Cuban wrestler Ismael Borrero’s ascent to the top of the 59 kilograms Greco-roman style world rankings is noteworthy news for fans of the sport.
Borrero reached the top spot in his weight category after being proclaimed World Champion during the competition held recently in Las Vegas, the United States, where he secured six victories.
The athlete from Santiago de Cuba, three-times Pan American Champion and Central American and Caribbean victor in Veracruz 2014, was unrivalled during the U.S. tournament, where he defeated one of the favourites, Azerbaijan ‘s Rovshan Bayramov, multi world medallist and Beijing 2008 and London 2012 silver medallist, through technical superiority during the final of the competition.
His team mate, the stellar Mijaín López (130kg) ceded first place to Riza Kalyaap of Turkey, who defeated the Cuban in the bout for the gold in Las Vegas and is the only Greco-roman wrestler - in addition to Russia’s Khasam Baroev, three times World Champion - on the planet to have claimed the title on two or more occasions over the last 12 years.
Cuba also saw two of its other wrestlers place in the top 20 world rankings of their respective weight categories: Miguel Martínez (66kg) in 19th place and Yasmany Lugo (98kg) 14th, in divisions dominated by Frank Staebler of Germany and Artur Aleksanyan, from Armenia.
Leading the rankings in the remaining categories are Razul Chunayev (71kg) from Azerbaijan; Roman Vlasov (75kg) from Russia; Selcuk Cebi (80kg) from Turkey; and Ukraine’s Zhan Belenyuk (85kg).
