#BeachWrestling

Beach Wrestling World Series grows to 3 continents in 2023

Tuesday, March 7, 2023 - 13:01 By United World Wrestling Press

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CROSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (March 7) -- The Beach Wrestling World Series continues to gather popularity with its incredible athleticism, non-stop action, easy-to-understand points system and rules, as well as a growing recognition in relevance from the world of sports.

Already the fastest-growing style on the United World Wrestling (UWW) calendar, beach wrestling gets underway in a brand new location. The season opener will take place in Buenos Aires, Argentina on May 7-8, following UWW's senior Pan-American Championships, It will mark the return of the World Series to the continent for the first time since the inaugural season in 2019.

The tour will then head to its first-ever stop on Asian sands as it touches down in Singapore on June 10 and 11, making its debut on the continent.

The first two stops of the World Series are also qualifying events for the ANOC World Beach Games, which will take place in Bali on August 11 and 12. Beach Wrestling is a core event at the Games.

The third stop will see the wrestlers move to the sensational sands of Saint Laurent du Var, bringing that Cote D’Azur French flair to the season for the third year in a row with the event doubling up as the sport's U17 and U20 European Championships.

The penultimate event will take place on September 9 and 10 on magical Mamaia Beach in Constanta, Romania which has been the venue for the final stop of the World Series’ past two seasons. With the U17 and U20 World Championships taking place in the days before, the sand will be warmed up for the seniors to show their skills.

The final stop will see the Kings and Queens of the Beach coronated in Sarigerme, an area of marvelous Mugla, Turkey, and the site of the 2022 season opener, on October 14 and 15 as the curtain comes down on another year of the strongest show on the sand.

The Beach Wrestling World Series is popular with fans and athletes alike, providing a festival atmosphere as the sun shines on the sand, the music plays and the spectators’ "ooohs" and "ahhhs" accompany the wrestlers on their way to gold.

The adrenaline-filled action helps feed the vibe and it’s easy to see why the sand side crowd continues to grow with each event. With Beach Wrestling being named one of ANOC’s Beach Games core disciplines for 2023 and 2025, the popularity of the sport is sure to continue to grow at the rapid rate it has so far.

More than 700 athletes from 48 countries have participated in the World Series since its introduction in 2019 with 267 women and 445 men taking to the sand with World Series gold in their sights. More new faces, talents and potential title challengers are expected for the new season.

Registration is open for four different weight categories for both men and women, with the men's competing in -70kg, -80kg, -90kg and +90kg, and the women competing in -50kg, -60kg, -70kg and +70kg. Each bout lasts three minutes, or first to three points.

The UWW has put prize money of 1000 Swiss Francs for the gold medalists, 500 Swiss Francs for the silver medalists and 250 Swiss Francs for each of the two bronze medalists. Along with that, the ‘Top Technique’ award for the best move over the weekend, voted by the fans via the World Series’ official Instagram page, will see the winners take home 1000 Swiss Francs for each gender.

Who will take home the gold in this series? Will the Big Gun, Azerbaijan’s Oyan Nazariani make a victorious return after an injury-hit 2022? Will the Glorious Georgians go on another gold run? Will anyone be able to match Romania’s 50kg ‘heavyweight’ Stefania Princeputu? Can the ever-growing Team USA make an impression this year?

Will the impressive Indian team continue its upwards trajectory, or will the Brilliant Bulgarians shine on the sand? It’s anyone’s guess as we head towards the start of the series with competitors from all over the world gearing up for the biggest Beach Wrestling World Series to date.

Tune in to see how the drama unfolds and who will be the Kings and Queens on Sand, come October in Mugla.

