THOMMESEN (NOR) – Hungarian GP No.3 (16)

17. Dominik ETLINGER (CRO) – Hungarian GP No.5 (17)

18. Asker ORSHOKDOGOV (RUS) – Nikola Petrov No.2 (18)

19. Fredrik BJERREHUUS (DEN) – Trophee Milone No.1 (nr)

20. Artem SURKOV (RUS) – Ljubomir Ivanovic No.1 (nr)

71kg – 2011 world champion Saeid Mourad ABDVALI (IRI) racked up three wins at the World Cup, including a 3-0 win over Ivan Podubbny winner Chingiz LABAZANOV (RUS) to break into the 71kg rankings at No.3 after being No.6 at 75kg.

Balint KORPASI (HUN), understudy to top-ranked European champion Tamas LORINCZ (HUN), rolled up four wins in the World Cup preliminaries before falling to second-ranked Rasul CHUNAYEV (AZE) in the bronze medal final.

1. Tamas LORINCZ (HUN) – Europe No.1 (1)

2. Rasul CHUNAYEV (AZE) – Europe No.2 (2)

3. Saeid Mourad ABDVALI (IRI) – Asia No.3 (6@75)

4. Chingiz LABAZANOV (RUS) – Europe No.5 (3)

5. Balint KORPASI (HUN) – World Cup No.2 (nr)

6. Abuyazid MANTSIGOV (RUS) – Nikola Petrov No.1 (4)

7. Manukhar TSKHADAIA (GEO) – Hungarian GP No.2 (5)

8. Mindia TSULUKIDZE (GEO) – Vehbi Emre No.2 (6)

9. Mohammad KARIMI (IRI) – Hungarian GP No.3 (7)

10. Aleksander DZEMYANOVICH (BLR) – Europe No.3 (8)

11. Yunus OZEL (TUR) – Europe No.3 (9)

12. Armen VARDANYAN (UKR) – Europe No.5 (10)

13. Aleksander MAKSIMOVIC (SRB) – Lj.I. Gezda No.1 (11)

14. JUNG Ji-Hyun (KOR) – Asia No.1 (12)

15. Maksat YEREZHEPOL (KAZ) – Asia No.2 (13)

16. Ionel PUCASU (ROU) – Nikola Petrov No.3 (14)

17. Mathias MAASCH (GER) – Nikola Petrov No.3 (15)

18. Demev SHADRAEV (KAZ) – Paris GGP No.2 (20)

19. Rustam ALIEV (AZE) – Vehbi Emre No.3 (17)

20. Alexi BELL CABALLERO (CUB) – Granma Cup No.1 (18)

75kg – Olympic and world champion KIM Hyeon-Woo (KOR) rolled to five wins in the World Cup, but was forced to go the distance only by European bronze medalist Elvin MURSALIYEV (AZE) in their preliminary dual.

European silver medalist Arsen JULFALAKYAN (ARM) recorded a fall and technical fall on his way to repeat as Trophee Milone champion, for his second tournament triumph of 2014.

1. KIM Hyeon-Woo (KOR) - Asia No.1 (1)

2. Aleksander CHEKHIRKIN (RUS) – Europe No.1 (2)

3. Arsen JULFALAKYAN (ARM) – Europe No.2 (3)

4. Roman VLASOV (RUS) – Ivan Poddubny No.2 (4)

5. Mark MADSEN (DEN) – Europe No.3 (5)

6. Elvin MURSALIYEV (AZE) – Europe No.3 (8)

7. Emrah KUS (TUR) – Vehbi Emre No.1 (7)

8. Robert ROSENGREN (SWE) – Europe No.5 (9)

9. Takehiro KANAKUBO (JPN) – Asia No.2 (10)

10. Laszlo SZABO (HUN) – Europe No.5 (11)

11. Viktor NEMES (SRB) – Hungarian GP No.3 (12)

12. Zurabi DATUNASHVILI (GEO) – Hungarian GP No.3 (14)

13. Andrew BISEK (USA) – Schultz Memorial No.1 (nr)

14. Karapet CHALYAN (ARM) – Nikola Petrov No.3 (17)

15. Nikolai DARAGAN (UKR) – Nikola Petrov No.3 (5)

16. Ilian GEORGIEV (BUL) – Nikola Petrov No.2 (16)

17. Seref TUFENK (TUR) – Europe No.7 (13)

18. Mateusz WOLNY (POL) – Paris GGP No.2 (18)

19. Neven ZUGAJ (CRO) – Zagreb Open No.1 (19)

20. Zied AYT OKRAME (TUN) – Africa No.1 (20)

80kg – Two-time former world champion Selcuk CEBI (TUR) and London 2012 Olympian Habibollah AKHLAGHI (IRI) each won four bouts without a loss in the World Cup to sit at No.2 and No.3, respectively, in the rankings.

