Greco-Roman at the 2025 Asian Championships begins tomorrow morning in Amman, Jordan at 11:30am local time (4:30am ET) with FLOWrestling carrying the live broadcast for the US audience.
The tournament is set to observe the traditional one-day format, meaning that each bracket will run through its entirety (five weight categories on Tuesday, the next five on Wednesday).
Those who closely follow Greco-Roman competition, or are fans of international wrestling in general, often look forward to the Asian Championships due both to the event’s inclusion of many top stars as well as its allotment of scoring-friendly matches. Athletes from the Asian continent (such as those from Japan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Korea, and Iran) tend to demonstrate a more “open” style on-the-feet when compared to their European counterparts. This is especially the case within the lighter weight categories, although Asia certainly boasts several middleweights (72-82 kg) who regularly offer entertainment value.
Dynamics are the name of the game, and the Asian Championships on an annual basis provides prime examples of kinetic scoring sequences in each phase of a Greco-Roman match.
2025 Asian Championships Schedule
*All times +7hrs ET
*Streaming on FLOWrestling (subscription required)
Tuesday, March 25 (55, 63, 77, 87, & 130 kg)
11:30am — Qualification rounds
1:30pm — Semifinals
2:15pm — Repechage
6:00pm — Finals/bronze rounds
Wednesday, March 26 (60, 67, 72, 82, & 97 kg)
11:30am — Qualification rounds
1:30pm — Semifinals
2:15pm — Repechage
6:00pm — Finals/bronze rounds
Szoeke Looks Ahead to Euros
’21 World silver/’22 U23 World champ Alex Szoeke (97 kg, HUN) had contended with a difficult set of circumstances last year and has now rounded into form as the European Championships resides just around the corner in April (Greco begins in Bratislava, SVK on 4/11). In ’23, just prior to the World Championships (the first Paris Olympics qualifying event), Szoeke underwent a surgical procedure on his spine (this after shoulder surgery in ’22), which was followed by a lengthy recovery process that wound up affecting him throughout the season. He came up short of securing 97 kilograms for Hungary in Paris, an obviously disappointing development for one of his weight category’s elite competitors.
Szoeke did bounce back to earn silver at the Polyak Imre Memorial (Hungarian ranking series tournament) in June, but, still, he had to sit idly by as the Paris Games came and went without his participation. Fast-forward to the current campaign, and Szoeke seems back to his old self. He won the CISM Military World Championships in November and thus far has claimed bronze medals at the first two “Ranking Series” events of ’25 (the Grand Prix Zagreb Open and Muhamet Malo Tournament, respectively). Reflecting on what he had endured to the Hungarian Wrestling Federation’s Bence Krasznai, Szoeke wishes that he acted in haste to address the spinal injury that he feels disrupted his chance to appear in Paris. “I rather regret not getting over it sooner,” said Szoeke. “I had felt the problem a year before. I received all kinds of treatments. There were times when it didn’t hurt, but at different intervals the pain and numbness would come back. The competitions and training didn’t go as well as before. The situation was mentally-exhausting and making me nervous.”
With the unpleasantness of ’24 behind him, Szoeke is focusing his attention on two objectives. The first is in the long-term, which is making it to the ’28 Olympics in Los Angeles. In the short term, unsurprisingly, he is concerned with the European Championships.
“I am in better shape and on the right track,” began Szoeke. “I suffered defeats due to mistakes, but we are working to correct them in the coming weeks. To improve, I really had to overcome what happened, and I succeeded, so I look forward to Los Angeles with confidence. Until then, of course, a lot of water will flow down the Danube, and I have set myself important sub-goals. One such is the European Championships in Slovakia in April, from which I hope to return home with at least a medal, but preferably with a European title. My chance of a medal is completely realistic. That’s really the minimum expectation, but I’m traveling to Slovakia for the European title. It’s up to me whether I succeed. I’m in good shape. If I get my head together and correct my mistakes, I have everything I need to stand on top of the podium.”
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