The wrestling world saw plenty of action in the month of February as three continental tournaments were hosted in Asia, Africa and Europe. The best wrestlers of the world were in action in their respective continents for the continental titles as well as crucial UWW ranking points. The ranking points in the Olympic year are of utmost importance as the seedings at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics will be decided through these ranking points. Let’t take a look how post these continental events the UWW rankings in the Olympic categories have changed.
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Russia dominates the Freestyle and Greco-Roman categories
The most dominating wrestling nation of the world as expected is dominating the UWW world rankings in the Men’s wrestling. In the freestyle categories out of 6, Russia has top 3 wrestler in 5 weight categories with an exception of 125 kg. Such is the domination of Russia in the freestyle that in the 3 weight categories of 57kg, 65kg and 97kg – Russia has its wrestler right at the top in form of world champions Zaur Uguev (57kg), Gadzhimurad Rashidov (65kg) and Abdulrashid Sadulaev (97kg). Most likely these 3 will be seeded as number 1 at Tokyo 2020 as well.
In the Greco-Roman as well Russia currently has 3 wrestlers in top 3 out of the 6 Olympic weight categories. Musa Evloev in 97kg is the only Russian wrestler perched at number 1 position in the rankings. Like Russia, Turkey also has 3 wrestlers in the top 3 rankings currently. Hungary dominates the Greco-Roman as Tamas Lorincz (77kg) and Victor Lorincz (87kg) are ranked as number 1 in world.
Women Rankings – Honors shared by Japan & USA
In the Women’s rankings in the Olympic categories, Japan stays as the dominant force with 3 of its wrestlers ranked in top 3 of the world. USA with Mensah-Stock in 68kg and Adeline Gray in 76kg have two wrestlers ranked as number 1 in the world rankings.
The UWW rankings might once again see a reshuffle post-Pan-American Championships which are scheduled to be held in Ottawa, Canada from March 6 to 9. The gold medallists from each category will be awarded eight points while the silver and bronze winners will get six and four points respectively. The wrestlers with a fifth and sixth finish will bag two points.
The UWW world rankings will play an important role at the Tokyo Olympics as it will determine seedings for the Olympic hopefuls. It means the higher a wrestler is ranked the better the chance to secure a medal, as the higher ranked wrestlers will avoid tough match-ups in the initial rounds.
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Here are is a complete list of UWW rankings after the end of February:
FREESTYLE:
[57kg class]
[1] Uguev, Zaur (Russia)
[2] Atli, Suleyman (Turkey)
[3] Micic, Stevan Andria (Serbia)
[65kg class]
? [1] Rashidov, Gadshimurad (Russia)
? [2] Punia, Bajrang (India)
? [3] Niyazbekov, Daulet (Kazakhstan)
[74 kg class]
* [1] Chamiz Marquez, Frank (Italy)
* [2] Sidakov, Zaurbek (Russia)
* [3] Kaisanov, Daniar (Kazakhstan)
[86kg class]
* [1] Yazdani Charati, Hassan (Iran)
* [2] Punia, Deepak (India)
* [3] Naifonov, Artur (Russia)
[97kg class]
? [1] Sadulaev, Abdulrashid (Russia)
? [2] Sharifov, Sharif (Azerbaijan)
? [3] Snyder, Kyle Frederick (US)
[125kg class]
? [1] Petriashvili, Geno (Georgia)
? [2] Akgul, Taha (Turkey)
? [3] Khotsianivski, Aleksander (Ukraine)
WOMEN RANKINGS:
[50kg class]
? [1] Vuc, Alina Emilia (Romania) 66 points
? [2] Stadnik, Mariya (Azerbaijan) 60 points
? [3] Livach, Oksana (Ukraine) 50 points
[53kg class]
* [1] Pak, Yong-Mi (North Korea) 60 points
* [2) Shin Mukaida (Japan) 56 points
* [3] Vinesh, Vinesh (India) 55 points
[57kg class]
? [1]Risako Kawai (Japan) 78 points ?
[2] Adekuoroye, Odunayo Folasade (Nigeria) 61 points
? [3] Kurachkina, Irina (Belarus) 41 points
[62kg class]
? [1] Tynybekova, Aisuluu A (Kyrgyz) 90 points
? [2] Yusein, Taybe Mustafa (Bulgaria) 56 points
[3] Tkach, Yulia (Ukraine) 50 points
[68kg class]
? [1] Mensah-Stock, Tamyra Mariama (USA) 74 points
[2] Oborududu, Blessing (Nigeria) 48 points
? [3] Fransson, Jenny Eva Maria (Sweden) 40 points
[76kg class]
* [1] Gray, Adeline Maria (USA) 60 points
* [2] Minagawa Hiroe (Japan) 58 points
* [3] Rotter Focken, Aline (Germany) 53 points
GRECO-ROMAN RANKINGS:
60kg:
1; Fumita Knichiro (JAPAN)
2; Emelin Sergey (Russia)
3; Kamal Kerem (Turkey)
67kg:
1; Borrero Ismael (Cuba)
2; Surkov Artem (Russia)
3; Nemes Mate (Serbia)
77kg:
1; Tamas Lorincz (Hungary)
2; Alex Bjurberg (Sweden)
3; Karapet Chalyan (Armenia)
87kg:
1; Viktor Lorincz (Hungary)
2; Zhan Beleniuk (Ukraine)
3; Rustam Assakalov (Uzbekistan)
97kg:
1; Musa Evloev (Russia)
2; Artur Aleksanyan (Armenia)
3; Cenk Ildem (Turkey)
130kg:
1; Riza Kayaalp (Turkey)
2; Mohamed Ahmed (Egypt)
3; Oscar Pino (Cuba)
