2023 International Wrestling Rankings - Men's Freestyle

86 Hassan Yazdani

Artur Naifonov proved once again to be Russia’s best 86kg wrestler by defeating Dauren Kurugliev 3-2 in the finals of the Ivan Poddubny tournament in Russia. Along with the win over Kurugliev, Naifonov defeated #10 Ada Bagomedov and unranked Roman Chitadze (BLR) on his way to gold. Before falling to Naifonov, Kurugliev had wins over #6 Amanula Rasulov and #17 Arsen-Ali Musalaliev. Rasulov then defeated Musalaliev for bronze while Bagomedov took out Chitadze and #11 Nabiev for the other bronze. 

#7 Zahid Valencia was the only ranked wrestler who competed at 86kg at the world team trials and came away with gold in impressive fashion. Valencia defeated Trent Hidlay (9-4) in the semi-finals before earning two controlling wins over Mark Hall in the finals (6-0 and 10-0). Valencia will now take on world and Olympic champion David Taylor in Final X on June 8th in New York City. 

Questions or comments? Contact our ranker, Jon Kozak, on Twitter @KozakJon or through email at Jonathan.Kozak@flosports.tv.