2022 World Championship Rankings - Men's Freestyle

61 - Rei Higuchi

61kg is a bit challenging to sort after the last month of competition. Defending world silver medalist Daton Fix was upset by Seth Gross at Final X. On top of that upset, Iran’s Reza Atri defeated 2021 world bronze medalist Arsen Harutyunyan at the Takhti Cup in June. However, both Seth Gross and Reza Atri have very limited results internationally at 61kg. Because of their limited results, they don’t move up to the top of the rankings yet but slide in at #6 and #7. 

2016 Olympic Silver medalist and 2022 Asian Champ Rei Higuchi takes the top spot after winning the Meiji Cup and securing his spot on Japan’s world team. 

Another wrestler to watch is India’s Ravinder Dahiya. He placed 5th at last year’s world championships but has yet to compete since that performance. If he continues to miss competitions, he will be removed from the rankings and the rest of the field will move up accordingly.