#WrestleWarsaw

Double Olympic Champ Vlasov Suffers Loss, Hurts Tokyo Games Chances

Saturday, June 12, 2021 - 18:19 By Vinay Siwach

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WARSAW, Poland (June 12) --- “The smallest,” Roman VLASOV (RUS) did not mince his words when asked about his chances to make the Russian team for the Tokyo Olympics.

He was the favorite to win the 77kg weight class in Warsaw on Saturday but the Russian suffered a shock defeat to the rising star Tamas LEVAI (HUN) in the semifinal 1-1, hurting his own chances of making the Russian team for the Games.

It was one of those matches where Vlasov failed to find his rhythm despite being the aggressive wrestler. He did not anticipate the tactics Levai deployed first to come out unharmed from the par terre position and then defend the 1-1 criteria lead until the end of time.

The two-time Olympic champion's fate now hangs in balance as Russia will decide the the Tokyo Olympian later this month.

Abuiazid MANTSIGOV (RUS)

In the 77kg final, Abuiazid MANTSIGOV (RUS) manhandled Levai -- outplacing Vlasov in the process -- and will likely square off against fellow world champion Aleksander CHEKHIRKIN (RUS) for the Russian 77kg at the Tokyo Olympic Games.

Much like Iran did earlier in the week with their freestyle squad, Russia used the Poland Open as a special wrestle-off. But in the case of Russia’s 77kg spot, they used the Poland Open as a placeholder for a spot in a showdown against Chekhirkin, who punched his nation’s ticket to Tokyo through his gold-medal performance at the European Olympic Qualifier in March.

It’s not clear when or where the special wrestle-off will take place, but once that information is available, it’ll be posted on www.uww.org and all of our social media accounts.

However, Iran got their Olympian at 130kg. In the all-Iranian battle for the gold and a place on the team for Tokyo, Amin MIRZAZADEH (IRI) used a mean underhook throw-by with 45 seconds left in the second period to pick up the match's only offensive points against Aliakbar YOUSOFIAHMADCHALI (IRI). That was the match-deciding takedown, as Mirzazadeh claimed gold with the 3-1 victory.

Amin MIRZAZADEH (IRI)

There was a third Iranian -- Amir GHASEMIMONJEZI (IRI) -- part of the process but Muminjon ABDULLAEV (UZB) defeated him 8-0 in the quarterfinal to end his run for the Olympics.

Abdullaev finished with the bronze medal and will receive 12 points, breaking into the top four seedings for the Olympics. His 12 points made his jump over Moises Salvador PEREZ HELLBURG (VEN) and sit fourth with 40 points.

At 67kg, Murat FIRAT (TUR) forged a five-point second-period comeback and stopped Mohamed ELSAYED (EGY) from putting a third Ranking Series gold on his resume. The 24-year-old Turk surrendered an inactivity point and a right-sided two-point gut wrench against the Tokyo Olympian, but conserved enough energy to string together five unanswered points and steal the match from the Egyptian.

Firat’s point-scoring frenzy started with a pair of step-outs, followed by a two-point exposure that results from an inactivity point.

What the silver medal does is take Elsayed to second place in the Tokyo seeds at 67kg as he collected 12 points for his silver medal. His total of 50 points keeps him behind Ismael BORRERO MOLINA (CUB) who has 80 points but he moves ahead of Artem SURKOV (RUS) and Mate NEMES (SRB) who have 40 points and 39 points respectively.

Elsayed said he missed competing internationally and due to lack of training due to COVID-19, he was not 100 percent on Saturday. But the U23 world champion was confident of being in best shape for the Olympics.

Another Olympic qualified athlete claimed the gold medal as Jalgasbay BERDIMURATOV (UZB) traded inactivity points with Yaroslav FILCHAKOV (UKR) and held criteria in the end and grabbed 82kg gold.

The youngsters' win here doesn't give any ranking points for the Tokyo Olympics as he will be moving down to 77kg at the Olympics.

At 55kg, Max NOWRY (USA) was awarded the gold medal as he was the only entry in the weight class.

Greco-Roman wrestling will continue on Sunday with five more weight categories in action in Warsaw.

