#WrestleAlger

Adekuoroye Climbs to World No. 1 After Winning Sixth African Title

Saturday, February 8, 2020 - 21:34 By Eric Olanowski

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ALGER, Algeria (February 7) --- Odunayo ADEKUOROYE (NGR) and Blessing OBORUDUDU (NGR) improved on their top-three world rankings, as Nigerian women nabbed six African gold medals on Saturday night. 

Adekuoroye won her sixth consecutive African championship crown and overthrew Risako KAWAI (JPN) for the world’s top-ranking at 57kg. Kawai will have an opportunity to regain the top spot later this month at the Asian Championships.

Adekuoroye started the year ranked third in the world at 57kg. She jumped then-second-ranked RONG Ningning (CHN) in last month’s rankings with a gold-medal finish at the Matteo Pellicone. She brought 43 points and a second ranking to Algeria and used her 18-point gold medal to move one-point ahead of Kawai, the reigning three-time world champion and 2016 Olympic champion. (Kawai will compete in the Asian Championships with an opportunity to regain her top rankings).

Adekuoroye went 4-0 on Saturday and outscored her opponents 31-0. She picked up her most notable wins against No. 12 (@ 59kg) Eman EBRAHIM (EGY). She pinned Ebrahim in the opening round and defeated her 10-0 in the Nordic bracket finals.

Blessing OBORUDUDU (NGR) passed Jenny FRANSSON (SWE) for the No. 2 ranking at 68kg after winning African gold on Saturday night. (Photo: United World Wrestling)

Fellow Nigerian Blessing Oborududu won gold on Saturday and moved ahead of Jenny FRANSSON (SWE) in the 68kg world rankings.

Oborududu brought her African gold-medal tally to ten and surpassed Fransson for the No. 2 spot in the 68kg women’s wrestling rankings. Oborududu’s title on Saturday was worth 18 points, moving her eight points ahead of the Swedish wrestler, who won’t compete at next week’s European Championships.

Oborududu tallied four blowout wins on Saturday. She ended each match early, scoring four technical superiority victories while outscoring her opponents 40-0.

Nigeria overpowered the women’s wrestling portion of the competition and won the team title with their ten finalists and six champions. Nigeria finished with 230 points, which was 64 points ahead of second-place Tunisia (166 points), and 66 points ahead of third-place Egypt (164 points). 

Nigeria’s Women’s Wrestling Champions: 
50kg - Miesinnei GENESIS (NGR) 
55kg - Esther KOLAWOLE (NGR) 
57kg - Odunayo ADEKUOROYE (NGR)
59kg - Bisola MAKANJUOLA (NGR)
65kg - Hannah Amuchechi RUEBEN (NGR)
68kg - Blessing OBORUDUDU (NGR)

Mohamed ELSAYED (EGY) is ranked third in the world at 67kg after his gold-medal performance in Algeria. (Photo: United World Wretling)

Greco-Roman 

El Sayed and Mohamed Improve Top-Five Rankings with African Golds 
Mohamed ELSAYED (EGY) and Abdellatif MOHAMED (EGY) improved on their top-five rankings with African golds and head into the final Ranking Series event eyeing a top-four seed at the Olympic Games. 

El Sayed won the 67kg gold medal and earned 18 Ranking Series points, moving into the third spot of the rankings before the European Championships kick-off. He has 33 points and trails top-ranked Ismael BORRERO MOLINA (CUB) by nine points.

El Sayed, who qualified Egypt for the Olympic Games with a fifth-place finish in Nur-Sultan, entered the African Championships ranked fifth in the world at 67kg and was five points from leaping into the top-three of the rankings. His summit to the top of the African podium for the fourth time in his last five tries pushed him into the top-three of the rankings with one Ranking Series event left before the Olympic Games. 

The two-time U23 world champion won all four of his matches on Saturday. He outscored his opponents 27-0 en route to the 67kg gold medal. 

Abdellatif MOHAMED (EGY) snuck past Oscar PINO HINDES (CUB) for the No. 2 spot at 130kg with his African title-winning effort on Saturday.  (Photo: Gabor Martin)

Abdellatif Mohamed was the second Egyptian who improved his top-five ranking with a gold-medal performance in Algeria. 

Mohamed, who still needs to qualify Egypt for the Olympic Games at 130kg, entered the African Championships ranked third in the world with 30 Ranking Series points. He climbed to the second-ranking and gained a ten-point lead over Cuba's Oscar PINO HINDES (CUB). 

