#BeachWrestlingWorldSeries

Georgian Men, Brazilian Women Sweep Beach Gold in Rio

By Tim Foley

RIO DE JANEIRO (May 11) – Brazilian funk music thumped Saturday afternoon as four of the nation’s beach wrestling women captured gold at the second stop of the Beach Wrestling World Series (BWWS). The Brazilian side, who laughed and danced their way to the unlikely quadruple gold also each collected 1000 CHF for winning their respective weight classes at the event.

Kamila BARBOSA (50kg), Camila FAMA (60kg), Brenda AGUIAR DOS SANTOS (70kg), and Aline DA SILVA FERREIRA (BRA) each cruised their way to gold over the course of the two-day event, creating a buzz among the hometown crowd.

“It was so special to win all four gold medals and to do it here in Rio,” said Fama. “I’m so happy with the way that we wrestled and love beach wrestling!”

As with the first BWWS stop in Portugal the mood in Rio was festive with wrestlers from a dozen nations mingling and dancing between their turns in the wrestling circle.

Also similar to the first stop, four Georgians made the finals of the event, only this time all four Georgians managed to take home top billing. The effort was led by ever-smiling Dato MARSAGISHVILI (90kg) who managed a tough-fought final versus two-time world champion Muhammed INAM (PAK), 2-0.

“This is very fun,” said Marsagishvili. “I enjoy beach wrestling and the competition was good.”

The Georgians were on top of their wrestling throughout the two-day event, scoring a number of close victories and big throws. The former mat wrestlers used a combination of snap downs and leg snatches to earn a combined 20 victories in the sand.

The BWWS awards 1000 CHF to gold medalists, 500 CHF to silver medalists, and 250 CHF to bronze medalists. The fans at each event also vote for their favorite “Best Throw” of the event. The Rio winner for “Best Throw” was Semen RADULOV (UKR) who won 1000 CHF for his blast double leg on day one of the competition.

Ukraine will host the third stop with Odessa entertaining athletes at the Beach Wrestling World Series on August 9-10. The fourth and final stop will be the 2019 Beach Wrestling World Championships in Zagreb, Croatia on September 6-7.

Men's Beach Wrestling

70kg
GOLD: Levan KELEKHSASHVILI (GEO)
SILVER: Semen RADULOV (UKR)
BRONZE: Reece HUMPHREY (USA)

80kg
GOLD: Davit KHUTSISHVILI (GEO)

SILVER: Ibrahim YUSUBOV (AZE)
BRONZE: Efe Sami UNAL (TUR)

90kg
GOLD: Dato MARSAGISHVILI (GEO)
SILVER: Muhammad INAM (PAK)
BRONZE: Kanan ALIYEV (AZE)

+90kg
GOLD: Mamuka KORDZAIA (GEO)

SILVER: Oyan NAZARIANI (AZE)
BRONZE: Ioannis KARGIOTAKIS (GRE)

Women's Beach Wrestling

50kg
GOLD: Kamila BARBOSA VITO DA SILVA (BRA)

SILVER: Susana Paula DE ALMEIDA DOS SANTOS (BRA)
BRONZE: Claudia Soledad CABRERA (ARG)

60kg
GOLD: Camila FAMA TRISTAO (BRA)

SILVER: Mehlika OZTURK (TUR)
BRONZE: Ana Luiza PEREIRA FRANCA (BRA)

70kg
GOLD: Brenda AGUIAR DOS SANTOS (BRA)
SILVER: Nikeli FERREIRA DE OLIVEIRA (BRA)
BRONZE: Sonia Marina PEREIRA BRAZIO (POR)

+70kg
GOLD: Aline DA SILVA FERREIRA (BRA)
SILVER: Aysegul OZBEGE (TUR)

BRONZE: Dailane GOMES DOS REIS (BRA)

#WrestleIstanbul

LIVE BLOG: U17 World Championships, Day One

By Eric Olanowski

ISTANBUL, Turkiye (July 31) --- The opening day of wrestling at the 2023 U17 World Championships kicks off with Greco-Roman action at 48kg, 55kg, 65kg, 80kg and 110kg. We'll wrestle through the semifinals today before crowning our first champions on Tuesday night.

Today, we'll have 29 continental medalists wrestling, including ten gold medalists from the 2023 Asian, European, African or Pan-American Championships.

