By Richard Immel
USA Wrestling

NOVI SAD, Serbia – Otto Black carried the U.S. banner during session one of the 2025 U23 World Championships on Tuesday. He won a pair of matches to make the quarterfinal round before dropping a 1-1 criteria contest to Mohamed Abdelrehim of Egypt. 

In the 67 kg quarters, Black was put down in par terre first, which proved to be the deciding factor in the match. He was the aggressor throughout the back half of the match but couldn’t find a score from neutral or top when given the opportunity. 

Black, a 2024 U20 World silver medalist, impressed during the prelims with a 7-3 win over Adomas Grigaliunas of Lithuania, followed by a second period pin against Yanis Guendez Nifri of France. He now awaits his repechage fate, needing Abdelrehim to win in tonight’s semifinals. 

The other three Greco-Roman group two Americans were shutout in the win column and are not eligible for the repechage—Kenneth Crosby at 55 kg, Aliaksandr Kikiniou at 72 kg and Max Ramberg at 97 kg. 

Aydin Rix McElhinney was the lone American in Greco-Roman group one to hit the repechage on Tuesday morning. He was unable to get the critical win, falling 8-0 to three-time age-group World medalist Alexandru Solovei of Moldova at 77 kg. 

The tournament continues at 5 p.m. local time on Tuesday with the Greco-Roman group two (55-67-72-97 kg) semifinals, followed by the Greco-Roman group one (63-77-87-130 kg) medal matches at 6 p.m. Novi Sad, Serbia, is located six hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Time. 

Olympian and U.S. Senior World Team member Payton Jacobson is set to wrestle for a bronze medal at 87 kg this evening against two-time age-group World medalist and U23 European bronze medalist Lachin Valiyev of Azerbaijan. 

The U23 World Championships are streaming live on FloWrestling.com to the U.S. market. Brackets and updated results can be found on UWW Arena.

2025 U23 World Championships 

At Novi Sad, Serbia, October 21  

Reference Links 

• Live stream and archived matches

• Brackets and results

• Event photo gallery

• Team USA interviews 

Greco-Roman Results 

Medal Match Pairings | Group One 

63 kg 

Gold – Ziya Babashov (Azerbaijan) vs. Vitalie Eriomenco (Moldova)

Bronze – Servet Angi (Türkiye) vs. Dordzhi Shungurtsikov (UWW)

Bronze – Kuttubek Abdurazakov (Kyrgyzstan) vs. Adham Elsayed (Egypt) 

77 kg 

Gold – Temuri Orjonikidze (Georgia) vs. Irfan Mirzoiev (Ukraine)

Bronze – Doniyorkhon Nakibov (Uzbekistan) vs. Alexandru Solovei (Moldova)

Bronze – Levente Levai (Hungary) vs. Jonni Sarkkinen (Finland)

87 kg 

Gold – Gholamreza Farokhisenjani (Iran) vs. Ivan Chmyr (Ukraine)

Bronze – Payton Jacobson (United States) vs. Lachin Valiyev (Azerbaijan)

Bronze – Yassine Ben Labed (Poland) vs. Achiko Bolkvadze (Georgia) 

130 kg 

Gold – Fardin Hedayati (Iran) vs. Razmik Kurdyan (Armenia)

Bronze – Laszlo Darabos (Hungary) vs. Saba Chilashvili (Georgia)

Bronze – Aleksandr Melekhov (UWW) vs. Artur Sarkisjan (Czechia) 

Semifinal Pairings | Group Two 

55 kg 

Elmir Aliyev (Azerbaijan) vs. Armin Shamsipourhaji (Iran)

Alibek Amirov (UWW) vs. Yerassyl Mamyrbekov (Kazakhstan) 

67 kg 

Hleb Makaranka (UWW) vs. Anri Khozrevanidze (Georgia)

Mohamed Abdelrehim (Egypt) vs. Attila Jozsa (Hungary) 

72 kg 

Iman Mohammadi (Iran) vs. Gaspar Terteryan (Armenia)

Merey Maulitkanov (Kazakhstan) vs. Abror Atabaev (Uzbekistan) 

97 kg 

Richard Karelson (Estonia) vs. Yehor Yakushenko (Ukraine)

Maksim Averin (UWW) vs. Iussuf Matsiyev (Kazakhstan)

U.S. Greco-Roman Results 

Group One 

63 kg – Kaden Ercanbrack (Marquette, Mich./NMU National Training Center), eliminated 

LOSS Jeremy Peralta Gonzalez (Ecuador), tech. fall, 9-0 

77 kg – Aydin Rix McElhinney (South Berwick, Maine/Northern Colorado WC), eliminated 

LOSS Temuri Orjonikidze (Georgia), 4-1

LOSS Alexandru Solovei (Moldova), tech. fall, 8-0 

87 kg – Payton Jacobson (Marquette, Mich./NMU National Training Center/New York AC), bronze medal match 

WIN Rohit Bura (India), tech. fall, 8-0

WIN Gabriel Lupasco (Moldova), 7-1

WIN Zaur Shangereev (UWW), 5-3

LOSS Gholamreza Farokhisenjani (Iran), tech. fall, 9-0

VS Lachin Valiyev (Azerbaijan) 

130 kg – Aden Attao (Boise, Idaho/Beaver Dam Wrestling RTC), eliminated 

WIN Mykhailo Vyshnyvetskyi (Ukraine), 8-1

LOSS Laszlo Darabos (Hungary), tech. fall, 8-0 

Group Two 

55 kg – Kenneth Crosby (Colorado Springs, Colo./NMU National Training Center), eliminated 

LOSS Vishvajit More (India), tech. fall, 9-1 

67 kg – Otto Black (Marquette, Mich./NMU National Training Center/New York AC), awaiting repechage 

WIN Adomas Grigaliunas (Lithuania), 7-3

WIN Yanis Guendez Nifri (France), fall, 5:51

LOSS Mohamed Abdelrehim (Egypt), 1-1 

72 kg – Aliaksandr Kikiniou (Escondido, Calif./Poway), eliminated 

LOSS Danil Grigorev (UWW), 3-0 

97 kg – Max Ramberg (Baldwin, Wis./Viking RTC), eliminated 

LOSS Kyo Kitawaki (Japan), tech. fall, 12-1