Kazakhstan to host World Wrestling Championships

By Emre Asikci

ANKARA (AA) - The World Wrestling Championships will start in Kazakhstan's capital Nursultan on Saturday.

In the first day of championship; eliminations, quarterfinals and semifinals will be held in 55, 63, 72 and 82 kilogram categories of Greco-Roman style.

Turkey will be represented by Serif Kilic in men's 55-kg, Rahman Bilici in men's 63-kg, Cengiz Arslan in men's 72-kg and Emrah Kus in men's 82-kg categories in the first day.

Also, three-time world champion wrestler Riza Kayaalp will be competing in men's 130-kg category for Turkey.

Kayaalp, in case of winning a fourth title, will be the first ever Turkish wrestler to do so in the Greco-Roman style, passing Turkish wrestling legends Hamza Yerlikaya and Selcuk Cebi.

Taha Akgul, an Olympic, World and European champion, aims to clinch the third world championship title in his career.

Akgul won the World Wrestling Championship titles in 2014 Tashkent and in 2015 Las Vegas, competing in men's 125-kg freestyle category.

In addition, top six athletes in Olympic weight classes will participate in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

The tournament will run until September 22.

Turkey has 30 athletes participating in the championships.

- Men's Greco-Roman:

55 kg: Serif Kilic

60 kg: Kerem Kamal

63 kg: Rahman Bilici

67 kg: Atakan Yuksel

72 kg: Cengiz Arslan

77 kg: Fatih Cengiz

82 kg: Emrah Kus

87 kg: Metehan Basar

97 kg: Cenk Ildem

130 kg: Riza Kayaalp

- Women's Freestyle:

50 kg: Evin Demirhan

53 kg: Zeynep Yetgil

55 kg: Bediha Gun

57 kg: Elif Jale Yesilirmak

59 kg: Elif Yanik

62 kg: Aslı Tugcu

65 kg: Kadriye Aksoy

68 kg: Buse Tosun

72 kg: Beste Altug

76 kg: Yasemin Adar

- Men's Freestyle :

57 kg: Süleyman Atli

61 kg: Recep Topal

65 kg: Selahattin Kilicsallayan

70 kg: Mustafa Kaya

74 kg: Soner Demirtas

79 kg: Muhammet Nuri Kotanoglu

86 kg: Fatih Erdin

92 kg: Suleyman Karadeniz

97 kg: Ibrahim Ciftci

125 kg: Taha Akgul