Dates and Locations, Beach Wrestling World Series 2023
Stop 1 – Buenos Aires (ARG), May 7-8, 2023  
Stop 2 – Singapore (SGP), June 10-11, 2023
Stop 3 – Saint-Laurent-du-Var (FRA), June 29-30, 2023
Stop 4 – Constanta (ROU), September 9-10, 2023
FINAL – Mugla (TUR), October 14-15, 2023

UWW Beach Wrestling
UWW, then known as FILA, codified the form of beach wrestling in 2004. Beach Wrestling is standing wrestling done by wrestlers inside a sand-filled circle measuring 7 meters (23 ft) in diameter. The style originally mirrored the rules used before the use of wrestling mats, and Beach Wrestling has been regarded as the oldest version of international competitive wrestling. The international rules were modified by UWW in 2015, with the current rules allowing wrestlers to score points via takedowns, pushing their opponent out of bounds, or bringing the opponent down to their back.

Introduced in 2019, the Beach Wrestling World Series crowns the world champions during the finals of the five-legged competitive season in beach locations across South America, Asia and Europe.

Weight Classes
Women: 50kg, 60kg, 70kg, and +70kg
Men: 70kg, 80kg, 90kg, and +90kg

Find out all about the Beach Wrestling World Series at www.beachwrestling.org

Follow us on social media
IG @uwwbeachwrestling
FB @ Beachwrestlingworldseries
YT @ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU82VJze6xdYhhp3uEFA_tw/featured - watch the competitions live

#WrestleTirana

Defending champ Azizli among 3 Azerbaijan wrestlers to make finals

Monday, October 28, 2024 - 20:45 By Ken Marantz

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TIRANA, Albania (October 28) -- Olympics or not, the intensity is still the same as Eldaniz AZIZLI (AZE) drives for a third consecutive world title and fourth overall.

Azizli advanced to the final at Greco 55kg, one of three Azerbaijani wrestlers to make it to the four gold-medal matches on the opening day of the Non-Olympic Weight Categories World Championships on Monday in Tirana.

Joining Azizli in Tuesday's Greco finals will be Nihat MAMMADLI (AZE) at 63kg and Ulvi GANIZADE (AZE) at 72kg, the latter of whom will be facing defending champion Ibrahim GHANEM (FRA).

At 82kg, Mohammadali GERAEI (IRI) earned a shot at winning his first world gold to go with three bronzes he previously won at 71kg or 77kg. But younger brother and Tokyo Olympic champion Mohammadreza GERAEI (IRI) was dealt a stunning loss at 72kg, while reigning 63kg champion Leri ABULADZE (GEO) was knocked out in the quarterfinals. Neither one was pulled into the repechage and will leave Tirana empty-handed.

Azizli was virtually untouchable in storming into the 55kg final, easily putting away two-time European bronze medalist Denis MIHAI (ROU) 9-0 in the semifinals for his third technical fall of the day without conceding a point.

Azizli started with a front headlock for 2. Put on top in par terre, he executed a gut wrench, then ended the proceedings in 1:47 with a nifty 4-point throw for his third win in three career meetings with Mihai -- all by technical fall.

In the final, Azizli will face another familiar foe in Asian silver medalist Poya DAD MARZ (IRI), a bronze medalist in Budapest who advanced by defeating Emin SEFERSHAEV (AIN) with his second straight 1-1 victory.

Azizli, a two-time European champion and six-time medalist, is 3-0 in career clashes with Dad Marz, most recently beating him at the Budapest Ranking Series in June and including a 3-2 win in the semifinals at the 2023 worlds.

Mammadli, this year's European champion at 60kg, earned his first-ever berth in a world final when he powered to a 6-1 semifinal victory at 63kg over Tokyo Olympian Karen ASLANYAN (ARM), who knocked off Abuladze 5-2 in the second round.

Mammadli trailed 1-0 on a passivity point going into the second period when he came alive, using the aggressive Aslanyan's momentum to score 4 with a counter pancake, then used underhooks to drop him for 2 more.

Next up for the gold will be Asian champion Yerzhet ZHARLYKASSYN (KAZ), who made short work of Sadyk LALAEV (AIN), scoring a 4-point throw in the first 10 seconds of their semifinal and adding another with an arm throw to finish up an 8-0 win in exactly a minute.

Lalaev had won the final world qualifier for the Paris Olympics at 60kg, but was among those from Russia or Belarus who were either declared ineligible or decided not to participate.

