Huseyn Ismayilov Reaches World Championship Final Once Again

August 1, 2025

The U17 World Wrestling Championships continue in Athens, Greece.

On Day 5 of the tournament, freestyle wrestlers in the 48, 55, 65, 80, and 110 kg weight classes began their campaigns.

Ravan Hasanli (48 kg) eliminated Belarusian Makar Markovich via technical superiority – 12:0. He then defeated Uzbekistan’s Jahongir Tulkunov in a tense bout – 4:2. In the semifinals, Hasanli fell to American Ariah Mills by a score of 2:7. Tomorrow, Ravan will wrestle for bronze against the winner of the Giorgi Narimanidze (Georgia) vs. Islam Rabadanov (Russia) match.

Ruslan Alizade (55 kg) dominated his opening matches with back-to-back 10:0 victories over Dan Bulgaru (Moldova) and Aaharen Piranavan (Canada). In the quarterfinals, he faced Russia’s Chingis Sarikhlov. Despite leading 6:1, Ruslan lost momentum and narrowly missed victory, suffering a heartbreaking 8:9 defeat.

Huseyn Ismayilov (65 kg) began with a 4:2 win over Canada’s Liam Gorton. The Ganja wrestling school product then outclassed Greece’s Konstantinos Michailidis – 11:0 – in the Round of 16. Ismayilov overcame a tough challenge from Kyrgyzstan’s Adisbek Altynbekov in the quarterfinals – 2:1 – before defeating Kazakhstan’s Yerali Askerbek 3:1 in the semifinals. Huseyn will face American Arseni Kikinyov in tomorrow’s gold medal match.

Nihad Suleymanli (80 kg) opened with a confident 7:1 win over Armenia’s Vache Aslanyan. He was close to advancing to the quarterfinals but lost in the final three seconds to Russia’s Issa Zangiev, falling short 5:7.

Hakim Taghiyev (110 kg) cruised past Belarus’ Mikita Tkachik in his opening match – 10:0 – and followed it with a narrow 7:6 win over American Alexander Taylor. In the quarterfinals, Taghiyev was defeated by European champion Magomedrasul Omarov of Russia – 0:5. Since Omarov advanced to the final, Hakim will enter the repechage round tomorrow, where he will face either Laert Movsesyan (Armenia) or Yu Chuang (Chinese Taipei).