#WrestleTirana

Friday's U23 World Championships semifinals set

Friday, October 27, 2023 - 08:58 By Eric Olanowski

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TIRANA, Albania (October 27) --- Welcome back to Albania for Day Five of the 2023 U23 World Championships. Today, we’ll pass the baton to the Greco-Roman wrestlers at 60kg, 67kg, 72kg, 82kg and 97kg.

Top Stars in Action:
60kg: Nihad GULUZADE (AZE) – U23 world silver
60kg: Melkamu FETENE (ISR) – U23 world bronze
67kg: Gagik Mishai SNJOYAN (FRA) - U23 world silver
72kg: Diego CHKHIKVADZE (GEO) – U23 world bronze
82kg - Karlo KODRIC (CRO) – U23 world silver
97kg - Alex Gergo SZOKE (HUN) – U23 world gold
97kg - Nitesh NITESH (UWW) – U23 world bronze

Semifinal matches (As they come in): 

60kg
Sumit SUMIT (UWW) vs. Anvar ALLAKHIAROV (AIN)
Mert ILBARS (TUR) vs. Romeo BERIDZE (GEO)

67kg
Hasan MAMMADLI (AZE) vs. Sultan ASSETULY (KAZ)
HARUTO YABE (JPN) vs. Mustafa Safa YILDIRIM (TUR)

72kg
Irfan MIRZOIEV (UKR) vs. Michael PORTMANN (SUI)
Shant KHACHATRYAN (ARM) vs. Dmitrii ADAMOV (AIN)

82kg
Aues GONIBOV (AIN) vs. Ruslan ABDIIEV (UKR)
Alperen BERBER (TUR) vs. Emad Ashraf Mohamed ABOUELATTA (EGY)

97kg
Hayk KHLOYAN (ARM) vs. Pavel HLINCHUK (AIN)
Mustafa OLGUN (TUR) vs. Yuri NAKAZATO (JPN)

13:43: I'm still waiting for the system to update to post tonight's semifinal matches. Once everything is updated, I'll put the matches above.

13:23: Yabe upsets U23 world bronze medalist Snjoyan and moves into tonight's 67kg semifinals against Mustafa Safa YILDIRIM (TUR).

13:17: Reigning U23 world bronze medalist Gagik Mishai SNJOYAN (FRA) is in a tight match on Mat C with Japan's HARUTO YABE (JPN). Yabe leads 4-4 on criteria with a minute to go.

13:09: Emad Ashraf Mohamed ABOUELATTA (EGY) just doubled up on four-pointers, punching his ticket to the 82kg semifinals with a 9-0 win over Tyler Adam EISCHENS (USA).

12:55: We're going to start the quarterfinals now on all mats so I'll post the semifinal matches as they come in. 

12:35: There's your upset of the day. Lucas LAZOGIANIS (GER) just took out reigning U23 world champion Alex Gergo SZOKE (HUN). Lazogianis was down 3-0 but ended up scoring four points to win 4-4 on criteria.

13:13: You hate to see it against a hometown athlete, but  Hasan MAMMADLI (AZE) just made Albania's Ardit ZENELI (ALB) back bend in a way that should be illegal. I'll post the video above.

13:06: It looks like they are going to give Muslim IMADAEV (AIN) the fall over returning U23 world bronze medalist Diego CHKHIKVADZE (GEO). Imadaev was behind 2-1 with :50 left when he went to a four-point head pinch. After a failed challenge that gave the Neutral Athlete the 6-2 advantage, Imadaev stopped a flying squirrel attempt by planting Chkhikvade on his back for the fall.

I'll work on getting up the video of the final slam because it was pretty impressive.

12:54: World medalists Nitesh, Chkhikvadze and Guluzade are all coming up now on Mat A. That's three world medalists coming up in the next four matches.

12:38: We're getting closer on the Szoke watch. He's five matches out on Mat B. 