At 72kg, 2022 world silver medalist Ganizade and the Egyptian-born Ghanem set up a rematch of the 2023 European final, which the Azeri won 7-7 in a nail-biter.

Ganizade, this year's European silver medalist, earned a shot at a world gold with a 6-0 victory over Asian bronze medalist Ji LENG (CHN), who had ousted two-time world bronze medalist Selcuk CAN (TUR) 3-1 in the quarterfinals.

After scoring a stepout, Ganizade gained a passivity point and, from par terre, hit a throw that didn't turn Leng but became 4 points when he kept driving and exposed the Chinese's back.

Ghanem came out on top 6-1 of an at-times-tempetous tussle with Iranian-born former world champion Ali ARSALAN (SRB), an opponent with whom he had split two previous encounters.

A pair of stepouts and a passivity point gave Ghanem a 3-0 lead going into the second period. An unsuccessful Serbian challenge when Arsalan was on top of par terre made it 4-1, then Ghanem put the bout on ice by spinning behind for a takedown.

Mohammadali GERAEI (IRI)Mohammadali GERAEI (IRI) made it to his World Championships final. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

At 82kg, the elder Geraei was on the receiving end of a passivity point in each period for a 2-0 win over European bronze medalist Gela BOLKVADZE (GEO). It was a far cry from his previous two matches when he had a 4-point throw in 7-2 and 14-6 victories.

Geraei, who took home world bronzes in 2017, 2019 and 2021 and finished fifth at the Tokyo Olympics, will face an impressive Erik SZILVASSY (HUN) in his first global final.

Szilvassy, already assured of his first major medal, scored 2 with an arm throw in the first period and held on for a 3-2 victory over Ahmet YILMAZ (TUR). Earlier, he defeated two-time world medalist Jalgasbay BERDIMURATOV (UZB) 6-1 in the quarterfinals.

The biggest shock of the day came three matches into the competition when the younger Geraei was knocked off 11-3 in the qualification round at 72kg by unheralded Benjamin PEAK (USA).

Geraei looked like it would be just another day at the office when the former world champion scored an early takedown. But Peak, whose lone major medal is a bronze from the 2019 Pan Am U20 Championships, came back with a takedown and throw that, with a 2-point leg penalty tacked on, gave him a 6-2 lead. Geraei cut the gap with a stepout just before the break.

Peak kept the pressure on and countered for another takedown, then caught Geraei in a lapse and bulled him backward for a 2-point exposure that ended the match with 30 seconds left.

When Peak fell in the next round to Dominik ETLINGER (CRO), it ended Geraei's hopes of adding to his full collection of world medals -- the 2021 champion also has a silver from 2022 and bronze from 2023, all at 67kg.

Geraei missed out on a chance to defend his Olympic title in Paris when he lost a playoff for Iran's spot at 67kg to Saeid ESMAELI (IRI), who kept the title in Iranian hands.

The tournament continues Monday with the women's competition through the semifinals at 55kg, 59kg, 65kg and 72kg before the Greco finals at night. Among those in action will be two-time Olympic champion Risako KINJO (JPN).

Day 1 Results

Greco-Roman

55kg (16 entries)
SF: Eldaniz AZIZLI (AZE) df. Denis MIHAI (ROU) by TF, 9-0, 1:47
SF: Poya DAD MARZ (IRI) df. Emin SEFERSHAEV (AIN), 1-1

63kg (21 entries)
SF: Nihat MAMMADLI (AZE) df. Karen ASLANYAN (ARM), 6-1
SF: Yerzhet ZHARLYKASSYN (KAZ) df. Sadyk LALAEV (AIN) by TF, 8-0, 1:00

72kg (28 entries)
SF: Ibrahim GHANEM (FRA) df. Ali ARSALAN (SRB), 6-1
SF: Ulvi GANIZADE (AZE) df. Ji LENG (CHN), 6-0

82kg (28 entries)
SF: Erik SZILVASSY (HUN) df. Ahmet YILMAZ (TUR), 3-2
SF: Mohammadali GERAEI (IRI) df. Gela BOLKVADZE (GEO), 2-0