#WrestleAlmaty

Geraei Dominates Ryu in Greco 67kg Final After Both Qualify for Tokyo

Friday, April 9, 2021 - 16:42 By Ken Marantz

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ALMATY, Kazakhstan (April 9) --- Mohammadreza GERAEI (IRI), having already assured he will join his older brother at the Tokyo Olympics, made a statement that gives an indication of how he might do when he gets there.

Geraei put on an impressive performance in dismantling veteran Hansu RYU (KOR) in the Greco-Roman 67kg final at the Asian Olympic qualifying tournament on Friday night, winning by 9-0 technical fall.

As both wrestlers had qualified for Tokyo with victories in the semifinals in the afternoon session, pride was on the line and Geraei looked sharp in ending the match at the spectator-less Baluan Sholak Palace of Culture and Sports in 3:45.

"It's a good day," Geraei said. "I won all of my bouts without giving a point. So I am proud. I come from a wrestling family and my brother always supports me and pushes me."

Geraei, the 2019 Asian champion, took a commanding lead from the first par terre position, reverse lifting the 33-year-old Ryu and slamming him to the mat for a 5-0 lead. In the second period, he countered a back drop by the former world champion that again sent him to his back for 4 points and the victory.

Geraei won all four of his matches by fall or technical fall in a weight class that, because it had no Olympic qualifiers from the 2019 World Championships, was particularly deep and included the world silver medalist at 72kg.

"My body was prepared for the tournament and I was able to do exactly what I had planned," said the 24-year-old Geraei. "In Almaty I achieved the next level with my performance."

Geraei's older brother Mohammadali GERAEI (IRI) had already qualified for the Tokyo Olympics at 77kg by placing third at the Nursultan worlds.

"It's a honor to go to Olympics with my brother," the younger Geraei said. "I hope he can help me reach my goal of winning the Olympic gold medal. Having him there is great as a support system and partner and teacher."

For Ryu, the loss was a disappointment, but hardly dissaudes him from his goal of capturing an elusive Olympic medal.

"I am not satisfied with myself," he said. "The Olympics is an important tournament and this was just the qualification so at the Olympics, I will do my best. During training, I always remind myself that it is for the Tokyo Olympics so I'm planning to train sincerely.

"Now I have medals at Worlds, Asian, Asian Games, but I missed an Olympics one," said Ryu, who has a combined five gold medals from Asian Games and Asian Championships, including in 2020. "I'll do my best to get an Olympic medal."

As for how long he will continue, Ryu says the 2022 Asian Games in Hanghou, China, are in the cards. "I'll do wrestling until next year's Asian Games," he said. What about Paris 2024? "No I don't have an idea to participate at Paris Olympics. I'll retire. Too old."

Kyrgyzstan, which sent three wrestlers into the finals, came with two champions in Zholaman SHARSHENBEKOV (KGZ)  at 60kg and Akzhol MAKHMUDOV (KGZ) at 77kg.

Sharshenbekov, last year's Asian silver medalist, held on for a 4-3 victory over 2018 world bronze medalist Sailike WALIHAN (CHN). He took a 4-0 lead into the second period, then held on after Walihan scored a takedown and gained the par terre position.

Likewise, Makhmudov built up a 7-0 lead in the first period against Shohei YABIKU (JPN), then kept his composure as the Japanese chipped away at it with three points but nothing more.

In a clash of the most recent Asian gold medalists at 97kg, reigning champion Mohammadhadi SARAVI (IRI) handily defeated his predecessor Uzur DZHUZUPBEKOV (KGZ), finishing off a 10-0 technical fall early in the second period.

Saravi completed two gut wrenches in the par terre position to take a 5-0 lead in the first period. Just 15 seconds in the second, he countered an attack and slammed Dzhuzupbekov to his back as they went off the mat for a 4-point move. An unsuccessful challenge added the 10th point.

The other two finals went uncontested due to defaults. Nursultan TURSYNOV (KAZ) gained the 87kg title over Fei PENG (CHN), who appeared to have injured his near in his semifinal win, while Muminjon ABDULLAEV (UZB) accepted the 130kg gold without a fight from Minseok KIM (KOR).

Anyone with the notion that those in the bronze-medal matches would be less than motivated after missing out on Olympic spots need only to have watched the performance of Yanan CHEN (CHN) at 97kg.

On the verge of a technical fall loss to Jahongir TURDIEV (UZB), the unheralded Chen never gave up in the face of a 9-2 deficit and used a duck under to a powerful half-nelson that sent the Uzbek to his back. That's where the match ended, with Chen recording a fall in 4:19.