12:23: Tetsuto KANUKA (JPN) just launched Anil ANIL (UWW) twice in 15 seconds to pick up the 11-2 win. The match was tied 2-2 before Kanuka went four, then five on Anil. I'll work on getting the clip up right now so you can see how beautiful the two throws were.

12:12: The noise you hear from the crowd is coming from Mat C, where Dmitrii ADAMOV (AIN) just took out hometown boy Klodjan SHEHU (ALB), 9-0, in the 72kg 1/8 round.

12:08: That match was crazy! It was a rollercoaster of emotions for Abuladze, but he stayed strapped in and picked up the 9-8 victory. At one point of the match, Abuladze went for a pushout and was so successful that he pushed Olsson off the mat and the stage, planting him on his rear end on the floor of the arena.

12:04: The current match on Mat A between Miru Jerry OLSSON (SWE) and Otar ABULADZE (GEO) has been action-packed thus far. Olsson went down 3-0 but gave up eight unanswered points and is currently leading 8-3 with a minute left.

11:45: It's been a slow morning thus far. We're still waiting for a chunk of these stars to have their first matches. We still have at least seven matches before Gagik Mishai SNJOYAN (FRA), Diego CHKHIKVADZE (GEO), Nitesh NITESH (UWW) and Nihad GULUZADE (AZE) come up on Mat A.

But once we get to Snjoyan, the stars will be rolling through match after match.

11:22: After bout 492 wraps up on Mat C, we'll welcome Karlo KODRIC (CRO) to Albania. Last year, Kodric fell to Exauce MUKUBU (NOR) in the finals, becoming the fourth Croatian Greco-Roman wrestler to reach the finals but settle for U23 world silver. 

11:15: The biggest storyline we're following today is the return of Alex SZOKE (HUN) after nearly eight months off the mat. Earlier this year, Szoke, the reigning U23 world champion, underwent surgery on his back after the Thor Masters in March.

Development

New Referee and Rules Courses coming to the UWW Academy

Monday, December 9, 2024 - 13:34 By United World Wrestling Press

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CORSIER-VEVEY, Switzerland (December 9) --- The Development Department and Referee Commission will launch a series of courses centered around Olympic wrestling and refereeing rules. Evaluating holds and situations are not always easy and can be very complex.  These courses are designed to highlight specific and more complicated rules in hopes of providing a better understanding of how situations are being evaluated. Over the next year, will be 10 courses developed and published on the UWW Academy site.

“We are excited to announce new courses on the UWW Academy Platform, designed to elevate refereeing standards and promote excellence across all levels. These courses cover essential topics such as attack-counterattack actions, evaluation of holds, takedown and control, and out-of-bounds situations," said Antonio Silvestri. "As Head of the Refereeing Commission, I encourage all referees—experienced or starting out—to take advantage of these courses. Continuous learning is key to our success, and these courses will help us maintain the highest standards of integrity, fairness, and professionalism in every match. Let's keep raising the bar together." 

The first course on Attack vs Counterattack situations has been published on the Academy site. Attack vs Counterattack situations are referees' most complicated and challenging situations to evaluate. This course will try to highlight how these situations are evaluated and what questions referees must answer during an action. While this course and the others are centered around referees, they are available and encouraged to be completed by all wrestling stakeholders.

The Attack vs Counterattack course will begin with background information and the rules which include video examples.  Then the course will provide 10 specific video examples along with explanations. Next the participants will practice their video analysis with 10 videos.  The course will finish with a 15-video quiz. All the courses that will be published will follow a similar format.

The UWW Academy is the official educational platform for United World Wrestling. It offers numerous courses on coaching, referees, rules, sports administration, and beach wrestling. The academy also offers additional resources, performance analysis metrics from major UWW events, videos, and the Wrestle4Fun curriculum. It is free and available to all participants. To get started and create your free profile, please visit  https://academy.uww.org/.