Kurban Shiraev

Kurban Alievich Shiraev (born 28 March 1999) is a Russian freestyle wrestler who competes at 65 and 70 kilograms. The 2020 European Continental champion, Shiraev is a two–time Ivan Yarygin Golden Grand Prix gold medalist (2020 and 2021) and a two–time Russian National Championship medalist (2020 and 2021).

Shiraev's first international appearance took place in Subotica, where he competed at the 2015 Cadet European Championships in the 42 kilograms division. He placed fifteenth at the tournament and took a long break that lasted until late 2018. Despite being eligible to compete at the junior level, he made his return at the '18 Intercontinental Cup as a senior. He earned a bronze medal and so he did at the 2019's Ali Aliev Tournament and Ugra Cup, also adding a silver medal from the '19 Junior World Championships and the '18 and 19's Alans Tournament. All of his senior level losses from 2018 to 2019 came from prestigious wrestlers, such as Soslan Ramonov ('16 Olympic Gold Medalist), Aleksandr Bogomoev ('15 European Games champion), Bajrang Punia ('18 Asian Games champion) and Ismail Musukaev ('15 Russian National runner-up).

In January 2020, he competed at the Ivan Yarygin Golden Grand Prix, where he went on to defeat multiple opponents on his way to the finale, most notably Nachyn Kuular ('17 U23 World Champion). In the finals, he avenged a loss from 2019 by upsetting former World and Olympic champion Soslan Ramonov and winning the championship. He then competed at the European Championships, where he defeated four opponents to win the European title at 65 kilograms.

He came back on 17 October 2020 at the Russian Nationals, in where he placed third. After opening up with two pins, he was dominantly defeated by returning National and World Champion David Baev in the quarterfinals. He was able to earn the bronze medal after defeating two more opponents.

After competing at the WLR Pro League on 25 January 2021 and losing once again to David Baev, Shiraev moved down to 65 kilos and placed third at the Russian National tournament.