Greco-Roman World Championships preview at 59 kg/130 lbs.

Date of competition: Tuesday, Aug. 22 

With four past Olympic and World champions expected to compete, the lightest Greco-Roman weight, 59 kg/130 lbs., may be one of the most competitive fields at this summer’s World Championships in Paris, France, Aug. 21-26.

Reigning Olympic champion and 2015 World champion Ismael Borrero Molina of Cuba will look to defend his title, despite not qualifying the weight at the Pan American Championships in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, in May.

This will mark the Cuban’s fourth World Championship. In 2013, he made his Senior World debut, finishing 11th. One year later, he made it to the bronze medal match but took fifth. Since then, Borrero Molina has been the guy to beat.

Since his gold-medal performance at the Olympics, Borrero Molina has not competed internationally. He will enter the World Championships as the weight’s No. 1 seed.
Not far behind him is world No. 2 Shinobu Ota of Japan, who battled Borrero Molina in the Olympic finals, walking away with a silver medal.

He has won two respected gold medals since then at the Cerro Pelado in Havana, Cuba, in February and at the Wladyslaw Pytlasinski Cup in Warsaw, Poland, earlier this month. Should he be Japan’s representative, he’ll be the tourney’s No. 2 seed.

It possible that Japan could send Asian Championships winner Kenichiro Fumita, who has competed several times for Japan in the last year. Ranked No. 3 in the world, he took first at the Golden Grand Prix last November. So far in 2017, in addition to his Asian Championships title, Fumita won gold at the Grand Prix of Hungary and secured a silver at the Cerro Pelado and a bronze at the Wladyslaw Pytlasinski Cup.

Returning Olympic bronze medalists Elmurat Tasmuradov of Uzbekistan and Stig-Andre Berge of Norway are expected to compete in Paris as the respective Nos. 3 and 4 seeds.

Tasmuradov is a 2013 and 2014 World bronze medalist, whose only competition since the Rio Games was the Asian Championships in May, where he wrestled up a weight at 66 kg/145 lbs., falling to Iran’s Ali Arsalan in the bronze-medal bout.

Berge has a World bronze of his own, sharing the podium with Tasmuradov in 2013. Since the Olympics, the Norwegian produced a runner-up finish at the G. Kartozia & V. Balavadze Price tournament in Tbilisi, Georgia, in June.

Kristijan Fris of Serbia will likely be in the mix this August. Since the Olympics, where he finished 13th, he won the European Championships and snagged a silver medal at the Grand Prix of Hungary, shortly after taking fifth at the Grand Prix of Zagreb.

Ranked No. 4 in the World, Fris has seven World Championships appearances and a World bronze medal from the 2007 World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan has two solid candidates at the weight, Rovshan Bayramov and Murad Mammadov.
Bayramov holds an impressive resume, including a 2011 World Championship, two Olympic silver medals and three other World medals. He competed in his third Olympic Games last summer in Rio, where he finished fifth. Since then, his only international competition came at the Greco-Roman World Cup in March.

Three-time Junior World champion Mammadov has been active for Azerbaijan, competing in five international tournaments since last summer, medaling in four of them.
Most recently, he took third at the Islamic Solidarity Games, just a few weeks after winning gold at the U23 European Championships. Mammadov also boasts a bronze medal from the 2016 World Military Championships.

2013 World champion (60 kg) and world No. 5 Ivo Angelov will likely be the representative for Bulgaria. This year, he has won the Dan Kolov-Nikola Petrov Tournament and took second at the European Championships.

Another 2013 World champion, Won Chol Yun of the People’s Republic of Korea, may be in Paris this summer. In addition to his 2013 gold, Yun earned bronze at the 2015 World Championships and finished fifth in 2011. He competed in Olympics in August, where he took 10th. In May, Yun was not the representative at this year’s Asian Championships. Sin-Myong Ri went instead and won a bronze medal.

Ildar Hafizov is the U.S. representative at 59 kg. A former Olympian for Uzbekistan, Hafizov will make his fourth trip to the World Championships and first as an American.

He returned to competition in February after recovering from injury and won the Armed Forces Championships, before claiming gold at Thor Masters in Denmark in March. Hafizov has had a strong presence on the international scene. In 2008, he finished 11th at the Olympics, competing for Uzbekistan. The performance came just a year after his fifth-place finish at the 2007 World Championships.

