#WrestleBelgrade

Fujinami pulls out of Belgrade Worlds with foot injury

Wednesday, September 7, 2022 - 20:01 By Ken Marantz

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TOKYO (Sept. 7)--Reigning world champion and top seed Akari FUJINAMI (JPN) will not be defending her title at the upcoming World Championships in Belgrade after suffering a left foot injury, Japan national women's team coach Ryo KANEHAMA said on Wednesday.

According to the Japan Wrestling Federation website, Kanehama said in an online press conference that the 18-year-old Fujinami, who was to defend her 53kg title in Belgrade, suffered ligament damage to the instep of her left foot while sparring during the first day of a national team training camp in late August.

Press reports said that Fujinami, who was on crutches after the injury, is able to put enough weight on the foot to walk, but it has not healed sufficiently to wrestle in matches. She is expected to need eight weeks to fully recover.

Japan will not send a replacement in the weight class.

"From this point, there are many important competitions ahead," Kanehama was quoted as saying. "To keep from making [the injury] worse, we made this decision today."

Kanehama was mainly referring to the All-Japan Championships in December, which will be the starting point for the qualifying process for the 2024 Paris Olympics. It is there Fujinami is expected to clash for the first time with Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Mayu SHIDOCHI (formerly MUKAIDA), who is entered at 55kg in Belgrade.

Fujinami, who currently has a 103-match winning streak that dates back to her junior high school days in 2017, won the world title in Oslo last year in her first senior international tournament, winning all four of her matches by technical fall without conceding a point.

'I was destroyed, couldn't sleep': Ghasempour recalls painful loss to Sadulaev

Monday, March 10, 2025 - 10:53 By Vinay Siwach

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TIRANA, Albania (March 10) -- "I've thought about it a lot. Of course, it's in the past and thinking about it won't change anything. But I've thought a lot about why I made a mistake in those four seconds and I could have managed the wrestling differently and finished it very easily."

Kamran GHASEMPOUR (IRI) stares at the empty walls of the interview room as he recalls the heartbreaking and shocking 5-3 loss to Abdulrashid SADULAEV (UWW) in the semifinal of the World Championships last October.

The images of Ghasempour holding his head in hands after the loss went viral on social media. Sadulaev was praised for his champion mindset and his ability to script a remarkable late turnaround. Ghasempour was consoled by his fans, who urged him to not lose heart.

Those comforting words felt hollow at that point and Ghasempour felt 'lost'.

"The reality is that the fighting spirit and the feeling I had on the first day of the competition caused all those feelings to disappear and I was destroyed. I couldn't control myself and I just wanted the competition to end and go back," Ghasmepour says, with his voice breaking as he recollects his thoughts.

For 5 minutes and 55 seconds, Ghasempour controlled the 92kg semifinal against Sadulaev, a two-time Olympic champion known for his must-win attitude. A loss would have reinforced the belief that the Sauldaev aura was fading. A win for Ghasempour, a two-time world champion at 92kg, would make him only the third wrestler to beat Sadulaev.

But with five seconds remaining, Sadulaev snapped the Iranian down, spun behind, then managed to fling him to the mat for a 4-point takedown.

Kamran GHASEMPOUR (IRI)Abdulrashid SADULAEV (UWW), behind, hits the match-winning takedown on Kamran GHASEMPOUR (IRI). (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

"It was also very difficult for me to come to terms with the loss," Ghasempour recalls. "After the match, I felt very bad and didn't sleep all night. I was awake from the intensity of thought and pressure, and it was very difficult for me. Due to the pressure I was under, I took four painkillers after the match."

A few hours of sleep was never going to be enough for Ghasempour to return for his bronze-medal bout against David TAYLOR (USA), which he lost 6-2.

Four months have passed since that day in Tirana, a city Ghasempour returned for the Muhamet Malo Ranking Series last week and captured the gold medal. Though not the World Championships and there was no Sadulaev in the field, Ghasempour managed to bring a smile on his face as he stood on the podium.

However, memories flashed back.

"When I was going up to the podium [after winning gold], I thought again that I could have been standing on the Worlds podium a few months ago, not this tournament," he said. "But that's how sports is, and if a professional athlete wants to continue their path, they must know that winning and losing are part of sports."

Kamran GHASEMPOUR (IRI)Kamran GHASEMPOUR (IRI) won the 92kg gold medal at the Muhamet Malo Ranking Series in February. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Ghasempour did take comfort from the messages he received. Yet, he is unable to move on from those five seconds of lapse in concentration.

"People gave me a lot of good energy and praised me constantly, which shows the kindness of the people," he says. "But what I wanted didn't happen and the result wasn't as I wanted. It would have been better if it ended with a good result."

As the new Olympic cycle begins, Ghasempour wants to make amends. There will be many pit stops before he can be at his first Olympics and he wants to capture every gold medal that comes his way.

"There are three more World Championships left before the Olympics [in 2028]," he says. "The World Championships are very important to me, and after that, it's the Olympic medal that I want to have in my medal showcase. In the year leading up to the Olympics, I will make the decision and compete in a weight class so that I can participate in the Olympics."