#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

#WrestleBudapest

Ranking Series: Tazhudinov wins gold; Sujeet, Suda champions in Budapest

Thursday, July 17, 2025 - 08:07 By Vinay Siwach

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BUDAPEST, Hungary (July 17) -- The final Ranking Series of the season begins Thursday in Budapest with seven Freestyle weight classes -- 57kg, 61kg, 65kg, 70kg, 79kg, 97kg and 125kg.

WATCH LIVE | LIVE MATCH ORDER | FREESTYLE PREVIEW

19:55: Bahrain gets a second gold medal as Shamil SHARIPOV (BRN) hangs on for a 5-3 win over Dzianis KHRAMIANKOU (UWW) in the 125kg final.

19:35: Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN) makes it another 11-0 victory and wins gold medal at 97kg. That is his fourth technical superiority win today. Since his Paris gold, Tazhudinov wrestled in Spain and won gold and now adds a second in two weeks.

19:10: Vladimeri GAMKRELIDZE (GEO) is so good in his defense and he uses it to great effect and beats Magomet EVLOEV (TJK) 5-0 and takes the gold medal at 79kg at the Budapest Ranking Series.

18:35: Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN) wins Ranking Series gold medal at 70kg after beating Arman ANDREASYAN (ARM) 8-0 in the final. Just a really strong performance overall as he gets ready for World Championships.

18:10: SUJEET (IND) gives India a Ranking Series gold medal in Freestyle after beating Ali RAHIMZADE (AZE). A bit of Bajrang PUNIA (IND) in Sujeet as he only gives up a activity point in the first period and upped the pace in the second scoring two takedowns and point for activity to win the gold medal.

17:45: Takara SUDA (JPN) with a buzzer-beating four-pointer in the 61kg final to win gold medal! Suda was down 3-1 against Taiyrbek ZHUMASHBEK UULU (KGZ) with 10 seconds remaining. Suda snaps Zhumashbek Uulu and then brings him down on the mat. Zhamashbek Uulu tries to defend but in clearly on his back and Suda has control. Suda is awarded a 3-3 criteria win.

Kyrgyzstan challenges but that is awarded four points to Suda and he wins 5-3

17:20: Luke LILLEDAHL (USA) is the champion at 57kg after he pulls off a takedown in the last 25 seconds against Islam BAZARGANOV (AZE). Both wrestlers exchanged activity points and Lilledahl led 1-1 on criteria but he scored a takedown to pull off a clear 3-1 victory.

17:00: The medal bouts in all weight classes begin now. The bronze medals will be held on Mat B and C while the gold-medal bout will be on Mat B.

Budapest Ranking Series 2025 Day 1 Semifinal Report

Olympic champions Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN), who wrestled at the Grand Prix of Spain last week in his first tournament since Paris Olympics, reached the 97kg final at the Budapest Ranking Series on Thursday.

Wrestling only in his third-ever Ranking Series, Tazhudinov posted three straight technical superiority wins and entered the final against Zbigniew BARANOWSKI (POL).

Opening his day with a 14-2 win, Tazhudinov manhandled Adlan VISKHANOV (FRA) and capitalized on the half-hearted attacks of the French wrestler. He hit a big double-leg attack for four points but Viskhanov got two points for exposure.

But that was only opening Tazhudinov allowed for the rest of the bout. Viskhanov tried a few leg attacks but Tazhudinov scored a takedown and two turns to be up 10-2 before an arm-bar attempt turned into takedown for his win.

Aliaksandr HUSHTYN (UWW) was next and Tazhudinov needed just a minute to beat him. In the semifinals, he took 1 minute and 48 seconds to see off Merab SULEIMANISHVILI (GEO), 10-0.

Baranowski had a contradictory run to the final as he won 6-6 on criteria against Jonathan AIELLO (USA) before a 7-5 victory over VICKY (IND) in the quarterfinals. He improved the score line to 7-3 in the semifinal against Juhwan SEO (KOR).

In other weight classes, world U20 champion Luke LILLEDAHL (USA) needed two last-second wins in quarterfinals and semifinals to book a place in the final. He defeated Niklas STECHELE (GER) 4-2 with a pushout in the last second and then handed RAHUL (IND) a 7-6 loss with a takedown in the final moments.

He will take on Islam BAZARGANOV (AZE) for the gold medal after the Azerbaijan wrestler beat Roberti DINGASHVILI (GEO), 5-2.

Asian champion at 61kg Takara SUDA (JPN) showed why he one of the medal threats at the World Championships in Zagreb. Suda wrestled two bouts before reaching the final and won them without much trouble. He began with a 12-2 win over Giorgi GONIASHVILI (GEO) and then posted a 4-3 win over Assylzhan YESSENGELDI (KAZ).

He will face Taiyrbek ZHUMASHBEK UULU (KGZ) in the final after the Kyrgyzstan beat his compatriot Bekzat ALMAZ UULU (KGZ), 3-2. A win against Suda in the final can be a huge confidence booster for the Kyrgyz wrestler.

At 65kg, SUJEET (IND) was a surprise finalist after he got the better of Paris Olympic medalist Islam DUDAEV (ALB), 11-0, and then beat Vazgen TEVANYAN (ARM), 6-1, in the semifinals.

He will take on Ali RAHIMZADE (AZE) in the final who defeated Alibeg ALIBEGOV (BRN), 9-2, in the other semifinal.

At 70kg, Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN) and Arman ANDREASYAN (ARM) set up the final which will be a clash between two continental silver medalists. Aoyagi was in red-hot form in Budapest and outscored his opponents 28-3 before the final.

Vladimeri GAMKRELIDZE (GEO), after his small quest at 86kg, returned to 79kg and made it to the final in Budapest after a 2-0 win over Bolat SAKAYEV (KAZ) in the semifinal. He will face Asian silver medalist Magomet EVLOEV (TJK) in the final. The Tajik stunned Georgios KOUGIOUMTSIDIS (GRE) in the semifinal using a cradle in just 21 seconds.

Kougioumtsidis dominated his matches till the semifinals but could not stop Evloev from finishing the cradle and had to make his way to the bronze-medal bout instead of gold.