From: Tim Foley [email protected] Subject: Lopez Back in Action, Eying Historic Gold and Top of Greco-Roman World Rankings Date: July 8, 2016 at 5:04 AM To: [email protected] Lopez Back in Action, Eying Historic Gold and Top of Greco-Roman World Rankings By William May // Photo: Tony Rotundo CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY (July 7) – Seven-time world and Olympic Games champion Mijain LOPEZ NUNEZ (CUB) returned to action in June with a win at the Granma Cup in Havana to regain one rung in the United World Wrestling rankings for Greco-Roman. Lopez won three bouts at 130kg, including a technical fall over fellow Pan American Games gold medalist Yasmany LUGO CABRERA (CUB) to regain No.2 in the super heavyweight rankings in the classic style. Lopez, who stumbled to Riza KAYAALP (TUR) in last September’s world championship final, began the year at No.2 but slipped to No.3 in April after Aleksander CHERNETSKI (UKR) won the Ukraine International and finished runner-up to Kayaalp at the European championships. Successful in his first competition since Las Vegas, Lopez may well be eying his third Olympic Games gold medal at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and his eighth world-level title – second only to 12 titles by Alexander KARELIN (RUS) in Greco-Roman. With many of the top wrestlers in the final phases of their preparations for Rio 2016, Frank STAEBLER (GER), RYU Han-Soo (KOR) and KIM Hyeon- Woo (KOR) were the only Greco-Roman world champions in action in June. Frank STAEBLER (GER) // Photo: Gabor Martin Staebler posted four wins at 71kg at the Pytlasinski Cup for his second tourney title at this non-Olympic weight category since winning the 66kg world title in Las Vegas to hold onto his top ranking at lightweight. Ryu, the 2013 world champion and runner-up to Staebler in Las Vegas, was the runner-up at 66kg in Poland to stay at Staebler’s heels at lightweight. Meanwhile, 2013 welterweight world champion Kim was also a runner-up, but slipped to No.4 behind Pytlasinski winner Mark MADSEN (DEN), who edged up to No.3. The biggest mover of the month was Asian bronze medal winner ZHANG Ridong (CHN), who earned a bronze medal in Poland to vault 11 places from unranked to No.9 at 71kg. Africa champion Haitham FAHMY (EGY) climbed to No.10 at 59kg with a semifinals win over former Asia champion Arsen ERALIEV (KGZ) while Kenichiro FUMITA (JPN) rose to No.11 with a win over European Games silver medalist Soslan DAUROV (BLR) on his way to the title. The biggest move within the rankings was turned in by Lugo at 98kg, bounding eight places, from 17th to No.9, after a third place in the Granma Cup and a runner-up showing a week later at the Pytlasinski Cup. Wrestlers in the rankings are listed by name, country code, most notable or most recent result over the last 12 months, and their position in the previous rankings. 