Mohamed collected three wins on his road to gold on Saturday. He demolished his trio of opponents, scoring a fall and two technical superiority victories.

Host Nation Algeria Claims Six Golds 
The host nation, Algeria, claimed six Greco-Roman gold medals at the African Championships and won the team title with 220 points. They finished 15 points ahead of second-place Egypt (205 points), and 73 points ahead of third-place Tunisia (147 points). 

Algeria’s Greco-Roman Champions:
55kg - Abdelkarim FERGAT (ALG)
63kg - Abdeldjebar DJEBBARI (ALG)
77kg - Abd OUAKALI (ALG)
82kg - Chawki DOULACHE (ALG) 
87kg - Bachir SID AZARA (ALG)
97kg - Adem BOUDJEMLINE (ALG)

RESULTS 

Women’s Wrestling

50kg 
GOLD - Miesinnei GENESIS (NGR) df. Nada MOHAMED (EGY), via fall 
BRONZE - Ibtissem DOUDOU (ALG) df. Debora Valeria TURE (GBS), via fall 
BRONZE - Sarra HAMDI (TUN) df. Fatiha SAHMANI (MAR), 10-0 

53kg 
GOLD - Joseph ESSOMBE TIAKO (CMR) df. Bose SAMUEL (NGR), 4-1
BRONZE - Kholod AHMED (EGY) df. Kheira YAHIAOUI (ALG), via injury default

55kg
GOLD - Esther Omolayo KOLAWOLE (NGR)
SILVER - Dorssaf GHARSSI (TUN)
BRONZE - Faten AHMED (EGY)

57kg 
GOLD - Odunayo Folasade ADEKUOROYE (NGR) df. Eman Essam Guda EBRAHIM (EGY), 10-0 
BRONZE - Siwar BOUSETTA (TUN) df. Cheima CHEBILA (ALG), 11-4

59kg
GOLD - Bisola MAKANJUOLA (NGR) 
SILVER - Fatma Ramadan Gomaa Ahmed ELKELINY (EGY) 
BRONZE - Khouloud EL OUNI (TUN)

62kg
GOLD - Marwa AMRI (TUN) df. Aminat Oluwafunmilayo ADENIYI (NGR), via fall
BRONZE - Berthe Emilienne ETANE NGOLLE (CMR) df. Wissal EL GNAOUI (MAR), via fall

65kg 
GOLD - Hannah RUEBEN (NGR) 
SILVER - Amel HAMMICHE (ALG) 
BRONZE - Lilia MEJRI (TUN)

68kg 
GOLD - Blessing OBORUDUDU (NGR) 
SILVER - Anta SAMBOU (SEN) 
BRONZE - Rihem AYARI (TUN) 

72kg
GOLD - Zaineb SGHAIER (TUN)
SILVER - Sunmisola Idowu BALOGUN (NGR) 
BRONZE - Sunmisola Idowu BALOGUN (EGY) 

76kg
GOLD - Samar HAMZA (EGY) df. Blessing Joy ONYEBUCHI (NGR), via fall 
BRONZE - Yvette ZIE (BUR) vs. Nour JELJELI (TUN), via fall 

Greco-Roman

55kg
GOLD - Abdelkarim FERGAT (ALG) 
SILVER -  Romio Ricardo GOLIATH (NAM)
BRONZE - Youssef Mohamed Harbi THABET (EGY) 

60kg
GOLD - Haithem MAHMOUD (EGY)
SILVER - Abdennour LAOUNI (ALG)
BRONZE - Abderrazak ROUINBI (MAR)

63kg 
GOLD - Abdeldjebar DJEBBARI (ALG) 
SILVER - Mostafa MOHAMED (EGY) 
BRONZE - Hamed Moustapha TCHOUFON (RSA) 

67kg
GOLD - Mohamed ELSAYED (EGY) 
SILVER - Ishak GHAIOU (ALG)
BRONZE - Radhwen TARHOUNI (TUN)

72kg 
GOLD - Lamjed MAAFI (TUN) 
SILVER - Abouhalima Mohamed Elsaid ABOUHALIMA (EGY) 
BRONZE - Tarek Aziz BENAISSA (ALG) 

77kg 
GOLD - Abd Elkrim OUAKALI (ALG) df. Wael Hamdy Mohamed ABDELRAHMAN (EGY), 11-5 
BRONZE - Mohamed Aziz LANDOLSI (TUN) df. 2-1 Aziz BOUALEM (MAR), 2-1 

