#YasarDogu

Diakomihalis Dazzles in Wins Over Retherford and Musukaev, Two Other Americans Reach #YasarDogu Finals

By Eric Olanowski

ISTANBUL, Turkey (July 12) --- Yianni DIAKOMIHALIS (USA) dazzled in his first international senior-level competition and erased a 9-0 semifinals deficit to move into the 65kg Yasar Dogu finals. He was one of three American wrestlers who reached the Day 3 gold-medal bout at the final Ranking Series event of the season. 

The two-time cadet world champion kicked off his day with an impressive 9-5 victory over the United States’ current 65kg world team member, Zain RETHERFORD (USA). 

This was the fourth time Diakomihalis and Retherford have faced off against each other in the last two months. With his win on Friday morning, Diakomihalis evened the series at two matches apiece -- leaving the United States with a head-scratching decision on who to enter at 65kg into September’s Nur-Sultan World Championships. 

Diakomihalis followed that up with a 13-2 victory over Ali RAHIMZADE (AZE), and set up a semifinals match with former two-time Russian National runner-up Ismail MUSUKAEV (HUN), who now competes for Hungary. 

In the semifinals, Diakomihalis’ now-Hungarian opponent built a 9-0 lead but crumbled in the second period and gave up three cautions -- disqualifying him from the match. 

In the final period of his semifinals match, the American scored nine unanswered points from two takedowns (cradle and a double leg), a pair of steps outs, and three caution-and-one’s -- which disqualified Musukaev from the match. 

Diakomihalis will wrestle Haji ALI (BRN) on Saturday night for the 65kg gold medal. Ali closed out his run to the finals with a 6-3 victory over Cengizhan ERDOGAN (TUR) in the other semifinal. 

Alexander DIERINGER (USA) and Nicholas GWIAZDOWSKI (USA) were the two other Americans who locked up their spot in the Day 3 Yasar Dogu finals. 

Dieringer will wrestle Akhsarbek GULAEV (SVK) in the 79kg finals, while Gwiazdowski will take on the three-time world and Olympic champion Taha AKGUL (TUR) in the 125kg finals. 

The Day 3 finals begin on Saturday at 17:00 (local time) and can be watched live on www.unitedworldwrestling.org.

Freestyle

65kg
GOLD - John DIAKOMIHALIS (USA) vs. Haji Mohamad ALI (BRN)
SEMIFINAL - John DIAKOMIHALIS (USA) df. Ismail MUSUKAEV (HUN), 9-9 (via cautions)
SEMIFINAL - Haji Mohamad ALI (BRN) df. Cengizhan ERDOGAN (TUR), 6-3

79kg
GOLD - Alexander DIERINGER (USA) vs. Akhsarbek GULAEV (SVK)
SEMIFINAL - Alexander David DIERINGER (USA) df. Bahman TEYMOURI (IRI)
SEMIFINAL - Akhsarbek GULAEV (SVK) df. Muhammet Nuri KOTANOGLU (TUR), 2-2 

125kg
GOLD - Taha AKGUL (TUR) vs. Nicholas GWIAZDOWSKI (USA)
SEMIFINAL - Nicholas Edward GWIAZDOWSKI (USA) df. Sumit SUMIT (IND), 
SEMIFINAL - Taha AKGUL (TUR) df.Yadollah Mohammadkazem MOHEBI (IRI), 10-0 

Women’s Wrestling

53kg
GOLD - Vinesh VINESH (IND) vs. Ekaterina POLESHCHUK (RUS)
SEMIFINAL - Ekaterina POLESHCHUK (RUS) df. Liliya HORISHNA (UKR), 7-5
SEMIFINAL - Vinesh VINESH (IND) df. Iryna HUSYAK (UKR), 14-4

57kg
GOLD – Tetyana KIT (UKR) vs. Odunayo ADEKUOROYE (NGR)
SEMIFINAL - Odunayo ADEKUOROYE (NGR) df. Olga KHOROSHAVTSEVA (RUS), 6-3 
SEMIFINAL - Tetyana KIT (UKR) df. Emese BARKA (HUN), via injury default 

62kg
GOLD – Marianna SASTIN (HUN) vs. Henna JOHANSSON (SWE)
SEMIFINAL - Henna JOHANSSON (SWE) df. Anzhela FOMENKO (RUS), via fall 
SEMIFINAL - Marianna SASTIN (HUN) df. Lais NUNES DE OLIVEIRA (BRA), 4-2 

68kg
GOLD – Danielle LAPPAGE (CAN) vs. Maryia MAMASHUK (BLR)
SEMIFINAL - Danielle LAPPAGE (CAN) df. Blessing OBORUDUDU (NGR), 8-1 
SEMIFINAL - Maryia MAMASHUK (BLR) df. Anna Carmen SCHELL (GER), 5-2 

