#WrestleTokyo

Al Obaidi of IOC Refugee Team Makes Winning Olympic Debut at Tokyo 2020

Tuesday, August 3, 2021 - 04:37 By Tim Foley

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CHIBA, Japan (August 3) --- Aker AL OBAIDI (EOR) of the IOC's Refugee team earned the first victory in his Olympic career Tuesday morning at the Makuhari Messe Hall in Chiba.

Al Obaidi, an Iraqi refugee now living and training in Austria, looked superb in his first round 67kg weight class match besting Souleymen NASIR (TUN) by technical fall, 8-0.

"I felt really good in the bout," said Al Obaidi. "My wrestling was good and my mind and body were working perfectly together."

In his second match, Al Obaidi dropped the quarterfinal against Ramaz ZOIDZE (GEO), 10-0. Should Zoidze win his semifinal match on Tuesday night, Al Obaidi will compete in the repechage.

"I am disappointed, but I will go step-by-step. I don't have enough words to thank UWW and the IOC. I am really happy to compete and that was because of them. I am very young and I look forward to competing for a long time."

#WrestleBelgrade

Day Three Finals Preview Show

Monday, September 12, 2022 - 13:32 By Eric Olanowski

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BELGRADE, SERBIA (September 12) --- Monday night, we’ll hand out world titles at 63kg, 67kg, 82kg and 97kg.

At 63kg, Sebastian NAD (SRB) will try to keep Serbia perfect in the gold-medal match and win the host nation’s third Greco-Roman gold medal of the competition as he'll meet Leri ABULADZE (GEO).

In the 67kg finals, "The Ice Man" Tokyo Olympic champion Mohammadreza GERAEI (IRI) will have to defeat 2019 world bronze medal winner Mate NEMES (SRB) to win his second consecutive world title.

Burhan AKBUDAK (TUR) and Jalgasbay BERDIMURATOV (UZB) will meet for 82kg gold.

Olympic champion Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM) will have to get through Bulgaria’s world silver medalist Kiril MILOV to summit the world podium for the fourth time and first since 2017.

You can watch the action live at 18:00 on uww.org or on The Home of Wrestling, United World Wrestling's app.

Monday's final pairings:
63kg - Leri ABULADZE ??vs. Sebastian NAD ??
67kg - Mohammadreza Abdolhamid GERAEI ?? vs. Mate NEMES ??
82kg - Jalgasbay BERDIMURATOV ?? vs. Burhan AKBUDAK ??
97kg - Artur ALEKSANYAN?? vs. Kiril MILOV ??