82kg 
GOLD - Chawki DOULACHE (ALG) 
SILVER - Ghaith HANNACHI (TUN)
BRONZE - Mohamed SELIM (EGY) 

87kg 
GOLD - Bachir SID AZARA (ALG) df. Mohamed Moustafa Ahmed Abdall METWALLY (EGY), 9-0
BRONZE - Mohamed FAIQ (MAR) df. Mohamed Skander MISSAOUI (TUN), via fall

97kg
GOLD - Adem BOUDJEMLINE (ALG) df. Haikel ACHOURI (TUN), 9-0 
BRONZE - Noureldin HASSAN (EGY) df. Choucri ATAFI (MAR), via injury default 

130kg
GOLD - Abdellatif MOHAMED (EGY) 
SILVER - Amine GUENNICHI (TUN)
BRONZE - Hichem KOUCHIT (ALG)

#WrestleSamokov

Kyrgyzstan, Moldova earn chance to end U20 World title drought

Sunday, August 17, 2025 - 18:58 By Vinay Siwach

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SAMOKOV, Bulgaria (August 17) -- Kyrgyzstan and Moldova earned a chance to end their gold-medal drought at the U20 World Championships.

On the first day of the 2025 World U20 Championships in Samokov, four Freestyle weight classes were in action. Adilet AKYLBEKOV (KGZ) was the surprised finalist at 74kg and will try to become Kyrgyzstan's first gold medal at the U20 World Championships in 20 years. He will take on European U23 champion Ismail KHANIEV (UWW) in the final.

At 70kg, Alexandr GAIDARLI (MDA) earned the final and will now try to become Moldova's first U20 world champ in Freestyle since 1999. He will take on returning bronze medalist PJ DUKE (USA) in the gold-medal bout.

The 125kg weight class will see an all-Asian final as Asian U20 champion Yedige KASSIMBEK (KAZ) earned a shot for the world title against Abolfazl MOHAMMAD NEZHAD (IRI), a wrestler over whom Kassimbek has a 3-0 head-to-head record.

Two returning bronze medalists, Duke and Justin RADEMACHER (USA), upgrade their bronze medals from last year and earn themselves a chance to win gold on Monday at 70kg and 97kg respectively.

Akylbekov, who had finished at 17th at 79kg last year, had a dream run on Sunday and ended one for Raul CASO (ITA) in the semifinals. Caso had posted two last-second victories, however, he failed to repeat those heroics in the semifinal against Akylbekov.

Caso was 3-2 and went attack-mode in the final 15 seconds. He almost scored a takedown over Akylbekov who managed to sneak out and then Caso jumped over to take control for a takedown. However, the Kyrgyz wrestler stood up to avoid giving up any points. Italy challenged for two points but lost that on review, giving one more point to Akylbekov.

While Caso was leaving it late in his wins, Akylbekov was contrastingly dominating them. He defeated Nicholas HOOPER (CAN), 12-0, in the opening bout, blanked Titas PIJORAITIS (LTU), 10-0 and then handed Dosszhan KUL GAIYP (KAZ) a 6-1 loss.

Ismail KHANIEV (UWW)Ismail KHANIEV (UWW) defeated Kanata YAMAGUCHI (JPN), 7-3, in the semifinal. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

He will now face Khaniev, who earned himself his first world medal at any level. Khaniev defeated Kanata YAMAGUCHI (JPN), 7-3, in a very close semifinal than the scoreline suggests.

Khaniev led 3-3 on criteria but Yamaguchi constantly threatened to score in the final 25 seconds. He hit a double-leg attack and planted Khaniev, who somehow managed to not land in danger. In a counter, Khaniev exposed Yamaguchi for two points and took a 5-3 lead. Yamaguchi tried a desperate throw in the final 15 seconds but Khaniev blocked it for two more points to win.

Earlier in the day, Khaniev avenged his European U20 Championships loss to Manuel WAGIN (GER) with a technical superiority win after he had beaten returning silver medalist Ladrion LOCKETT (USA).

Duke had his first big challenge of the day in the semifinals against former world U17 champion Erfan ELAHI (IRI) at 70kg. Duke scored a takedown while Elahi had a point for stepout and Duke's passivity. Duke's two-point scoring move gave him the criteria.

However, Elahi somehow thought he has the criteria and did not think of attacking in the final 30 seconds. When the bout was over, Elahi celebrated as if he had won only to realize that he has lost 2-2.