London 2012 bronze medalist at 74kg Aleksandr KAZAKEVIC (LTU), wrestling as part of Nordic select team at the World Cup, also had four wins against a 6-0 loss to Akhlagi to break into the rankings at No.13.

1. Peter BACSI (HUN) – Europe No.1 (1)

2. Selcuk CEBI (TUR) – Europe No.2 (2)

3. Habibollah AKHLAGHI (IRI) – Hungarian GP No.1 (13)

4. Viktor SASUNOVSKI (BLR) – Vehbi Emre No.1 (4)

5. Bekhan OZDOEV (RUS) – Europe No.5 (3)

6. Imil SHARAFEDINOV (RUS) – Nikola Petrov No.1 (5)

7. Aleksander SHYSHMAN (UKR) – Europe No.3 (6)

8. Giorgi TSIREKIDZE (GEO) – Europe No.3 (7)

9. Yanarbek KENYEEV (KGZ) – Asia No.1 (8)

10. Yousef GHADERIAN (IRI) – Asia No.2 (9)

11. Azamat KUSTUBAEV (KAZ) – Asia No.3 (10)

12. Rafik HUSEYNOV (AZE) – Hungarian GP No.3 (12)

13. Aleksandr KAZAKEVIC (LTU) – World Cup No.3 (nr)

14. Evgeni BOGOMOLOV (RUS) – Ivan Poddubny No.3 (19)

15. Petar BALO (SRB) – Lj.I. Gedza No.1 (17)

16. Michael WAGNER (AUT) – Lj.I. Gedza No.2 (16)

17. Zakarias BERG (SWE) – Europe No.5 (11)

18. Artur OMAROV (CZE) – Zagreb Open No.1 (14)

19. Jonas BOSSERT (SUI) – Trophee Milone No.2 (nr)

20. Damian DIETSCHE (SUI) – Trophee Milone No.1 (nr)

85kg – World bronze medalist Victor LORINCZ (HUN) rebounded from a one-and-out European championships with five wins at the World Cup to climb to No.7 in the rankings.

Artur SHAHINYAN (ARM), a bronze medal winner at last year’s European championships, defeated Universiade silver medalist Maksim MANUKYAN (ARM) in a round-robin bout at Trophee Milone to enter the rankings at No.18.

1. Taleb Nariman NEMATPOUR (IRI) – Hungarian GP No.1 (1)

2. Zhan BELENYUK (UKR) – Europe No.1 (2)

3. Rami HIETANIEMI (FIN) – Europe No.2 (3)

4. Damian JANIKOWSKI (POL) – Europe No.3 (4)

5. Alexej MISHIN (RUS) – Europe No.5 (5)

6. Amer HRUSTANOVIC (AUT) – Europe No.3 (6)

7. Viktor LORINCZ (HUN) – Hungarian Open No.3 (9)

8. Jan FISCHER (GER) – Europe No.5 (7)

9. Javid HAMZATOV (BLR) – Vehbi Emre No.1 (8)

10. Hassan Saman TAHMASEBI (AZE) – Vehbi Emre No.3 (10)

11. Shariar MAMMADOV (AZE) – Vehbi Emre No.2 (16)

12. Asamat BIKBAEV (RUS) – Ivan Poddubny No.2 (11)

13. Nursultan TURSYNOV (KAZ) – Asia No.1 (12)

14. Rustam ASSAKALOV (UZB) – Asia No.2 (13)

15. Mojtaba KARIMFAR (IRI) – Asia No.3 (14)

16. Robert KOBLIASHVILI (GEO) – Europe No.7 (15)

17. Ahmet YILDIRIM (TUR) – Nikola Petrov No.3 (17)

18. Artur SHAHINYAN (ARM) – Trophee Milone No.1 (nr)

19. Maksim MANUKYAN (ARM) – Nikola Petrov No.3 (19)

20. Nenad ZUGAJ (CRO) – Lj.I. Gedza No.1 (20)

98kg – World bronze medalist Balasz KISS (HUN) bounced back from a quarterfinal exit at the European championships with five wins at the World Cup. One win was a 4-0 decision over world champion Nikita MELNIKOV (RUS) to solidify his claim on No.3 in the rankings.

