#WrestleHammamet

African Championships: Battle for continental supremacy heats up

Wednesday, May 17, 2023 - 12:14 By Vinay Siwach

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HAMMAMET, Tunisia (May 15) -- With fresh memories from last year's African Championships, Tunisia will hope to win the women's wrestling team title, this year at home.

The African Championships got underway in Hammamet on Monday but the senior competition will be held on Friday and Saturday with Greco-Roman and women's wrestling on the first day and freestyle on the second.

Tunisia will have a chance to claim a team title in front of the home if it can repeat the performance from El Jadida. They won the title with 179 points over Nigeria which finished with 170 points.

Rio Olympics bronze medalist Marwa AMRI (TUN) will lead the charge with youngsters Zaineb SGHAIER (TUN) at 72kg and Khadija JLASSI (TUN) at 65kg. Siwar BOUSETA (TUN) at 59kg will also be a big medal hope. The absence of defending champ at 50kg Sarra HAMDI (TUN) may hurt the hosts but they will back the younger wrestlers in the squad.

Nigeria will be led by Blessing OBORUDUDU (NGR) who is going for a record 13th African title. She won unstoppable last year but has not competed since the 2022 World Championships in which she failed to win a medal.

Defending champion at 55kg Jumoke ADEKOYE (NGR) is back in the competition but 59kg champ and three-time world medalist Odunayo ADEKUOROYE (NGR) is missing from the list as she continues to sit off the competition since winning the Islamic Solidarity Games in August 2022.

Jumping up to 57kg Mercy ADEKUOROYE (NGR) would be hoping for back-to-back gold medals as she won the 53kg weight class last year. Esther KOLAWOLE (NGR) at 62kg, Ebipatei MUGHENBOFA (NGR) at 65kg and Hannah RUEBEN (NGR) at 72kg will try to be among the medals to push Nigeria to the top.

At 76kg, world silver medalist Samar HAMZA (EGY) will be eyeing another African title and she is the favorite in the weight class which has seen only four entries. Arianna XAVIER (CPV), Anta SAMBOU (SEN) and Ranim SAIDI (TUN) will be the challengers for Hamza.

Egypt pipped Algeria for both freestyle and Greco-Roman team titles despite the latter's spirited performances to win four golds in freestyle and five in Greco-Roman. In women's wrestling, Tunisia scored past Nigeria to win the team title.

But with the entry list finalized for the senior competition for the African Championships, it is clear that the contest will once again be between Egypt and Algeria.

Mohamed ELSAYED (EGY)Mohamed ELSAYED (EGY) is a bronze medalist from Tokyo Olympics. (Photo: UWW / Kadir Caliskan)

Egypt, Algeria favorites

In Greco-Roman, Egypt can take confidence from the fact that Olympic bronze medalist Mohamed ELSAYED (EGY) is back in the line-up as he prepares for the 2024 Paris Olympics. He will be competing at 67kg with the hope of leading his country to the team title.

Others on the team include 130kg defending champion Abdellatif MOHAMED (EGY), Haithem MAHMOUD (EGY) at 60kg, Yehia ABDELKADER (EGY) at 72kg and Mohamed KHALIL (EGY) at 77kg among others.

These wrestlers will be challenged by Mohamed DRIDI (ALG) at 55kg, 60kg champion Abdeldjebar DJEBBARI (ALG) who has moved to 63kg, silver medalist from 2022 Ishak GHAIOU (ALG) at 67kg and three other defending champs -- Abd OUAKALI (ALG) at 82kg, Bachir SID AZARA (ALG) at 87kg and Adem BOUDJEMLINE (ALG) at 97kg.

Freestyle followed a similar script in El Jadida as Algeria scripted a late comeback to give Egypt a score for the title but fell short.

But with gold medalists returning it will be interesting to see if Egypt can keep it at bay as it did with two points last year.

#WrestleIstanbul

Stars to follow in Women's Wrestling at World Qualifier

Monday, May 6, 2024 - 08:14 By Vinay Siwach

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ISTANBUL, Türkiye (May 6) -- Mariya STADNIK (AZE) has endured quite a few heartbreaks in her 16-year-long career. The most recent was her fall against Oksana LIVACH (UKR) in the final five seconds of the match. A win would have confirmed a fifth trip to the Olympics for her.