Duke will look to win his first a world title before wrestling at the senior World Championships later in September. He will take on Gaidarli for the gold-medal after the Moldovan won his semifinal 7-4 against Nurlan AGHAZADA (AZE).

Alexandr GAIDARLI (MDA)Alexandr GAIDARLI (MDA) reached the 70kg final in Samokov. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Gaidarli became the first Moldovan Freestyle wrestler to reach the final at U20 Worlds since 2019 after a stunningly good run in Samokov. He defeated European U20 champion Goga OTINASHVILI (GEO), 13-3, avenging his loss from Carole, Italy.

In the semifinals, he scored three takedowns in the second period against Aghazada to win 7-4, bettering his 18th-place finish from last year and earning a chance to end the gold-medal drought for Moldova.

Returning bronze medalist at 97kg Rademacher defeated European U20 champion Konstantine PETRIASHVILI (GEO) in the semifinals and will now try to win gold. Rademacher led 4-3 at the break extended his lead with a takedown for two points to start the second period, add another go-behind and single-leg to takedown to lead 10-3.

Petriashvili got an attack for two points but Rademacher was relentless in his wrestling and scored three more takedowns to win 16-5.

Magomedgadzhi MAGOMEDOV (UWW)Magomedgadzhi MAGOMEDOV (UWW) survived to win 11-9 against VISHAL (IND) in the 97kg semifinal. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

For the gold medal, he will face Magomedgadzhi MAGOMEDOV (UWW) who survived, with some help, for an 11-9 win over VISHAL (IND) who had Magomedov in all sorts of trouble. Magomedov led 10-4 when Vishal mounted a comeback against an absolutely broken Magomedov. He scored a takedown and Magomedov was cautioned for a singlet-pull foul which made it 10-7.

As the bout was restart in par terre, India challenged for two more points but the referee had blown the whistle before control from Vishal. That challenge gave enough breathing time to Magomedov to managed to hang on to his lead and win 11-9.

Yedige KASSIMBEK (KAZ)Yedige KASSIMBEK (KAZ) celebrates after winning his 125kg semifinal against Cole MIRASOLA (USA). (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

Kassimbek had a very dominant semifinal as he defeated Cole MIRASOLA (USA), 11-0, inside the first period. He had two excellent counter takedowns and then locked up Mirasola's legs around his head and turns him twice. He finished things with a double-leg takedown.

Kassimbek has lost to two World U17 Championships finals before but he will have a good chance to win his first world title. He will take on Mohammad Nezhad, a wrestler he has defeated three times before.

The Iranian denied former world U17 champion Yusif DURSUNOV (AZE) after a 1-1 victory in the semifinal. Mohmmad Nezhad got the one point for passivity in the second period which gave him the criteria.

Mohammad Nezhad lost to Kassimbek for the first time in 2023 Asian U17 Championships final, 8-1, then at the same tournament in 2024, 2-2 in the semifinals. His third loss to Kassimbek came in the semifinals of the 2024 World U17 Championships, 4-3.

RESULTS

70kg
GOLD: PJ DUKE (USA) vs. Alexandr GAIDARLI (MDA) 

SF 1: Alexandr GAIDARLI (MDA) df. Nurlan AGHAZADA (AZE), 7-4
SF 2: PJ DUKE (USA) df. Ebrahim ELAHI (IRI), 2-2

74kg
GOLD: Ismail KHANIEV (UWW) vs. Adilet AKYLBEKOV (KGZ)

SF 1: Adilet AKYLBEKOV (KGZ) df. Raul CASO (ITA), 4-2
SF 2: Ismail KHANIEV (UWW) df. Kanata YAMAGUCHI (JPN), 7-3

97kg
GOLD: Magomedgadzhi MAGOMEDOV (UWW) vs. Justin RADEMACHER (USA)

SF 1: Justin RADEMACHER (USA) df. Konstantine PETRIASHVILI (GEO), 16-5
SF 2: Magomedgadzhi MAGOMEDOV (UWW) df. VISHAL (IND), 11-9

125kg
GOLD: Yedige KASSIMBEK (KAZ) vs. Abolfazl MOHAMMAD NEZHAD (IRI)

SF 1: Abolfazl MOHAMMAD NEZHAD (IRI) df. Yusif DURSUNOV (AZE), 1-1
SF 2: Yedige KASSIMBEK (KAZ) df. Cole MIRASOLA (USA), 11-0