#WrestleTirana

Breaking down freestyle battles at World Championships for Non-Olympic weights

Wednesday, October 16, 2024 - 09:44 By Vinay Siwach

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TIRANA, Albania (October 15) -- Six months ago, no one had the Sadulaev-Taylor-Ghasempour three-way battle for world title on their bingo card. But it is about to go down in Tirana.

The World Championships in non-Olympic weight classes is returning after eight years. Despite the fact that none of the Paris Olympic participants were allowed in the tournament, it still has a host of stars hoping to become world champions.

Abdulrashid SADULAEV (AIN), a two-time Olympic and five-time world champion, did not participate in the Paris Olympics and is going down a weight class to 92kg in a bid to earn his sixth world title. Three-time world champion David TAYLOR (USA) jumped from 86kg to 92kg in a bid to compete at the World Championships. He now gets a shot at Sadulaev. Two-time world champion at 92kg Kamran GHASEMPOUR (IRI), who has been moving up and down in weight classes, has somehow been made the challenger.

Ghasempour participated in the 97kg weight class in the Zagreb Open but lost to Kyle SNYDER (USA). He was in line for Iran's 86kg spot for Paris but later opted out of a trial against Hassan YAZDANI (IRI).

Sadulaev lost a bout for the second time in his career and first in six years when he lost to Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN) at the 2023 World Championships. Taylor lost to Aaron BROOKS (USA) in the U.S. Olympic trials and Ghasempour barely scraped through in the trials for the world team in Iran.

Yet, the three will be the favorite for the gold medal and it will only be a surprise if any of them miss out on the podium in Tirana.

Jordan BURROUGHS (USA)Jordan BURROUGHS (USA) is eyeing his seventh world title. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Six-time world champion Jordan BURROUGHS (USA) is also chasing history. If he wins, he will win his seventh world title, making him the most successful American wrestler at the World Championships. He missed out on competing at the 2023 World Championships but stormed back in 2024, winning the trial in the United States.

But his path to gold won't be an easy one. Two-time U23 world champion Magomed MAGOMAEV (AIN), former world silver medalist Avtandil KENTCHADZE (GEO), three-time world medalist Mohammad NOKHODI (IRI) and Asian champion Kota TAKAHASHI (JPN) are also in the fray.

Nokhodi and Burroughs have wrestled in two back-to-back World Championships finals with the latter winning both. But Burroughs suffered his first loss to an Iranian in 2022 when Ali SAVADKOUHI (IRI) defeated him at the World Cup and Nokhodi will draw confidence from there.

All the big names will be looking to hand Burroughs his first World Championships loss since 2019.

Vitali ARUJAU (USA)Vitali ARUJAU (USA) is the defending world champion at 61kg. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Another Olympic champion eyeing a world title will be Zavur UGUEV (AIN) as he last won the second of two titles in 2019. Uguev won gold at the Tokyo Olympics at 57kg but finished fifth at the 2023 World Championships. He will be at 61kg in Tirana hoping to deny defending world champion Vitali ARUJAU (USA) a second world title.

Arujau won his first world gold medal in 2023 by beating Abasgadzhi MAGOMEDOV (AIN) in a tense final. He won the team trials in the U.S. to confirm his name for the World Championships in Tirana.

An interesting name entered is Azamat TUSKAEV (SRB). The former European champion will turn out for Serbia at 61kg but it is unlikely that he will be challenging for gold.

Masanosuke ONO (JPN), however, can be a big threat for the gold medal given his style and pace of wrestling. He rocked the competition at the U20 World Championships last month and won gold at 61kg. It will be interesting to see how he fares at his first senior World Championships.

Asian Championships silver medalist UDIT (IND) and Taiyrbek ZHUMASHBEK UULU (KGZ) have some good wins under their belts over the past two years and they would like to make a mark in Tirana.

Inalbek SHERIEV (AIN)Inalbek SHERIEV (AIN) and Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN) wrestled in the U23 World Championships final last year. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

U23 world and European champion Inalbek SHERIEV (AIN) will be making his senior international debut at 70kg in Tirana and will be the favorite to win the gold medal. However, the field has other top contenders like Amirmohammad YAZDANI (IRI), Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN) and James GREEN (USA) among others.