59kg – Kenichiro FUMITA (JPN) defeated university teammate Shinobu OTA (JPN) in the quarterfinals while Haitham FAHMY (EGY) won over former Asia champion Arsen ERALIEV (KGZ) in the semifinals to advance to the finals of the Pytlasinski Cup and break into the rankings at No.10 and No.11. 1. Ismael BORRERO MOLINA (CUB) – World No.1 (1) 2. Rovshan BAYRAMOV (AZE) – World No.2 (2) 3. Almat KEBISPAYEV (KAZ) – GGP Final No.1 (3) 4. Mingiyan SEMENOV (RUS) – Europe No.1 (5) 5. YUN Won-Chol (PRK) – World No.3 (6) 6. Soslan DAUROV (BLR) – Pytlasinski Cup No.3 (7) 7. Arsen ERALIEV (KGZ) – Pytlasinski Cup No.3 (8) 8. Elmurat TASMURADOV (UZB) – Ulaanbaatar OG Qualifier No.3 (4) 9. Stig Andre BERGE (NOR) – Ulaanbaatar OG Qualifier No.2 (9) 10. Haitham Mahmoud FAHMY (EGY) – Pytlasinski Cup No.2 (Not ranked) 11. Kenichiro FUMITA (JPN) – Pytlasinski Cup No.1 (nr) 12. Shinobu OTA (JPN) – Asian OG Qualifier No.2 (11) 13. KIM Seung-Hak (KOR) – Ulaanbaatar OG Qualifier No.1 (10) 14. Hamid SORYAN (IRI) – Istanbul OG Qualifier No.1 (12) 15. Ibragim LABAZANOV (RUS) – Ivan Poddubny No.1 (14) 16. Kristijan FRIS (SRB) – European OG Qualifier No.2 (15) 17. Jesse THIELKE (USA) – Istanbul OG Qualifier No.2 (17) 18. Javier DUMENIGO (CUB) – Granma Cup No.1 (nr) 19. Kanybek ZHOLCHUBEKOV (KGZ) – Asia No.1 (18) 20. WANG Lumin (CHN) – Hungarian GP No.3 (20) 66kg – Frank STAEBLER (GER) tightened his grip on No.1 with a victory at 71kg. Asian bronze medal winner Mehdi ZEIDVAND (IRI) edged former world champion and 2015 silver medalist RYU Han-Soo (KOR) in the Pytlasinski Cup final to advance two places to No.7. 1. Frank STAEBLER (GER) – World No.1 (1) 2. RYU Han-Soo (KOR) – World No.2 (2) 2. RYU Han-Soo (KOR) – World No.2 (2) 3. Artem SURKOV (RUS) – World No.3 (3) 4. Tamas LORINCZ (HUN) – Hungarian GP No.1 (4) 5. Islambek ALBIEV (RUS) - Europe No.1 (5) 6. Davor STEFANEK (SRB) – Europe No.2 (6) 7. Mehdi ZEIDVAND (IRI) – Pytlasinski Cup No.1 (9) 8. Migran ARUTUNYAN (ARM) – Trophee Milone No.1 (8) 9. Shmagi BOLKVADZE (GEO) – European OG Qualifier No.2 (7) 10. Tarek Aziz BENAISSA (ALG) – All-African Games No.1 (10) 11. Hasan ALIYEV (AZE) – Europe No.3 (11) 12. Wuileixis RIVAS ESPINOZA (VEN) – Pan Am OG Qualifier No.1 (12) 13. Miguel MARTINEZ PALACIOS (CUB) – Pan America No.1 (13) 14. Ionut PANAIT (ROU) – Ulaanbaatar OG Qualifier No.1 (14) 15. Edgaras VENCKAITIS (LTU) – Ulaanbaatar OG Qualifier No.3 (15) 16. David KARECINSKI (POL) – Pytlasinski No.2@71 (19) 17. Mateusz BERNATEK (POL) – European U23 No.1 (18) 18. Omid NOROOZI (IRI) – Asian OG Qualifier No.2 (16) 19. Artak MARGARYAN (FRA) – Hungarian GP No.3 (19) 20. Askhat ZHANBIROV (KAZ) – Asia No.2 (20) 71kg – In a battle of bronze medal winners from the Asian championships, ZHANG Ridong (CHN) fashioned a 4-1 win over Ruslan TSAREV (KGZ) at the Pytlasinski Cup to return to the rankings at No.9 after a two-month hiatus. 