Seeded wrestlers at the 2025 World Wrestling Championships: who faces a tough draw

On September 13 in Zagreb, the 2025 World Wrestling Championships will kick off. The International Federation (UWW) has already published the list of seeded wrestlers in all ten weight categories.

What is seeding?
Seeding is a system of distributing the strongest athletes in the tournament bracket. It is based on world rankings and recent major results. The main goal is to place favorites in different halves and quarters of the bracket so they don’t face each other too early.

If a wrestler is among the top eight in his weight category’s ranking, he receives seeded status and enters the draw with privileges: the system prevents him from facing another seeded wrestler in the first round. However, starting from the quarterfinals, he may meet the strongest opponents.

How does the draw work?
After the seeded list is approved, the draw takes place. The seeded wrestlers are automatically placed in the bracket, while the rest, including Armenian representatives, get their spots randomly. This means, for example, Arsen Harutyunyan (57 kg) or Manvel Khndzrtsyan (61 kg) may face favorites already in the opening round. The draw will be held one day before the tournament begins – on September 12.

Armenian wrestlers
Five Armenian freestyle wrestlers will compete, two of whom are seeded and will have a more favorable draw.

• 57 kg: Arsen Harutyunyan remains unseeded, which increases the risk of an early clash with category leaders — American Spencer Lee or Uzbek Gulomjon Abdullaev.

• 61 kg: Manvel Khndzrtsyan is also unseeded, while the favorite here is Olympic champion Zavur Uguev.

• 65 kg: Armenia has a strong asset here — Vazgen Tevanyan, who received the No. 3 seed. This gives him a good chance at a favorable bracket, but he may meet the 2024 Olympic champion, Japan’s Kotaro Kiyooka (No. 2 seed), in the semifinals.

• 70 kg: Arman Andreasyan is seeded fifth and will also avoid top contenders until the quarterfinals.

• 74 kg: Рrayr Alikhanyan is unseeded and could face four-time European champion Taimuraz Salkazanov or Iran’s Emami in the opening round.

Seeding at the 2025 World Wrestling Championships

57 kg:

1. Spencer Richard LEE (USA)
2. Gulomjon ABDULLAEV (Uzbekistan)
3. Aman AMAN (India)
4. Roman Guillermo BRAVO YOUNG (Mexico)
5. Darian Toi CRUZ (Puerto-Rico)
6. Bekzat ALMAZ UULU (Kyrgyzstan)
7. Islam BAZARGANOV (Azerbaijan)
8. Munkh Erdene BATKHUYAG (Mongolia)

None: Arsen HARUTYUNYAN (Armenia)

61 kg:

1. Zavur UGUEV (UWW, Russia)
2. Giorgi GONIASHVILI (Georgia)
3. Takara SUDA (Japan)
4. Udit UDIT (India)
5. Leomid COLESNIC (Moldova)
6. Dzmitry SHAMELA (UWW, Belarus)
7. Nils LEUTERT (Swirzerland)
8. Joshua Alexander KRAMER (Ecuador)

None: Manvel KHNDZRTSYAN (Armenia)

65 kg:

1. Rahman Mousa AMOUZADKHALILI (Iran)
2. Kotaro KIYOOKA (Japan)
3. Vazgen TEVANYAN (Armenia)
4. Ali RAHIMZADA (Azerbaijan)
5. Khamzat ARSAMERZOUEV (France)
6. Sebastian C RIVERA (Puerto-Rico)
7. Ibragim IBRAGIMOV (UWW, Russia)
8. Sujeet SUJEET (India)

 70 kg:

1. Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (Japan)
2. Akaki KEMERTELIDZE (Georgia)
3. Nurkozha KAIPANOV (Kazakhstan)
4. Kanan HEYBATOV (Azerbaijan)
5. Arman ANDREASYAN (Armenia)
6. Austin Klee GOMEZ (Mexico)
7. Vasile DIACON (Moldova)
8. Ismail MUSUKAEV (Hungary)*

 * Участие Мусукаева под вопросом из-за травмы.

 74 kg:

1. Chermen VALIEV (Albania)
2. Taimuraz SALKAZANOV (Slovakia)
3. Yones Aliakbar EMAMICHOGHAEI (Iran)
4. Orozobek TOKTOMAMBETOV (Kyrgyzstan)
5. Murad KURAMAGOMEDOV (Hungary)
6. O Giorgi ELBAKIDZE (Georgia)
7. Magomedrasul ASLUEV (Bahrain)
8. Feng LU (China)

None: Hrayr ALIKHANYAN (Armenia)

 79 kg:

1. Akhsarbek GULAEV (Skovakia)
2. Suldkhuu OLONBAYAR (Mongolia)
3. Vladimeri GAMKRELIDZE (Georgia)
4. Magomet EVLOEV (Tajikistan)
5. Mohammad Ashghar NOKHODILARIMI (Iran)
6. Daulet YERGESH (Kazakhstan)
7. Khidir Kurban A SAIPUDINOV (Bahrain)
8. Zelimkhan KHADJIEV (France)

 86 kg:

1. Osman GOCEN (Turkey)
2. Arsenii DZHIOEV (Azerbaijan)
3. Mahamedkhabib KADZIMAHAMEDAU (UWW, Belarus)
4. Zahid VALENCIA (USA)
5. Rakhim MAGAMADOV (France)
6.  Hayato ISHIGURO (Japan)
7. Batbilguun NAADAMBAT (Mongolia)
8. Gyeongyeon LEE (Korea)

 92 kg:

1. Miriani MAISURADZE (Georgia)
2. Benjamin Konrad HONIS (Italy)
3. Batyrbek TSAKULOV (Slovakia)
4. Osman NURMAGOMEDOV (Azerbaijan)
5. Dauren KURUGLIEV (Greece)
6. Amirhossein Biglar FIROUZPOURBANDPEI (Iran)
7. Lars SCHAEFLE (Germany)
8. Trent Niemond HIDLAY (USA)

  97 kg:

1. Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (Bahrain)
2. Givi MATCHARASHVILI (Georgia)
3. Kyle SNYDER (USA)
4. Magomedkhan MAGOMEDOV (Azerbaijan)
5. Amirali Hamid AZARPIRA (Iran)
6. Zbigniew BARANOWSKI (Poland)
7. Arash YOSHIDA (Japan)
8. Richard VEGH (Hungary)

 125 kg:

1. Giorgi MESHVILDISHVILI (Azerbaijan)
2. Amir Hossein Abbas ZARE (Iran)
3. Dzianis KHRAMIANKOU (UWW, Belarus)
4. Robert BARA (Poland)
5. Lkhagvagerel MUNKHTUR (Mongolia)
6. Shamil Magomed A SHARIPOV (Bahrain)
7. Solomon MANASHVILI (Georgia)
8. Jonovan Darius SMITH (Puerto-Rico)

Полный состав участников можно посмотреть ЗДЕСЬ.