#WrestleParis

Paris 2024 seeds announced for Freestyle, Greco-Roman, Women’s Wrestling

By Eric Olanowski

PARIS, (July 12) — For the first time ever, the Olympic Games will be seeding the top eight wrestlers in each weight class. Wrestlers who competed in the 2023 World Championships, 2024 Continental Championships, 2024 Zagreb Open Ranking Series and the 2024 Hungarian Ranking Series event have accumulated points towards their seeds at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

UWW RANKING RULE BOOK

Apart from the seeded eight wrestlers, the remaining eight wrestlers, who round out the 16-person bracket, will be randomly drawn into the bracket the day before each style begins in Paris.

The bracket will be structured as follows:

- The top side will feature the No. 1, No. 4, No. 5, and No. 8 seeded wrestlers.
- The bottom side will feature the No. 2, No. 3, No. 6, and No. 7 seeded wrestlers.

If the seeds hold true through to the finals, the bracket will play out as follows:

Quarterfinals:
- Top side: No. 1 vs. No. 8; No. 4 vs. No. 5
- Bottom side: No. 2 vs. No. 7; No. 3 vs. No. 6

Semifinals:
- Top Side: No. 1 vs. No. 4
- Bottom Side: No. 2 vs. No. 3

Finals:
- No. 1 vs. No. 2

Here are the top eight seeded athletes in all three styles for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games:

Freestyle
57kg

No. 1 Stevan MICIC (SRB)
No. 2 Rei HIGUCHI (JPN )
No. 3 Arsen HARUTYUNYAN (ARM)
No. 4 Meirambek KARTBAY (KAZ)
No. 5 Zelimkhan ABAKAROV (ALB)
No. 6 Aman AMAN (IND)
No. 7 Wanhao ZOU (CHN)
No. 8 Gulomjon ABDULLAEV (UZB)

65kg
No. 1 Vazgen TEVANYAN (ARM)
No. 2 Rahman AMOUZAD (IRI)
No. 3 Ismail MUSUKAEV (HUN)
No. 4 Sebastian RIVERA (PUR)
No. 5 Maxim SACULTAN (MDA)
No. 6 Haji ALIYEV (AZE)
No. 7 Islam DUDAEV (ALB)
No. 8 Tulga TUMUR OCHIR (MGL)

74kg
No. 1 Kyle DAKE (USA)
No. 2 Turan BAYRAMOV (AZE)
No. 3 Georgios KOUGIOUMTSIDIS (GRE)
No. 4 Daichi TAKATANI (JPN)
No. 5 Hetik CABALOV (SRB)
No. 6 Feng LU (CHN)
No. 7 Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK)
No. 8 Bacar NDUM (GBS)

86kg
No. 1 Azamat DAULETBEKOV (KAZ)
No. 2 Hassan YAZDANICHARATI (IRI)
No. 3 Myles AMINE (SMR)
No. 4 Javrail SHAPIEV (UZB)
No. 5 Magomed RAMAZANOV (BUL)
No. 6 Bat BYAMBASUREN (MGL)
No. 7 Dauren KURUGLIEV (GRE)
No. 8 Hayato ISHIGURO (JPN)

97kg  
No. 1 Magomedkhan MAGOMEDOV (AZE)
No. 2 Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN)
No. 3 Kyle SNYDER (USA)
No. 4 Ibrahim CIFTCI (TUR)
No. 5 Givi MATCHARASHVILI (GEO)
No. 6 Erik THIELE (GER)
No. 7 Alisher YERGALI (KAZ)
No. 8 Zbigniew BARANOWSKI (POL)

125kg
No. 1 Amir ZARE (IRI)
No. 2 Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO)
No. 3 Mason PARRIS (USA)
No. 4 Taha AKGUL (TUR)
No. 5 Daniel LIGETI (HUN)
No. 6 Giorgi MESHVILDISHVILI (AZE)
No. 7 Robert BARAN (POL)
No. 8 Zhiwei DENG (CHN)

Women’s Wrestling
50kg

No. 1 Yui SUSAKI (JPN)
No. 2 Otgonjargal DOLGORJAV (MGL)
No. 3 Ziqi FENG (CHN)
No. 4 Evin DEMIRHAN (TUR)
No. 5 Alisson CARDOZO REY (COL)
No. 6 Sarah HILDEBRANDT (USA)
No. 7 Mariya STADNIK (AZE)
No. 8 Oksana LIVACH (UKR)

53kg
No. 1 Lucia YEPEZ GUZMAN (ECU)
No. 2 Emma MALMGREN (SWE)
No. 3 Akari FUJINAMI (JPN)
No. 4 ANTIM (IND)
No. 5 Maria PREVOLARAKI (GRE)|
No. 6 Christianah OGUNSANYA (NGR)
No. 7 Qianyu PANG (CHN)
No. 8 Andreea ANA (ROU)

