Who would be individual medalists at 2018 Freestyle World Cup if UWW still awarded them?

David Taylor of the USA controls David Khutsishvili of Georgia in their 86 kg bout at the Freestyle World Cup. Photo by Tony Rotundo, Wrestlers Are Warriors.

Editor’s Note: In the first few decades that the Freestyle World Cup was held, the international wrestling federation not only gave team awards, but also provided individual medals at each weight class, based upon the results of the matches at those weights. For a number of years, UWW has only given team awards at the World Cup. Veteran Russian journalist Petr Pavlov has reviewed the action in each weight class and awarded medals based upon the results in Iowa City this year.

By Petr Pavlov, journalist from Yakutsk, Russia


At the recent World Cups, there are no winners in the weight categories, only the team results. But if you look at the results of the competition, you find interesting facts. I agree, the World Cup is a team competition. But in the teams that took the lowest places, there were some wrestlers who did not lose their fights.


By tradition, I create my own list of individual medalists. What do you think about it?

57 kg: 1. Behbayar Erdenebat (Mongolia), 2. Yuki Takahashi (Japan), 3. Georgi Edisherashvili (Azerbaijan).


Bekhbayar and Takahashi both scored four victories. When looking at technical points, the Mongolian scored 20 points and gave up one. And in this ratio, the Japanese athlete outscored his opponents, 22-7. According to this indicator, Bekhbayar is ahead of Takahashi in quality. And the Mongolian had four bouts and won all of them, and the Japanese wrestler had one victory by forfeit, as India did not have a participant. This is also taken into account in my analytics. Georgi Edisherashvili, representing Azerbaijan, takes the third place.

61 kg: 1. Tumenbileg Tuvshintulga (Mongolia), 2. Ahmednabi Gvarzatilov (Azerbaijan), 3. Rinya Nakamura (Japan)


Tuvshintulga won three matches including a technical fall. Gvarzatilov won two bouts with a pin. Nakamura had two wins, with a technical fall.

65 kg: 1. Alejandro Valdes (Cuba), 2. Logan Stieber (USA), 3. Takuto Otoguro (Japan).


Valdes and Stieber have an equal number of victories, three wins and one defeat each. But in qualitative terms, the Cuban moves forward. He had one win by pin (Haji Aliyev) and two victories by technical fall (11:0, 10:0). In the fourth meeting, Valdes lost to the Japanese wrestler Daichi Takatani 8:10. But this does not prevent him from taking the first place.Consider the indicators of Stieber’s effort. The American had two technical falls (12:2, 10:0), one victory on points (6: 3) and a loss to the Japanese wrestler Otoguro with a score of 5:10. Therefore, due to the type of victory, Valdes was the winner.

70 kg: 1. Joshgun Azimov (Azerbaijan), 2. James Green (USA), 3. Franklin Maren (Cuba).


Azimov pleasantly surprised. He fought four bouts and won in all. Green has three wins and a loss to Azimov with a score of 4:4. The indicators of Green and Maren are equal, three wins and one loss. But, in qualitative terms, due to one technical fall victory, the American came out in the second place.

74 kg: 1. Jordan Burroughs (USA), 2. Yuki Fujinami (Japan), 3. Tarzan Maisuradze (Georgia).


Here an unqualified victory was won by the Olympic champion, the favorite of the American public, Jordan Burroughs, who had four victories, one of which was a pin. Second place is rightfully won by the World Championship medalist Fujinami. But the results of Maisuradze and Ganzorig Mandahnaran of Mongolia are equal; they have two wins and the same number of defeats. But in the match between the Georgian and the Mongolian, Maisuradze won with a score of 7: 1, and therefore takes the third-place prize.

79 kg: 1. Kyle Dake (USA), 2. Saken Aitzhanov (Kazakhstan), 3. Sosuke Takatani (Japan).


Dake showed superiority. Four bouts and victory in all. And Aitzhanov and Takatani had the same indicators: three wins and one defeat. But, to select second place did not require special difficulty. The fact is that Aitzhanov won all his victories by pin. Takatani won three technical fall. As they say, no problem.

86 kg: 1. David Taylor (USA), 2. Alexander Gostiev (Azerbaijan), 3. Yurieski Torreblanco (Cuba).


Here is the same picture as in the previous weight. The winner Taylor clearly outperformed his rivals, finished all four fights ahead of schedule, with technical fall victories. And the indicators of Gostiev and Torreblanco were equal. But, in a personal meeting, Gostiev beat the Cuban with a score of 3: 2 and goes ahead of him.

92 kg: 1. David Marsagishvili (Georgia), 2. Aslanbek Alborov (Azerbaijan), 3. Iliskhan Chilayev (Kazakhstan).


Here was an interesting duel. Marsagishvili and Alborov had four wins. How do we decide? Whom is the leader? Or do both get first place? The result analysis still revealed the winner. The Georgian has a victory by injury default and two wins by a technical advantage (10:0, 10:0) and one victory on points 5:0. Alborov had two technical fall victories (10:0, 11:0) and one victory with a score of 4:4. Do you see the difference? Still, the quality of victory brought Marsagishvili to the first place. Do you agree?

97 kg: 1. Kyle Snyder (USA), 2. Givi Macharashvili (Georgia), 3. Roman Bakirov (Azerbaijan).


Snyder had four wins, Macharashvili had three, Bakirov had two.


125 kg: 1. Daulet Shabanbay (Kazakhstan), 2. Jamaladdin Magomedov (Azerbaijan), 3. Nick Gwiazdowski (USA).


The winner is from the team which took seventh place. Shabanbay won a victory over Jamaludin Magomedov from Azerbaijan 3:3. He also won two bouts by technical fall (10:0, 10:0). Magomedov had three wins and one loss. Gwiazdowski has two wins and one defeat. End of analysis.