1. Rasul CHUNAYEV (AZE) – World No.1 (1) 2. Balint KORPASI (HUN) – Europe No.3 (2) 3. Afshin BYABANGARD (IRI) – Asia No.1 (3) 4. Adam KURAK (RUS) – World No.3 (4) 5. Varsham BORANYAN (ARM) – Europe No.1 (5) 6. Aleksandar MAKSIMOVIC (SRB) – Europe No.2 (6) 7. Armen VARDANYAN (UKR) – Trophee Milone No.2 (7) 8. Tero VAELIMAEKI (FIN) – Ulaanbaatar OG Qualifier No.2 (10) 9. ZHANG Ridong (CHN) – Pytlasinski Cup No.3 (nr) 10. Ruslan TSAREV (KGZ) – Istanbul OG Qualifier No.2@66 (12) 11. Zackarias TALLROTH (SWE) – World No.3 (8) 12. Mathias MAASCH (GER) – Paris GP No.1 (9) 13. Danijel JANECIC (CRO) – LIG Int’l No.3 (11) 14. Tomi HINOVEANU (ROU) – Corneanu Int’l No.2 (15) 15. Timur BERDIEV (BLR) – World No.5 (13) 16. Yunus OZEL (TUR) – Europe No.5 (14) 17. Darkhan BAYAKMETOV (KAZ) – Asia No.3 (17) 18. Zoltan LEVAI (HUN) – Zagreb GP No.1 (16) 19. Yunus Emre BASAR (TUR) – Vehbi Emre No.1 (19) 20. Azim GARMSIRI (IRI) – Corneanu Int’l No.1 (nr) 75kg – World silver medalist Mark MADSEN (DEN) turned away KIM Hyeon-Woo (KOR), 1-0, in the Pytlasinski Cup final to climb past the 2013 world champion for No.3 in the rankings. 1. Roman VLASOV (RUS) – World No.1 (1) 2. Doszhan KARTIKOV (KAZ) – Asia No.1 (2) 3. Mark MADSEN (DEN) – Pytlasinski Cup No.1 (4) 4. KIM Hyeon-Woo (KOR) – Pytlasinski Cup No.2 (3) 5. Andrew BISEK (USA) – World No.3 (5) 6. Zurabi DATUNASHVILI (GEO) – Europe No.1 (6) 7. Viktor NEMES (SRB) – Europe No.2 (7) 8. Peter BACSI (HUN) – Ulaanbaatar OG Qualifier No.1 (10) 9. Arsen JULFALAKYAN (ARM) – Ulaanbaatar OG Qualifier No.3 (11) 10. Saeid Mourad ABDVALI (IRI) – World Cup No.1 (10) 11. YANG Bin (CHN) – Pytlasinski No.3 (13) 12. Elvin MURSALIYEV (AZE) – Europe No.5 (11) 13. Chingiz LABAZANOV (RUS) – Ivan Poddubny No.1 (12) 14. Bozo STARCEVIC (CRO) – Zagreb GP No.1 (14) 15. Karapet CHALYAN (ARM) – Europe No.3 (15) 16. Pascal EISELE (GER) – Europe No.1, 80kg (16) 17. Gela BOLKVADZE (GEO) – European U23 No.1 (17) 18. Zied AIT OUAGRAM (MAR) – Africa-Oceania OG Qualifier No.1 (19) 19. Neven ZUGAJ (CRO) – Hungarian GP No.3 (20) 20. Ilie COJOCARI (ROU) – Corneanu Int’l No.1 (nr) 80kg – Asia champion Ramin TAHERISARTANG (IRI) defeated former world champion Peter BACSI (HUN), 6-3, in the semifinals and leaps five places to No.5 with a 5-0 win over Hungarian Grand Prix winner Pavel POMINCHUK (BLR). 1. Selcuk CEBI (TUR) – Istanbul OG Qualifier No.1, 75kg (1) 2. Lasha GOBADZE (GEO) – European U23 No.1 (2) 3. Evgeni SALEEV (RUS) – Ivan Poddubny No.1 (3) 4. Rafik HUSEYNOV (AZE) – GGP Final No.2 (4) 5. Ramin TAHERISARTANG (IRI) – Pytlasinski Cup No.1 (10) 6. Viktor SASUNOVSKI (BLR) – World No.2 (5) 7. Edgar BABAYAN (POL) – Europe No.2 (7) 8. Daniel ALEKSANDROV (BUL) – Istanbul OG Qualifier No.2 (6) 9. Pavel POMINCHUK (BLR) – Pytlasinski Cup No.2 (13) 10. AISHAN Aishan (CHN) – Asia No.2 (7) 11. Aslan ATEM (TUR) – Europe No.3 (9) 12. Eduard SARGSYAN (ARM) – Pytlasinski Cup No.3 (nr) 13. Ramazan ABACHARAEV (RUS) – Ivan Poddubny No.1 (11) 14. Laszlo SZABO (HUN) – Zagreb GP No.2 (12) 15. Yaroslav FILCHAKOV (UKR) – World Cup No.1 (16) 16. Burhan AKBUDAK (TUR) – European U23 No.2 (17) 17. Raibek BISULTANOV (DEN) – Hungarian GP No.2 (14) 18.