Türkiye’s national wrestling team will take the mat at the year’s most prestigious event, the 2025 World Wrestling Championships, held in Zagreb, Croatia, from Sept. 13-21.
The 30-member squad enters the competition amid a generational shift, following decades of dominance in the heavyweight division by stars such as Taha Akgül, Rıza Kayaalp, and Yasemin Adar Yiğit.
For the first time, three-time world champion and Paris 2024 Olympian Taha Akgül will participate not as a competitor but as the president of the Turkish Wrestling Federation, guiding the team from the sidelines.
Similarly, Yasemin Adar Yiğit, who claimed two world titles and retired following a ceremonial farewell at the 2025 European Championships, will support her teammates as vice president in charge of women’s wrestling.
With an eye on building squads for the 2028 and 2032 Olympics, the roster features several athletes competing at the senior World Championships level for the first time.
Only one reigning world champion travels with the team: Buse Tosun Çavuşoğlu, who claimed gold in the 68 kg. division at the 2023 World Championships in Belgrade.
The 2024 Women’s Wrestler of the Year also earned bronze at this year’s European Championships, giving her a key leadership role in Zagreb.
Injuries have sidelined world champions Ali Cengiz and Burhan Akbudak, but several team members, including Soner Demirtaş, Evin Demirhan Yavuz, Selçuk Can, Enes Başar, and Ahmet Yılmaz, bring previous podium experience with bronze medals at the global level.
Rıza Kayaalp remains Türkiye’s most decorated wrestler, holding five world titles, while other legends such as Hüseyin Akbaş, Hamza Yerlikaya, Taha Akgül, Mustafa Dağıstanlı, and Selçuk Çebi each won three world championships.
Overall, Turkish wrestlers have amassed 61 gold medals in World Championship history.
Türkiye enters the competition following strong showings in recent international events.
At the 2023 World Championships, the team claimed seven medals – two gold, one silver, and four bronze – across Greco-Roman, women’s, and men’s freestyle categories.
In 2022, Turkish athletes swept three heavyweight titles in Belgrade, marking a return to team-level dominance in Greco-Roman wrestling for the first time since 2009.
Earlier this year, under Akgül’s leadership, the team secured 14 medals at the 2025 European Championships in Bratislava, Slovakia, including one gold, six silver, and seven bronze.
The gold came from Greco-Roman 63 kg wrestler Kerem Kamal, who also represents Türkiye in Zagreb.
Men’s Freestyle
57 kg: Yusuf Demir
61 kg: Emrah Ormanoğlu
65 kg: Cavit Acar
70 kg: Haydar Yavuz
74 kg: Soner Demirtaş
79 kg: İbrahim Metehan Yaprak
86 kg: Osman Göçen
92 kg: Alperen Tokgöz
97 kg: Resul Güne
125 kg: Hakan Büyükçıngıl
Women’s Freestyle
50 kg: Evin Demirhan Yavuz
53 kg: Zeynep Yetgil
55 kg: Elvira Süleyman Kamaloğlu
57 kg: Emine Çakmak
59 kg: Bediha Gün
62 kg: Selvi İlyasoğlu
65 kg: Kadriye Aksoy Koçak
68 kg: Buse Tosun Çavuşoğlu
72 kg: Nesrin Baş
76 kg: Elmira Yasin
Greco-Roman
55 kg: Muhammet Emin Çakır
60 kg: Enes Başar
63 kg: Kerem Kamal
67 kg: Murat Fırat
72 kg: Selçuk Can
77 kg: Ahmet Yılmaz
82 kg: Alperen Berber
87 kg: Hasan Berk Kılınç
97 kg: Abdulkadir Çebi
130 kg: Muhammet Hamza Bakır