RESULTS

55kg
GOLD: Max NOWRY (USA)

67kg
GOLD - Murat FIRAT (TUR) df. Mohamed ELSAYED (EGY), 5-3
BRONZE - Elmurat TASMURADOV (UZB) df. Makhmud BAKHSHILLOEV (UZB), via injury default
BRONZE - Bohdan KOVERNYUK (UKR) df. Mateusz SZEWCZUK (POL), 4-1

77kg
GOLD - Abuiazid MANTSIGOV (RUS) df. Tamas LEVAI (HUN), 9-0
BRONZE - Roman VLASOV (RUS) df. Sakke PUROLAINEN (FIN), 8-3
BRONZE - Yasaf ZEINALOV (UKR) df. Yunus Emre BASAR (TUR), via injury default

82kg
GOLD – Jalgasbay BERDIMURATOV (UZB) df. Yaroslav FILCHAKOV (UKR), 1-1
BRONZE – Alex BJURBERG KESSIDIS (SWE) df. Iwan NYLYPIUK (POL), via fall
BRONZE - Rafig HUSEYNOV (AZE) df. Magnus GROENVIK (NOR), 9-0

130kg
GOLD - Amin Mohammadzaman MIRZAZADEH (IRI) df. Aliakbar Hossein YOUSOFIAHMADCHALI (IRI), 3-1
BRONZE – Muminjon ABDULLAEV (UZB) df. Yasmani ACOSTA FERNANDEZ (CHI), 1-1
BRONZE - Eduard POPP (GER) df. Heiki NABI (EST), via injury default

#WrestleSamokov

U20 World Championships 2025 Day 2 Live Blog

Monday, August 18, 2025 - 07:13 By Vinay Siwach

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SAMOKOV, Bulgaria (August 18) -- The U20 World Championships enter the second day with four more Freestyle weight classes -- 57kg, 65kg, 79kg and 92kg. The competition began Sunday, read the recap here.

WATCH LIVE | LIVE MATCH ORDER | DAY 1 RESULTS

The semifinals will begin at 17:00 hours

14:18: Anar JAFARLI (AZE) with a huge four-pointer to trip SACHIN (IND) and then uses a high gut to finish the 92kg quarterfinal 10-0.

14:15: Sumit MALIK (IND) denies Vasif BAGHIROV (AZE) a semifinal place at 57kg. Malik with a four-pointer in his 9-2 win as Baghirov could not match the pace. 

14:06: Another Yamanashi Gaikun University wrestler Reiji UCHIDA (JPN) on the rise! Uchida locks Sanjarbek RUSTAMBEKOV (UZB) in a leg lace and finishes the match 11-0 to reach the 65kg semifinals.

14:02: Luke STANICH (USA) is into the semifinals at 65kg! He hangs on for a 3-3 criteria win over Alessandro NINI (ITA) after scoring a takedown which was latest action in the match. Incidentally, both Stanich and Nini were born in New Jersey and train 100 kilometres from each other -- Stanich at Lehigh and Nini at Rutgers

13:55: European U20 champion Davit TCHETCHELASHVILI (GEO) built a 3-0 lead but William HENCKEL (USA) bounces back with two takedowns to lead 4-3 at the break in their 79kg quarterfinal. Henckel gets a stepout in the second period to extend his lead to 5-3 while defending those attempted duckunders. Tchetchelashvili hits a takedown to lead 5-5 on criteria with 1:50 left in the match. Henckel hits a takedown to reclaim the lead 7-5 with a minute left in the match. A double-leg from Henckel as he gets two and a turn for a fall gives two more points to make his lead 11-5. Henchkel downs Tchetchelashvili 11-5.

13:40: Mahdi YOUSEFI (IRI) downs defending 79kg champion Alp Arsalan BEGENJOV (TKM) 6-4, avenging his 10-0 loss to the Turkmenistan wrestler from last year. Begenjov had a 1-1 criteria lead after a stepout but Yousefi scored a stepout and Begenjov called for a medical timeout. With a 2-1 lead for Yousefi, the bout restarted in par terre and the Iranian managed to turn Begenjov for two points to lead 4-1 with 1:53 left in the match. Yousefi then stopped a duckunder and scored a takedown but Begenjov managed a takedown to make it 6-3. Yousefi was fleeing during that attack for which he was cautioned and bout restarted in par terre with 6-4 lead for Yousefi. Begenjov failed to turn Yousefi from par terre, ending his title defense.

13:25: World U17 champion Vasif BAGHIROV (AZE) has reached the quarterfinal at 57kg as he looks to add a U20 world title to his name. He will face Sumit MALIK (IND).

13:15: Kamil KURUGLIYEV (KAZ) launched Connor MIRASOLA (USA) for a counter chest wrap four-pointer and then adds couple of stepouts to lead 6-1. Mirasola comes out on top in one of the scrambles to make it 6-3 with a minute left in the bout. Kurugliyev with a stepout and Mirasola with a takedown but the Kazakh returning bronze medalist wins 7-5 and advances to the 92kg quarterfinals.

13:00: Nurdanat AITANOV (KAZ), Asian U20 silver medalist, runs off to a 14-3 technical superiority win over Anthony KNOX (USA) at 57kg to enter the quarterfinals. 