Other wrestlers to look out for include Poddubny Grand Prix champion Mingiyan Semenov of Russia and 2016 Olympic fifth-placer Arsen Eraliev of Kyrgyzstan.

JULY UWW GRECO-ROMAN WORLD RANKINGS (59 KG)
1. Ismael BORRERO MOLINA (CUB)
2. Shinobu OTA (JPN)
3. Kenichiro FUMITA (JPN)
4. Kristijan FRIS (SRB)
5. Ivo ANGELOV (BUL)
6. Mingiyan SEMENOV (RUS)
7. Ivan LIZATOVIC (CRO)
8. Stig Andre BERGE (NOR)
9. Murad MAMMADOV (AZE)
10. Hammet RUSTEM (TUR)
11. Kanybek ZHOLCHUBEKOV (KGZ)
12. Dshambulat LOKYAEV (RUS)
13. Meirambek AINAGULOV (KAZ)
14. Arsen ERALIEV (KGZ)
15. Rovshan BAYRAMOV (AZE)
16. Zhora ABOVIAN (UKR)
17. Stepan MARYANYAN (RUS)
18. Taleh MAMMADOV (AZE)
19. Andres MONTANO ARROYO (ECU)
20. Leri ABULADZE (GEO)

2017 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS TOP SEEDS
1. Ismael Borrero Molina (Cuba)
2. Shinobu Ota (Japan)
3. Elmurat Tasmuradov (Uzbekistan)
4. Stig-Andre Berge (Norway)

RECENT WORLD AND OLYMPIC RESULTS
2016 Olympic Games
59 kg/130 lbs. – Gold – Ismael Borrero Molina (Cuba); Silver – Shinobu Ota (Japan); Bronze – Stog-Andre Berge (Norway); Elmurat Tasmuradov (Uzbekistan); 5th – Rovshan Bayramov (Azerbaijan); 5th – Arsen Eraliev (Kyrgyzstan); 7th – Almat Kebispayev (Kazakhstan); 8th – Wang Lumin (China); 9th – Jesse Thielke (United States); 10th – Won Chol Yun (North Korea)
2015 World Championships
59 kg/130 lbs. – Gold – Ismael Borrero Molina (Cuba); Silver – Rovshan Bayramov (Azerbaijan); Bronze – Won Chol Yun (North Korea); Bronze – Almat Kebispayev (Kazakhstan); 5th – Arsen Eraliev (Kyrgyzstan); 5th – Soslan Daurov (Belarus); 7th – Seung-Hak Kim (Korea); 8th – Ivo Angelov (Bulgaria); 9th – Mate Krasznai (Hungary); 10th – Stig-Andre Berge (Norway)

2014 World Championships
59 kg/130 lbs. – Gold – Hamid Soryan (Iran); Silver – Mingiyan Semenov (Russia); Bronze – Elmurat Tasmuradov (Uzbekistan); Bronze – Stig-Andre Berge (Norway); 5th – Ismael Borrero (Cuba); 5th – Spenser Mango (USA); 7th – Haithem Ahmed Fahmy (Egypt); 8th – Wang Lumin (China); 9th – Lee Jung-Baik (Korea); 10th – Taleh Mammadov (Azerbaijan)

2013 World Championships
55 kg/121 lbs. – Gold - Won Chol Yun (North Korea); Silver - Gyujin Choi (Korea); Bronze – Peter Modos (Hungary); Bronze – Roman Amoyan (Armenia); 5th - Ivan Tatarinov (Russia); 5th – Spenser Mango (USA); 7th – Kanbek Zholchubekov (Kyrgyzstan); 8th – Orkhan Ahmadov (Azerbaijan); 9th – Nursultan Kalmurzayev (Kazakhstan); 10th – Victor Ciobanu (Moldova)

60 kg/132 lbs. – Gold - Ivo Angelov (Bulgaria); Silver - Ivan Kuylakov (Russia); Bronze - Seung-Jae Woo (Korea); Bronze - Elmurat Tasmuradov (Uzbekistan); 5th - Edward Barsegjan (Poland); 5th - Almat Kebispayev (Kazakhstan); 7th - Kazuma Kuramoto (Japan); 8th - Jesse Thielke (USA); 9th - Kristijan Fris (Serbia); 10th - Tarik Belmandi (France)

