By Richard Immel
USA Wrestling

ZAGREB, Croatia – The Friday morning session at the 2025 World Championships saw Kamal Bey go 1-1 in the 77 kg repechage and Michial Foy win his 97 kg opener at Arena Zagreb to give Team USA a pair of solid Greco-Roman victories.

Bey’s dream of wrestling for a bronze medal came one offensive leg foul call from coming to fruition. He was sensational in his first match of the session, breezing past 2017 World silver medalist Mateusz Bernatek of Poland, 11-2. In repechage round two, Bey dropped a gut-twisting, 4-2, decision to 2024 World bronze medalist Ahmet Yilmaz of Türkiye. Bey nailed a two-point high-dive finish with 25 seconds left in the match to take the lead on criteria, but the points were taken off the board when an offensive leg foul was uncovered upon video review.

The 2024 Olympian ended his fourth World Championships with a 1-2 record in one of the deepest weight classes regardless of style.

Foy, who is a first-time Senior World Team member for Team USA, impressed with a 4-0 win over 2024 Olympian Mindaugas Venckaitis of Lithuania. Foy scored a pair of takedowns in the contest and avoided giving up a forced par terre opportunity. In his next match, Foy was defeated by 2020 Olympian and three-time age-group World medalist Giorgi Melia of Georgia, 9-0. Melia went on to drop his quarterfinal match, eliminating Foy from the tournament.

Two U.S. entrants started the tournament 0-1 in Greco-Roman—Max Black at 60 kg and Alejandro Sancho at 72 kg. Black dropped a 7-1 decision to two-time World bronze medalist and 2024 Olympian Aidos Sultangali of Kazakhstan. Sancho went 4-0 against 2023 World champion and 2024 World runner-up Ibrahim Ghanem of France. Both men are still in the repechage running heading into the pivotal semifinal session this evening.

For a complete match-by-match breakdown of the morning session for Team USA in Zagreb, browse our day seven match notes.

The tournament resumes at 4:45 p.m. local time on Friday with the Greco-Roman group two (60-72-97 kg) semifinals, followed by the Greco-Roman group one (55-77-82-130 kg) medal matches at 6 p.m. Zagreb, Croatia, is in the GMT +2 time zone, which is six hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Time. 

The Senior World Championships are streaming live on FloWrestling.com to the U.S. market. Brackets and updated results are available on UWW Arena.

USA Wrestling will provide regular updates on TheMat.com and its social media platforms throughout the event.

2025 Senior World Championships 

At Zagreb, Croatia, September 19 

Quick Links 

• Event Hub

• Live Stream

• Brackets and Results
  

Greco-Roman Results 

Medal Match Pairings (Group One) 

55 kg 

Gold – Payam Ahmadi Balootaki (Iran) vs. Vakhtang Lolua (Georgia)

Bronze – Eldaniz Azizli (Azerbaijan) vs. Ulan Muratbek Uulu (Kyrgyzstan)

Bronze – Muhammet Cakir (Türkiye) vs. Huoying Shi (China)

77 kg 

Gold – Nao Kusaka (Japan) vs. Malkhas Amoyan (Armenia)

Bronze – Robert Fritsch (Hungary) vs. Demeu Zhadrayev (Kazakhstan)

Bronze – Alireza Abdevali (Iran) vs. Ahmet Yilmaz (Türkiye)

82 kg 

Gold – Gholamreza Farokhisenjani (Iran) vs. Gela Bolkvadze (Georgia)

Bronze – Karlo Kodric (Croatia) vs. Ramon Betschart (Switzerland)

Bronze – Taizo Yoshida (Japan) vs. Adlet Tiuliubaev (UWW)

130 kg 

Gold – Amin Mirzazadeh (Iran) vs. Darius Vitek (Hungary)

Bronze – Wenhao Jiang (China) vs. Elias Kuosmanen (Finland)

Bronze – Pavel Hlinchuk (UWW) vs. Mykola Kuchmii (Ukraine)

Semifinal Pairings (Group Two) 

60 kg 

Aidos Sultangali (Kazakhstan) vs. Amiran Shavadze (Georgia)

Alisher Ganiev (Uzbekistan) vs. Georgij Tibilov (Serbia)

72 kg 

Ulvu Ganizade (Azerbaijan) vs. Abdullo Aliev (Uzbekistan)

Merey Maulitkanov (Kazakhstan) vs. Ibrahim Ghanem (France)

97 kg 

Mohammadhadi Saravi (Iran) vs. Kiryl Maskevich (UWW)

Artur Sargsian (UWW) vs. Murad Ahmadiyev (Azerbaijan)

U.S. Greco-Roman Results 

Group One 

55 kg – Jayden Raney (Sturgis, Ky./Union County/New York AC), Eliminated 

WIN Koriun Sahradian (Ukraine), 2-1

WIN Sajjad Ali Albidhan (Iraq), fall, 4:23

LOSS Eldaniz Azizli (Azerbaijan), 5-1

77 kg – Kamal Bey (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army WCAP), Eliminated 

LOSS Malkhas Amoyan (Armenia), 2-1

WIN Mateusz Bernatek (Poland), tech. fall, 11-2

LOSS Ahmet Yilmaz (Türkiye), 4-2

82 kg – Beka Melelashvili (Colorado Springs, Colo./New York AC), Eliminated 

LOSS Shahin Badaghimofrad (Qatar), 6-4

130 kg – Cohlton Schultz (Tempe, Ariz./Atreus WC), Eliminated

LOSS Sergei Semenov (UWW), 5-2

Group Two 

60 kg – Max Black (Marquette, Mich./NMU-National Training Center/New York AC), Awaiting Repechage 

LOSS Aidos Sultangali (Kazakhstan), 7-1

72 kg – Alejandro Sancho (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army WCAP), Awaiting Repechage 

LOSS Ibrahim Ghanem (France), 4-0

97 kg – Michial Foy (Colorado Springs, Colo./U.S. Army WCAP), Eliminated 

WIN Mindaugas Venckaitis (Lithuania), 4-0

LOSS Giorgi Melia (Georgia), tech. fall, 9-0