2019 International Rankings - Men's Freestyle

Yazdani The Greatest At 86kg

By Seth Petarra (@SethPetar)

Russian Nationals runner-up #3 Artur Naifonov (RUS) moved up to 92 KG for the Korkin to take on fellow Russian National runner-up #3(92) Anzor Urishev (RUS) in the finals, and it was Naifonov who would come out victorious with the 4-3 win. 

The Medved was absolutely huge for determining the makeup for 86 KG, so to understand it all we’ve got to look back at Turkey’s 86 KG results throughout this year from #11 Fatih Erdin (TUR), #15 Selim Yasar (TUR) and #19 Ahmet Bilici (TUR). #15(92) Gadzhi Radzhabov (BLR) came out with the title with a 6-2 win over Murad Suleymanov (AZE) in the finals, and Tbilisi GP champ #11 Fatih Erdin (TUR) earned bronze with a 7-2 win over Rasul Tikaev (BLR) and returning world runner-up #12 Boris Makoev (SVK) picked up bronze with a 4-0 win over Pool Ambrocio Greifo (PER). The tournament was meant to determine who was going to be Turkey’s rep at 86 KG and the only straight head to head Turkey vs. Turkey matchup that happened was when #11 Fatih Erdin (TUR) beat #15 Selim Yasar (TUR) 1-1 in the round of 16. Now, Erdin and #14 Ahmet Bilici (TUR) were supposed to meet in the semis to finally determine who would be the rep for Budapest, with Erdin having had the superior year as a whole (Tbilisi GP champ, runner-up at the Yarygin, bronze at Yasar Dogu, 5th at Euros) while Bilici had the H2H win in March at the Kolov. But the match wasn’t meant to be as Rasul Tikaev (BLR) pinned Bilici in their quarterfinal match, and #15(92) Gadzhi Radzhabov (BLR) beat Erdin 7-6 in their quarterfinal match off a last second stepout. Radzhabov would beat Tikaev 5-2 in the semis, eliminating Bilici and Erdin would beat Tikaev for bronze thus ensuring himself the 86 KG spot in Budapest. On the opposite side of the bracket, #10 Murad Suleymanov (AZE) was able to notch a 6-2 win over returning world runner-up #12 Boris Makoev (SVK) in the semis.

Considering all that happened at the Medved, here’s how it changed the landscape of 86 KG. #15 Gadzhi Radzhabov (BLR) enters the 86 KG rankings at #9 off the strength of his wins over #10 Murad Suleymanov (AZE) and #11 Fatih Erdin (TUR). #14 Ahmet Bilici (TUR) drops five spots in the rankings to #19 after being pinned by Rasul Tikaev (BLR) in the quarters. #9 Yurieski Torreblanca (CUB) gets dropped down four spots in the rankings to #13 due to the fact that his best win is over #15 Selim Yasar (TUR) at the Yarygin and when you compare his resume to that of another guy who beat Yasar in #11 Erdin it’s clear Erdin is superior as demonstrated by Erdin’s multiple wins over #5 Vladislav Valiev (RUS) and #12 Boris Makoev (SVK) beat him last year at world’s and it wouldn’t make any sense to rank him ahead of Radzhabov or Suleymanov who both beat Erdin, who we’ve clearly established is better ranking wise than Torreblanca. 

#13 Arsenali Musalaliev (RUS) drops down two spots in the rankings to #15 after taking losses to Ahmad Bazrigaleh (IRI) and #16 Zelimkhan Minkailov (RUS) in the finals of the Korkin and in the German Bundesliga as well. #18 Zbigniew Baranowski (POL) won the Ziółkowski over Sammy Brooks (USA) and the Miner’s Glory tournament over countryman Sebastian Jezierzanski (POL) to move up one spot in the rankings to #17. He could move higher, but he’s got an ugly loss to Shengfeng Bi (CHN) from the Tbilisi GP in July that prevents much upward movement for him.