Ildar Hafizov in action at the 2024 Senior World Championships in Tirana, Albania.
Hafizov falls in repechage to end U.S. Greco-Roman run at Senior World Championships
by Richard Immel, USA Wrestling
TIRANA, Albania – The U.S. Greco-Roman team ended its run at the 2024 Senior World Championships on Tuesday morning with two-time Olympian Ildar Hafizov falling in the repechage.
Hafizov was upended 7-1 by 2024 European bronze medalist and 2019 U20 World champion Abu Amaev of Bulgaria in the first match of the day in the 63 kg repechage. Hafizov was put underneath from passivity calls twice, and surrendered a two-point lift in the second period, which proved too much to overcome.
The U.S. Greco-Roman team finished with a combined 1-5 record. Two-time World Team member Benji Peak was the lone athlete to pick up a win. He topped Tokyo Olympic champion Mohammadreza Geraei of Iran by 11-3 technical fall in the opening round at 72 kg. 2009 World bronze medalist Aliaksandr Kikiniou and two-time World Team member Brady Koontz both finished with 0-1 records.
The Greco-Roman medal matches are scheduled for 6 p.m. local time. For those planning to follow along live, Tirana, Albania, is located five hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Time.
Updated brackets and match-by-match results are available on UWW Arena. A live broadcast of the event is available for the U.S. market at FloWrestling.com.
Revisit the details of each U.S. match from today in our day two match notes article.
2024 Senior World Championships | Tirana, Albania, October 29
Greco-Roman Results
Medal Match Pairings
55 kg
Gold – Eldaniz Azizli (Azerbaijan) vs. Poya Dad Marz (Iran)
Bronze – Denis Mihai (Romania) vs. Haifeng Zhang (China)
Bronze – Emin Sefershaev (Individual Neutral Athlete) vs. Manvel Khachatryan (Individual Neutral Athlete)
63 kg
Gold – Nihat Mammadli (Azerbaijan) vs. Yerzhet Zharlykassyn (Kazakhstan)
Bronze – Karen Aslanyan (Armenia) vs. Abu Amaev (Bulgaria)
Bronze – Sadyk Lalaev (Individual Neutral Athlete) vs. Stefan Clement (France)
72 kg
Gold – Ibrahim Ghanem (France) vs. Ulvi Ganizade (Azerbaijan)
Bronze – Ali Arsalan (Serbia) vs. Hayk Melikyan (Armenia)
Bronze – Ji Leng (China) vs. Otar Abuladze (Georgia)
82 kg
Gold – Erik Szilvassy (Hungary) vs. Mohammadali Geraei (Iran)
Bronze – Ahmet Yilmaz (Turkey) vs. Gurban Gurbanov (Azerbaijan)
Bronze – Gela Bolkvadze (Georgia) vs. Taizo Yoshida (Japan)
U.S. Greco-Roman Results
55 kg – Brady Koontz (Dubuque, Iowa/Dubuque RTC/Titan Mercury WC), eliminated
LOSS Sanjeev Sanjeev (India), 5-3
63 kg – Ildar Hafizov (Colorado Springs, Colo./Army WCAP), eliminated
LOSS Nihat Mammadli (Azerbaijan), tech. fall, 10-0
LOSS Abu Amaev (Bulgaria), 7-1
72 kg – Benjamin Peak (Elkhorn, Wis./ Combat W.C. School of Wrestling), eliminated
WIN Mohammadreza Geraei (Iran), tech. fall, 11-3
LOSS Dominik Etlinger (Croatia), 9-0
82 kg – Aliaksandr Kikiniou (Escondido, Calif./New York AC), eliminated
LOSS Per Albin Olofsson (Sweden), 5-1
