TheMat.com International Wrestling Rankings published for the first time, rating athletes and teams in all three Olympic styles
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Gary Abbott (USA Wrestling)
12/02/2005
TheMat.com has published its International Wrestling Rankings for the month of December 2005. These is the only international rankings published anywhere in the world which rates athletes and teams in the three Olympic wrestling styles: men's freestyle, men's Greco-Roman and women's freestyle wrestling.
TheMat.com International Wrestling Rankings list the top 15 wrestlers in the world in each weight class, as well as the top 15 nations in each of the wrestling styles.
A panel of five international wrestling journalists created the rankings, which are based entirely on the selections made by these journalists.
The top teams in TheMat.com International Wrestling Rankings for December 2005 are:
* Men's Freestyle - Russia
* Men's Greco-Roman - Hungary
* Women's Freestyle - Japan
The No. 1 ranked wrestlers in each weight class, by style, are listed below:
Men's Freestyle
55 kg - Dilshod Mansurov (Uzbekistan); 60 kg - Alan Dudaev (Russia); 66 kg - Makhach Murtazaliev (Russia); 74 kg - Bouvaisa Saitiev (Russia); 84 kg - Revaz Mindorishvili (Georgia); 96 kg - Khadjimurat Gatsalov (Russia); 120 kg - Ayden Polatci (Turkey)
Men's Greco-Roman
55 kg - Hamid Sayan Reinhanpour (Iran); 60 kg - Armen Nazarian (Bulgaria); 66 kg - Nikolay Gergov (Bulgaria); 74 kg - Mark Madsen (Denmark); 84 kg - Alim Selimav (Belarus); 96 kg - Hamza Yerlikaya (Turkey); 120 kg - Mijial Lopez (Cuba)
Women's Freestyle
48 kg - Xueveng Ren (China); 51 kg - Hitomi Sakamoto (Japan); 55 kg - Saori Icho (Japan); 59 kg - Ayako Shoda (Japan); 63 kg - Kaori Icho (Japan); 67 kg - Meng Lili (China); 72 kg - Iris Smith (United States)
Rankings will be published during the following months this season
* December 2005
* February 2006
* April 2006
* June 2006
* August 2006
In order to provide accurate and timely rankings, as well as to stimulate interest and fan support of international wrestling, TheMat.com asks all wrestling journalists and fans to submit results from international competitions across the world. These results will be posted immediately in the results section on TheMat.com.
Please send any and all international wrestling tournament results to Gary Abbott of USA Wrestling at gabbott@usawrestling.org