Mahdi ALIYARI FEYZABADI (IRI), a fifth-place finisher at the world championships, also defeated Melnikov, 3-1, in the World Cup championship final and enters the rankings on No.10.

1. Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM) – Europe No.1 (1)

2. Cenk ILDEM (TUR) – Europe No.2 (2)

3. Balasz KISS (HUN) – Yadegar Imam No.1 (3)

4. Marthin NIELSEN (NOR) – Europe No.3 (5)

5. Nikita MELNIKOV (RUS) – Ivan Poddubny No.2 (4)

6. Melonin NOUMONVI (FRA) – Europe No.5 (6)

7. Aleksander HRABOVIK (BLR) – Ivan Poddubny No.3 (7)

8. Fredrik SCHOEN (SWE) – Europe No.3 (8)

9. Felix RADINGER (GER) – Europe No.5 (9)

10. Mahdi ALIYARI FEYZABADI (IRI) – World Cup No.3 (nr)

11. Musa EVLOEV (RUS) – Ivan Poddubny No.1 (10)

12. Yerulan ISKAKOV (KAZ) – Asia No.1 (11)

13. Ali ALIYARI FEYZABADI (IRI) – Asia No.3 (12)

14. Yasmany Daniel LUGO CABRERA (CUB) – CAC Games No.1 (13)

15. Alin ALEX-CIURARIU (ROU) – Vehbi Emre No.2 (14)

16. Daigoro TIMONCINI (ITA) – Hungarian GP No.3 (15)

17. XIAO Di (CHN) – Asia No.3 (16)

18. Vladimir VASILEV (UKR) – Nikola Petrov No.2 (17)

19. Ardo ARUSAAR (EST) – Nikola Petrov No.3 (18)

20. Erwin CARABALLO CABRERA (VEN) – CAC Games No.2 (20)

130kg – Beijing 2008 bronze medalist Mindaugas MIZGAITIS (LTU) posted a category-best four wins as a member of the Nordic select team at the World Cup to edge up one place to No.4 in the rankings.

African champion Radhouane CHEBBI (TUN) won the Trophee Milone crown to climb one rung to No.17, followed by Schultz Memorial winner Robert SMITH who rallied for three straight wins at the World Cup, including a 5-3 decision over Ivan Poddubny winner Vitali ILNITSKI (RUS).

1. Riza KAYAALP (TUR) – Europe No.1 (1)

2. Mijain LOPEZ NUNEZ (CUB) – CAC Games No.1 (2)

3. Johan Magnus EUREN (SWE) – Europe No.3 (3)

4. Mindaugas MIZGAITIS (LTU) – Hungarian GP No.3 (5)

5. Bashir Asgiri BABAJANZADEH – Hungarian GP No.2 (6)

6. Attila GUZEL (TUR) – Nikola Petrov No.1 (4)

7. Lyubomir DIMITROV (BUL) – Nikola Petrov No.3 (7)

8. Behnam MEHDIZADEH (IRI) – Asia No.1 (8)

9. Murat RAMONOV (KGZ) – Asia No.2 (9)

10. Vasily PARSHIN (RUS) – Europe No.3 (10)

11. Saba SHARIATI (AZE) – GGP Final No.1 (13)

12. Balint LAM (HUN) – Europe No.5 (12)

13. Aleksander CHERNETSKI (UKR) – Europe No.5 (11)

14. Kiril GRYSHCHENKO (BLR) – Vehbi Emre No.3 (14)

15. Heiki NABI (EST) – Europe No.11 (15)

16. Vitali ILNITSKI (RUS) – Ivan Poddubny No.1 (16)

17. Radhouane CHEBBI (TUN) – Africa No.1 (18)

18. Robert SMITH (USA) – Schultz Memorial No.1 (20)

19. Miloslav METODIEV (BUL) – Nikola Petrov No.2 (17)

20. Ramon Antonio GARCIA (DOM) – CAC Games No.3 (19)