57kg
No. 1 Tsugumi SAKURAI (JPN)
No. 2 Anastasia NICHITA (MDA)
No. 3 Odunayo ADEKUOROYE (NGR)
No. 4 Anhelina LYSAK (POL)
No. 5 Helen MAROULIS (USA)
No. 6 Kexin HONG (CHN)
No. 7 Giulia PENALBER (BRA)
No. 8 Luisa VALVERDE (ECU)

62kg
No. 1 Aisuluu TYNYBEKOVA (KGZ)
No. 2 Sakura MOTOKI (JPN)
No. 3 Grace BULLEN (NOR)
No. 4 Iryna KOLIADENKO (UKR)
No. 5 Bilyana DUDOVA (BUL)
No. 6 Luisa NIEMESCH (GER)
No. 7 Ana GODINEZ (CAN)
No. 8 Kayla MIRACLE (USA)

68kg
No. 1 Buse CAVUSOGLU TOSUN (TUR)
No. 2 Delgermaa ENKHSAIKHAN (MGL)
No. 3 Koumba LARROQUE  (FRA)
No. 4 Irina RINGACI (MDA)
No. 5 Tetiana SOVA RIZHKO (UKR)
No. 6 Blessing OBORUDUDU (NGR)
No. 7 Soleymi CARABALLO HERNANDEZ (VEN)
No. 8 Feng ZHOU (CHN)

76kg
No. 1  Aiperi MEDET KYZY (KGZ)
No. 2 Yuka KAGAMI (JPN)
No. 3 Tatiana RENTERIA (COL)
No. 4 Catalina AXENTE (ROU)
No. 5 Milaimys MARIN (CUB)
No. 6 Hannah RUEBEN (NGR)
No. 7 Justina DI STASIO (CAN)
No. 8 Bernadett NAGY (HUN)

Greco-Roman
60kg

No. 1 Zholaman SHARSHENBEKOV (KGZ)
No. 2 Liguo CAO (CHN)
No. 3 Victor CIOBANU (MDA)
No. 4 Kenichiro FUMITA (JPN)
No. 5 Mehdi MOHSEN NEJAD (IRI)
No. 6 Islomjon BAKHRAMOV (UZB)
No. 7 Raiber RODRIGUEZ (VEN)
No. 8 Razvan ARNAUT (ROU)

67kg
No. 1 Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE)
No. 2 Luis ORTA (CUB)
No. 3 Slavik GALSTYAN (ARM)
No. 4 Mate NEMES (SRB)
No. 5 Amantur ISMAILOV (KGZ)
No. 6 Mamadassa SYLLA (FRA)
No. 7 Saeid ESMAEILI (IRI)
No. 8 Valentin PETIC (MDA)

77kg
No. 1 Nao KUSAKA (JPN)
No. 2 Sanan SULEYMANOV (AZE)
No. 3 Akzhol MAKHMUDOV (KGZ)
No. 4 Malkhas AMOYAN (ARM)
No. 5 Yosvanys PENA FLORES (CUB)
No. 6 Demeu ZHADRAYEV (KAZ)
No. 7 Zoltan LEVAI (HUN)
No. 8 Aram VARDANYAN (UZB)

87kg
No. 1 Ali CENGIZ (TUR)
No. 2 David LOSONCZI (HUN)
No. 3 Semen NOVIKOV (BUL)
No. 4 Zhan BELENIUK (UKR)
No. 5 Nursultan TURSYNOV (KAZ)
No. 6 Bachir SID AZARA (ALG)
No. 7 Aleksandr KOMAROV (SRB)
No. 8 Carlos MUNOZ (COL)

97kg
No. 1 Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM)
No. 2 Abubakar KHASLAKHANAU (AIN)
No. 3 Mohammadhadi SARAVI (IRI)
No. 4 Gabriel ROSILLO (CUB)
No. 5 Arvi SAVOLAINEN (FIN)
No. 6 Mindaugas VENCKAITIS (LTU)
No. 7 Mihail KAJAIA (SRB)
No. 8 Kevin MEJIA (HON)

130kg
No. 1 Amin MIRZAZADEH (IRI)
No. 2 Abdellatif MOHAMED (EGY)
No. 3 Lingzhe MENG (CHN)
No. 4 Alin ALEXUC CIURARIU (ROU)
No. 5 Heiki NABI (EST)
No. 6 Mantas KNYSTAUTAS (LTU)
No. 7 Yasmani ACOSTA (CHI)
No. 8 Seungchan LEE (KOR)

NOTE: These seeds are subject to change. The NOCs have until 24 hours before the start of the competition to make changes to their entries.