12:55: Sumit MALIK (IND) pulls off a last-second victory over Rin SAKAMOTO (JPN), who will be at 57kg for the senior World Championships as well for Japan. Malik was down 10-1 but somehow mounted a comeback in the second period with a four-pointer and a takedown to make it 10-7. He scored another takedown to score 10-9 with 7 seconds left. Sakamoto wins but India challenge for a singlet-foul which on review is confirmed and a 10-10 win for Malik.

12:40: Aliasghar TATHASHTIKEH (IRI) managed to come within one point distance of Amal DZHANDUBAEV (UWW) in the 65kg bout but goes down 10-9. Dzhandubaev, the European U20 champion, led comfortably before his conditioning struggles became evident. Three takedowns for Tathashtikeh to make it 10-8 with 20 seconds left on the clock but the Iranian managed only a stepout.

12:20: Mahdi YOUSEFI (IRI) with a fall over Narek NIKOGHOSYAN (ARM) at 79kg after building an 8-0 lead. On Mat C, defending champion at 79kg Alp Arsalan BEGENJOV (TKM) with two big moves to win 11-0 against Gan Erdene BAATARKHUU (MGL)

12:10: Yerkhan ABIL (KAZ) is too much for returning bronze medalist at 79kg Leandro ARAUJO (BRA) as the Kazakh wrestler wins 6-0. Totally shut down Araujo in that bout.

12:05: European U20 champion Davit TCHETCHELASHVILI (GEO) pins Antoni MAJCHRZAK (POL) on the mat after a four-pointer and gets the victory via fall.

12:00: In a thrilling repechage bout, returning silver medalist Ladarion LOCKETT (USA) scores a takedown with 3 seconds left to beat European U20 champion Manuel WAGIN (GER) at 74kg. Wagin hit a front headlock four-point throw to lead 5-4 but Lockett somehow managed to overturn the result of a heated bout.

11:40: Anthony KNOX (USA), wrestling internationally for the first time, doesn't waste much time and beats Mykola BRATOV (UKR) via technical superiority at 57kg.

11:30: Anar JAFARLI (AZE) hangs on for a 3-2 win against Orazmuhammet HOJALYYEV (TKM) at 92kg. Tough match for Jafarli, a returning bronze medalist.

11:25: Magomed OZDAMIROV (UWW) with a beautiful arm-throw against Arshia HADDADI (IRI) for four points. Haddadi could never recover and loses his first bout at 57kg 6-1. 

11:15: Viktor BOROHAN (UKR) with a four-pointer to take the lead 4-4 on criteria against ASHWANI (IND) and win at 65kg. The European U20 silver medalist over Asian U20 silver medalist

11:10: Leg lace is what Amal DZHANDUBAEV (UWW) gets to win his first bout at 65kg against Agha GASIMOV (AZE). Dzhandubaev is the European U20 and U23 champion this year.

11:05: Returning 79kg bronze medalist Mohammad YOUSEFI (IRI) warms up with a 10-0 win over Ion MARCU (MDA). Yousefi is a senior Asian champion this year.

11:00: Abdullah TOPRAK (TUR) comes out blazing with a takedown and then gut-wrenches Luke STANICH (USA) for an 8-0 lead. Toprak has some conditioning trouble and slowly feels the pressure of Stanich, who now has three takedowns to cut the lead to 8-6 with more than 2 minutes left in the bout. Stanich takedonw takedown to make it 8-8 and take the criteria lead. Toprak keeps going for Stanich's legs but the U.S. wrestler is quick to counter and score. He turns using a lace and now leads 16-8. He finishes with another takedown wins 18-8.

10:55: Muradkhan OMAROV (AZE), who won a silver medal at the European U20 Championships, had a slow start against David KODAKOV GIL (ESP) at 79kg but then jumps to a 9-2 lead as Kodakov Gil was seemingly passive. Omarov wins 9-2 and advances at 79kg

10:40: Defending 79kg champion Alp Arsalan BEGENJOV (TKM) starts off with a technical superiority win over Ivan ANDONOV (BUL). Begenjov gets on the scored with an activity point and then scores a takedown and turn to lead 5-0 at the break. He then counters with two chest wrap throws for four points to win 11-0.

10:35: Pan-Am U20 champion William HENCKEL (USA) raced to 5-0 lead against Maksat TABYLDYEV (KGZ) gets a few points back. Henckel, however, manages to hang on for a 8-5 win at 79kg. 

10:30: European U20 champion Davit TCHETCHELASHVILI (GEO) and Keyvan GHAREHDAGHI (JPN) in a back-and-forth bout at 79kg. But Tchetchelashvili manages to score every time Gharehdaghi scores. Eventually, the Georgian manages to win 12-8.

10:00: The day will start with the repechage from Sunday's weight classes and then move to qualifications of today's weights beginning with 79kg.