Yazdani lost the final at 70kg last year to Zain RETHERFORD (USA) but will look to make amends this year. He won the Asian Championships over Aoyagi in a high-scoring final. Yazdani's 13-9 win over Aoyagi was not convincing and the Japanese will look to change the result if the two meet in Tirana. Aoyagi was in the final against Sheriev but dropped the final 9-3. He finished eighth at the World Championships in 2023.

Former U20 world champion for Iran, Peiman BIABANI (CAN) will be turning out for Canada. He finished second at the Pan-Am Championships and the World Championships will be a big test for him. 2023 bronze medalist Ramazan RAMAZANOV (BUL) will look to change the color of his medal this year.

#WrestleBelgrade

Japanese legends head Class of 2022 inductees into UWW Hall of Fame

Friday, September 9, 2022 - 16:25 By United World Wrestling Press

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BELGRADE, Serbia (September 9) --- Superstars Saori YOSHIDA and Kaori ICHO, who combined for seven Olympic and 23 world championship gold medals and inspired the next generation of Japanese women that continue to dominate the sport, were among nine immortals inducted into the UWW Hall of Fame on Friday.

Two Greco-Roman wrestlers, a pair of American brothers in freestyle, another Japanese woman, one referee and one coach also gained a place in the shrine to wrestling greatness during a ceremony held in Belgrade, Serbia, as a prelude to this year's World Championships starting Saturday.

The inductees will be permanently recognized on the UWW website, at the UWW headquarters in Vevey, Switzerland, and in the international wing of the USA Hall of Fame located in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

Yoshida and Icho, who were both among the four inaugural Olympic champions when women's wrestling was added to the Olympic program at Athens 2004, were appropriately selected in the Legends category.

Yoshida struck gold in three straight Olympics and an unprecedented 13 World Championships, mostly at 55kg. Japan's flag-bearer at the London 2012 Olympics, Yoshida put together a streak of 119 consecutive wins in individual tournaments, a run that ended in the final match of her career that left her with the silver medal at the Rio 2016 Olympics. Her only two other losses to non-Japanese opponents came at World Cup team events.

Icho made history when she became the first wrestler and the first female athlete in any sport in Olympic history to win four consecutive gold medals, not to mention winning 10 world titles. She competed at 63kg for much of her career before moving down to 58kg when that became an Olympic weight class (now 57kg).

After Icho's epic victory at the Rio 2016 Olympics for her fourth gold, she was named a recipient of the People's Honor Award, used by the Japanese government to honor individuals in sports, entertainment and culture whose accomplishments have inspired society. Yoshida received the award in 2012 after winning her 13th straight world title.

The new Hall of Fame members in the Greco-Roman category are Pertti UKKOLA of Finland and Gheorghe BERCEANU of Romania, both winners of Olympic and world golds.

Ukkola won the gold at 57kg at the Montreal 1976 Olympics, and captured the world title the following year. He also won two world bronzes in his career, in 1975 and 1981. Berceanu made the top of the Olympic podium at Munich 1972 at 48kg, then took the silver at Montreal 1976. The Romanian won world titles in 1969 and 1970, and a silver medal in 1975, and was also a three-time European champion.

In Freestyle, American brothers John and Ben PETERSON will enter the Hall together. At Munich 1972, Ben, the younger of the two by two years, won the gold at 90kg and John the silver at 82kg. Four years later at Montreal 1976, they reversed that finish, with John taking a gold and Ben settling for the silver. Both brothers also won one silver and one bronze at the World Championships, while John had three World Cup golds and Ben had one gold and two silvers.

The Women's Wrestling inductee is Japan's Hitomi OBARA, the London 2012 Olympic champion at 48kg and an eight-time world champion. She won all but the last of her world under her maiden name of SAKAMOTO, and almost all at 51kg.

In the Coaches category, the newest Hall member is Yuri SHAKMURADOV of Russia. A 1970 world champion and three-time European champion himself, he coached 16 wrestlers, both male and female, to Olympic gold medals between 1976 and 2012.

The new inductee in the Referees category is Orestes MOLINA, who officiated at Olympics in four different decades. A long-time instructor and head referee, he held the position of vice-president of the FILA/UWW Referee Commission from 2013 to 2016. He called matches at Olympics in 1980, 1984, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016.