2012 Olympic Games
55kg/121 lbs. – Gold - Hamid Soryan (Iran); Silver - Rovshan Bayramov (Azerbaijan); Bronze - Peter Modos (Hungary); Bronze - Mingyan Semenov (Russia); 5th - Hakan Nyblom (Denmark); 5th - Gyu-Jin Choi (Korea); 7th - Shujin Li (China); 8th - Gustavo Balart (Cuba); 9th - Spenser Mango (USA); 10th - Kohei Hasegawa (Japan)

60kg/132 lbs. – Gold - Omid Noroozi (Iran); Silver - Revaz Lashki (Georgia); Bronze - Zaur Kuramagomedov (Russia); Bronze - Ryutaro Matsumoto (Japan); 5th - Hasan Aliyev (Azerbaijan); 5th - Almat Kebispayev (Kazakhstan); 7th - Ivo Angelov (Bulgaria); 8th - Ji-Hyun Jung (Korea); 9th - Tarik Belmadani (France); 10th - Jiang Sheng (China)

2011 World Championships
55kg/121 lbs. – Gold - Rovshan Bayramov (Azerbaijan); Silver - Elbek Tazhyiev (Belarus); Bronze - Shujin Li (China); Bronze - Bekkhan Mankiev (Russia); 5th - Péter Modos (Hungary); 5th - Won Chol Yun (North Korea); 7th - Gyu-Jin Choi (Korea); 8th - Kohei Hasegawa (Japan); 9th - Roman Amoyan (Armenia); 10th - Vyugar Ragymov (Ukraine) 

60kg/132 lbs. – Gold - Omid Haji Noroozi (Iran); Silver - Almat Kebispayev (Kazakhstan); Bronze - Zaur Kuramagomedov (Russia); Bronze - Ivo Angelov (Bulgaria); 5th - Ji-Hyun Jung (Korea); 5th - Luis Liendo (Venezuela); 7th - Hasan Aliyev (Azerbaijan); 8th - Vahan Juharyan (Armenia); 9th - Tonimir Sokol (Croatia); 10th - Manuel Lopez Salcero (Mexico)

2010 World Championships
55kg/121 lbs. – Gold – Hamid Soryan (Iran); Silver – Gyu-Jin Choi (Korea); Bronze – Roman Amoyan (Armenia); Bronze – Nazir Mankiev (Russia); 5th – Venelin Venkov (Bulgaria), 5th – Peter Modos (Hungary), 7th – Jani Haapamaeki (Finland); 8th – David Erestic (Poland), 9th – Elchin Aliev (Azerbaijan), 10th – Gustavo Balart Marin (Cuba)

60kg/132 lbs. – Gold – Hasan Aliyev (Azerbaijan); Silver – Ryutaro Matsumoto (Japan); Bronze – Almat Kebispayev (Kazakhstan); Bronze – Ji-Huyn Jung (Korea); 5th – Revaz Lashkhi (Georgia); 5th – Ivo Angelov (Bulgaria); 7th – Ruslan Tyumenbaev (Kyrgyzstan); 8th – Lenur Temirov (Ukraine); 9th – Omid Noroozi (Iran); 10th – Dilshod Aripov (Uzbekistan)

2009 World Championships
55 kg/121 lbs. - Gold - Hamid Soryan (Iran); Silver - Roman Amoyan (Armenia); Bronze - Hakan Nyblom (Denmark); Bronze - Rovshan Bayramov (Azerbaijan); 5th - Erhan Karakus (Turkey); 5th - Virgil Munteanu (Romania); 7th - Gyu-Jim Choi (Korea); 8th - Jani Haapamaki (Finland); 9th - Spenser Mango (USA); 10th - Vyugar Ragymov (Ukraine)

60 kg/132 lbs. - Gold - Islam-Beka Albiev (Russia); Silver - Dilshod Aripov (Uzbekistan); Bronze - Nurbakyt Tengysbaev (Kazakhstan); Bronze - Vitaliy Rahimov (Azerbaijan); 5th - Davor Stefanek (Serbia); 5th - Soner Sucu (Turkey); 7th - Revaz Lashkhi (Georgia); 8th - Ryutaro Matsumoto (Japan); 9th - Stig Andre Berge (Norway) ; 10th - Omid Noroozi (Iran)