Here's a list of the reigning continental champs in action on Monday:
48kg - Murat KHATIT (AIN)
48kg - Karim ELEMARY (EGY)
55kg - Ahmed SHABAN (EGY) 
55kg - Mohammadreza GHOLAMI (IRI)
65kg - Petros ASHKARYAN (ARM)
65kg- Mohamed ABDELREHIM (EGY)
80kg - Seef ABDALAZIZ (EGY)
110kg - Mohamed AHMED (EGY)
110kg - Saba CHILASHVILI (GEO)
110kg - Amirhossein Morad ABDEVALI (IRI)

Monday's semifinal matchups:
48kg

Shakhzod RUZIOKHUNOV (UZB) vs. Edgar PETROSYAN (ARM) 
Payam Farzad AHMADI BALOOTAKI (IRI) vs. Murat KHATIT (AIN) 

55kg
Halil CINAR (TUR) vs. Suraj SURAJ (IND) 
Jordyn Paul RANEY (USA) vs. Mohammadreza Gholamreza GHOLAMI (IRI) 

65kg
Giorgi TCHIKAIDZE (GEO) vs. Zaur BESLEKOEV (AIN) 
Yusif AHMADLI (AZE) vs. Islombek KARIMJONOV (UZB) 

80kg
Uladzislau DUBROUSKI (AIN) vs. Taizo YOSHIDA (JPN) 
Eleftherios PAPPAS (GRE) vs. Mikhail SHKARIN (AIN) 

110kg
Amirhossein Morad ABDEVALI (IRI) vs. Cemal Yusuf BAKIR (TUR) 
Eldar EMIROV (AIN) vs. Ronak RONAK (IND) 

13:49: That'll do it for the morning session. We'll see you back at 18:00 for tonight's semifinals.

14:35: Interesting note: Amirhossein Morad ABDEVALI (IRI), who just punched his ticket to tonight's semifinals, is the younger brother of world champion and Rio Olympic bronze medalist Saeiv ABDEVALI (IRI).

13:55: We're rolling right into the quarterfinals. This will be the last round before we take our break. Tonight's semifinals will start at 18:00 (local time).

13:22: The Iranian big man  Amirhossein Morad ABDEVALI (IRI) extends his record to 5-0 this season with his 8-0 win over  Tsimafei LAZAR (AIN). He'll take on the winner of  Andreas Samuel KERN (SVK) and Ryosei KATAMATSU (JPN) for a spot in the 110kg quarterfinals.

12:48: After a slow start, Gholami got his motor running in the second period. He trailed 1-0 after the first but stopped an unneeded throw attempt from Takahashi to pick up his first two points of the match. While in par terre, the reigning Asian champion threw his Japanese foe for four and extended his lead to five points. He listened to his corner, who were yelling "Get to your two-on-one" and finish the match, which is exactly what he did.

Gholami will likely take on Yuri KARAPETYAN (ARM) next as the Armenian is up 10-6 on Mario Andrei MARIUT (NOR) with less than a minute to go.

12:40: Tchikaidze just trailed 4-1 with less than a minute left but put six points on the board late in the second frame, avenging his U17 European finals loss to Ashkaryan. He awaits the winner of Jure RAJKOVIC (CRO) and Constantin LUNGU (ROU)

12:36: Reigning U17 world runner-up and defending U17 Asian champion Mohammadreza GHOLAMI (IRI) is set to take on Shu TAKAHASHI (JPN) next on Mat A. 

12:21: The rematch from the 65kg U17 European finals between Ashkaryan and Tchikaidze is next on Mat A. In their last meeting, the Armenian wrestler won, 5-3.

12:11: Despite only scoring one additional point after the opening four-point flurry, Matevosyan punched his ticket to the second round with a 5-0 over win Abdalaziz. He'll wrestle Mikhail SHKARIN (AIN) for a spot in the 80kg quarterfinals.

11:51: Erik TER MATEVOSYAN (ARM) just took an early 4-0 lead on U17 African champion Seef ABDALAZIZ (EGY) over on Mat A.

11:26: Jordyn RANEY (USA) just took out U17 African champion Ahmed SHABAN (EGY), 8-0. The American led 4-0 after the first, then stopped an Egyptian throw attempt before ending the match with a gut wrench. Raney will wrestle Shu Wei CHUNG (TPE) next.

11:13: U17 European Petros ASHKARYAN (ARM) stays undefeated on the season, picking up an early 8-0 win over Turkiye's Ibrahim Hayri AYDEMIR (TUR). He'll wrestle the winner of Giorgi TCHIKAIDZE (GEO) and Ihar ANOSHKA (AIN). If Tchikaidze wins that match, it'll set up a rematch from this year's U17 European finals between Ashkaryan and Tchikaidze.

11:00: The first whistle has been blown, which means that World Championship season is officially underway.