The four-time Olympic medalist will now be in Istanbul for the World OG Qualifier -- the last chance -- in a bid to earn a Paris 2024 quota. It will also put her one step closer to winning an unprecedented fifth Olympic medal, a feat no one has achieved in wrestling.

But Stadnik isn't the only one with so much to fight for in Istanbul.

Two-time European champion Alina HRUSHYNA (UKR) was also seconds away from earning a spot for Paris when Tokyo silver medalist Iryna KURACHKINA (AIN) scored a takedown to beat her. Hrushyna missed the Tokyo flight after suffering an injury two months before the Games.

Now, she will be in Istanbul along with Tokyo bronze medalist Evelina NIKOLOVA (BUL) who is not yet qualified at 57kg. Both will compete for the three spots available along with other top wrestlers like Alyona KOLESNIK (AZE), Giullia PENALBER (BRA), Aurora RUSSO (ITA), Khongorzul BOLDSAIKHAN (MGL), Kateryna ZHYDACHEVSKA (ROU), Olga KHOROSHAVTSEVA (AIN) and Elvira KAMALOGLU (TUR).

In each Olympic weight class, the winner of the semifinals will earn a berth for the Paris Games for their respective countries. The third spot will be earned by the winner of the playoff between the two bronze medalists of the weight class.

This provides an extra opportunity to the wrestler who lost to the two best wrestlers of their respective weight classes. The repechage, bronze-medal bouts and the playoff will be held the next day.

China, which managed three quotas at the Asian OG Qualifier, will be hoping to claim all six spots for Paris as Jia LONG (CHN) and Feng ZHOU (CHN) compete in the 62kg and 68kg respectively.

Ziqi FENG (CHN), Qianyu PANG (CHN), Kexin HONG (CHN) and Juan WANG (CHN) clinched the 50kg, 53kg, 57kg and 76kg spots with the last three coming at the Asian OG Qualifier in Bishkek last month.

For Long, who was in Tokyo, the field at 62kg will be strong. Veranika IVANOVA (AIN), Lais NUNES (BRA), MANSI (IND), Mariana CHERDIVARA (MDA), Kriszta INCZE (ROU) and Nesrin BAS (TUR) are a few wrestlers who can trouble Long.

Bas is an interesting choice by Turkiye as she regularly competes in the 72kg weight class. She was a U23 world champion in the same. But with the 68kg qualification by world champion Buse TOSUN (TUR) and 76kg by European champion Yasemin ADAR (TUR), Bas decided to move down.

At 68kg, Feng will have to raise her game if she wants to represent China in Paris. The weight has 23 wrestlers including the likes of Elis MANOLOVA (AZE), Mimi HRISTOVA (BUL), Linda MORAIS (CAN), Adela HANZLICKOVA (CZE), NISHA (IND) and Alexandra ANGHEL (ROU).

Hristova would be doubly motivated to win a quota in Istanbul after she missed it in Baku. Leading 8-0 against Manola SKOBELSKA (UKR) in the quarterfinal, she got put on the mat by Skobelska and the Ukrainian secured a fall, leaving Hristova heartbroken.

A few European stars have not managed to earn a Paris spot at 53kg. Two-time Olympian Maria PREVOLARAKI (GRE) will be a strong contender to claim one of the three spots at 53kg.

Annika WENDLE (GER), Sztalvira ORSOS (HUN), Zeynep YETGIL (TUR), Mariia VYNNYK (UKR), Mariana DRAGUTAN (MDA) and Jowita WRZESIEN (POL) will be fighting it out for the quotas as well.

Karla GODINEZ (CAN), the favorite at the Pan-Am OG Qualifier, suffered a loss and failed to qualify Canada. But she will be in Istanbul to earn that spot and join her sister Ana who qualified at 62kg. Khulan BATKHUYAG (MGL) will be a strong contender as well.

Among the big names at 76kg, Martina KUENZ (AUT), Anastasiya ZIMIANKOVA (AIN), Yuliana YANEVA (BUL), Samar HAMZA (EGY), Epp MAE (EST), Elmira SYZDYKOVA (KAZ) and Anastasiia SHUSTOVA (UKR) are taking the trip to Istanbul.

Despite all the stars assembling in Istanbul, Stadnik will be the center of attraction. How does a 36-year-old bounce back from her first-ever loss in Europe? Is she still good enough to compete against some of the best in the world? Is she a medal threat for Paris 2024?

A win in Istanbul will answer those questions.