Wrestling fan Sina Etemadi wins 2023 World Championships journalist champion selection contest
by Gary Abbott, USA Wrestling
The winner of the 2023 World champion pick-em contest among international journalists was actually a fan.
Sina Etemadi, who has represented wrestling fans in the journalist champion selection contest for many years, selected an impressive 15 champions at the 2023 Senior World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia.
Etemadi selected seven of the women’s freestyle champions, four of the men’s freestyle champions and four of the Greco-Roman champions.
The 2022 winner of the journalist selections, Jon Kozak of FloWrestling, placed second in the journalist contest this year with 13 correct selections. Kozak had six women’s freestyle champions, four Greco-Roman champions and three men’s freestyle champions.
Two other U.S. journalists were tied in third place with 12 selections, Earl Smith of Intermat and Andrew Spey of FloWrestling. Smith had seven women’s freestyle picks, three Greco-Roman picks and two men’s freestyle picks. Spey properly selected six women’s freestyle champions, four men’s freestyle champions and two Greco-Roman champions.
Three other journalists were next with 11 correct selections, Ali Feizasa of ISNA New Agency of Iran, Al Fontes of the Idaho Elite Report and Vinay Siwach of UWW, based in India.
This year’s selections came from 15 international journalists representing six different nations.
2023 International Journalist World Champion selections
15 – Sina Etemadi (Fan)
13 – Jon Kozak (FloWrestling)
12 – Earl Smith (Intermat), Andrew Spey (FloWrestling)
11 – Ali Feizasa (ISNA News Agency IRI), Al Fontes (Idaho Elite Report), Vinay Siwach (UWW IND)
10 – Dan Fickel (Wrestling USA), Ikuo Higuchi (Japan Wrestling Federation), David Mirikitani/Grant Turner (Weighing In), Petr Pavlov (Yakutia RUS), Byambaa Tsagaanbaatar (MGL)
9 – Cameron Drury (Indiana Mat), Adam Engel (Twin-Falls Times-News)
8 – Seth Preisler (Steelwood Radio)
7 – Gary Abbott (USA Wrestling)