Greco-Roman Results

60kg
GOLD - Zholaman SHARSHENBEKOV (KGZ)  df. Sailike WALIHAN (CHN), 4-3
BRONZE - Firuz MIRZORAJABOV (TJK) df. Mohammad ALAJMI (KUW) 4-2
BRONZE -Hanjae CHUNG (KOR) df. Gyandender GYANDENDER (IND), 4-3

67kg
GOLD - Mohammadreza GERAEI (IRI) df. Hansu RYU (KOR) by TF, 9-0, 3:45
BRONZE - Aram VARDANYAN (UZB) df. Azatjan ACHILOV (TKM) by TF, 11-2, 4:05
BRONZE - Ashu ASHU (IND) df. Sheroz OCHILOV (TJK), 8-1

77kg
GOLD - Akzhol MAKHMUDOV (KGZ) df. Shohei YABIKU (JPN), 7-3
BRONZE - Singh GURPREET (IND) df. Rabie KHALIL (PLE) by Default
BRONZE - Hujun ZHANG (CHN) df. Habibjon Zuhurov (TJK) by Fall, 2:07 (4-5)

87kg
GOLD - Nursultan TURSYNOV (KAZ) df. Fei PENG (CHN) by Default
BRONZE - Masato SUMI (JPN) df. Kumar SUNIL (IND) by TF, 10-1, 5:21
BRONZE - Jinhyeok KIM (KOR) df. Hossein NOURI (IRI) by Default

97kg
GOLD - Mohammadhadi SARAVI (IRI) df. Uzur DZHUZUPBEKOV (KGZ) by TF, 10-0, 3:15
BRONZE - Yanan CHEN (CHN) df. Jahongir TURDIEV (UZB) by Fall, 4:19 (4-9)
BRONZE - Seyeol LEE (KOR) df. Ravi RAVI (IND), 3-1

130kg
GOLD - Muminjon ABDULLAEV (UZB) df. Minseok KIM (KOR) by Default
BRONZE - Lingzhe MENG (CHN) df. Naveen NAVEEN (IND), 5-1

#WrestleAlmaty

Olympic Veteran Orchirbat Nabs Mongolia Ticket to Tokyo in Day’s Final Match

Saturday, April 10, 2021 - 15:47 By Ken Marantz

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ALMATY, Kazakhstan (April 10) --- Unlike everyone else who secured an Olympic berth in the women's competition at the Asian Olympic qualifying tournament, ageless Burmaa OCHIRBAT (MGL) had to wait until the evening session to clinch hers. And in the final bout of the day no less.

The veteran  -- who appeared at the inaugural Olympic women's wrestling competition at Athens 2004 and will turn 39 in May -- gave Mongolia a fourth Olympic berth from the tournament in Almaty when she finished second at 76kg.

Needing a victory to clinch the silver medal in the five-woman round-robin group, Ochirbat came through with a flurry of second-period points to build up a 10-1 lead before securing a fall at 5:27 over Shakhribonu ELLIEVA (UZB).

"This will be my third Olympics," said Ochirbat, who placed 10th in Athens and eighth at the 2012 London Games. "I am 39. This is very good and I am happy going back to Mongolia."

Ochirbat finished second with a 3-1 record behind 2020 Asian silver medalist Aiperi MEDET KYZY (KGZ), who completed all four of her matches in the afternoon and had already clinched the gold by going undefeated.

The pressure was on Ochirbat when Pooja POOJA (IND) scored a victory by fall over Seoyeon JEONG (KOR) in the preceding match to finish 2-2. Had Ochirbat lost to Ellieva and also finished 2-2, Pooja would have finished second because of her head-to-head victory over Ochirbat.

Ochirbat took nearly four years off after missing out on the Rio 2016 Olympics and had a baby, before returning to competition in April 2019. The three-time world medalist showed she still has it by finishing second at the 2020 Ivan Yarygin Grand Prix.

"I missed the Rio Olympics and even before that, I had stopped wrestling," she said. "I didn't know what to do but wrestle, so after a four-year break, I decided to come back, and now I qualified.

"I had a baby and after that, I was at home for a long time. But then I thought I should try for the Tokyo Olympics. Very recently I started training again."

It was a good day overall for the Mongolians, who now have five places at the Tokyo Olympics. The nation had previously secured a spot at 68kg at the 2019 World Championships in Nursultan.

Susaki adds to gold collection
Meanwhile, two-time world champion Yui SUSAKI (JPN), having achieved her primary goal of securing a place at the Olympics in her home country, added a bonus with another gold medal for her sprawling collection when she captured the 50kg title.

That weight class also had five entries and was conducted as a single round-robin group. In a showdown of wrestlers who had gone unbeaten in the afternoon session -- which had clinched Olympic spots for both -- Susaki had little trouble in dominating Namuuntsetseg TSOGT OCHIR (MGL).

Susaki rolled to a 10-0 technical fall in 1:49, giving her a combined time of 7:59 on the mat in four matches -- all technical falls, and without surrendering a point. While she finished off the final win with her trademark lace lock, she also scored with something a bit different for her, a front headlock roll.

"I was absolutely determined to seize this chance to qualify on my own," Susaki said of her performance. "I had the courage to be aggressive and go on the attack first, and the matches went as I wanted."

As for tossing all shutouts, Susaki said, "No matter what match it is, it was part of going for the Olympics and I stayed focused, so that was good."

For the 21-year-old from Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo where the wrestling venue for the Tokyo Olympics is located, the victory caps a long, delayed road to achieving of dream of qualifying for the chance of an Olympic gold.

"I'm really happy that I can now get down to the business of preparing for the Tokyo Olympics," she said. "Heading toward August, I will train even harder so I can win the gold medal."

In other finals, 2018 world bronze medalist Feng ZHOU (CHN) put together the kind of match that was missing in the afternoon to dominate 2019 world junior silver medalist Meerim ZHUMANAZAROVA (KGZ) with an 8-0 victory for the 68kg gold.

Zhou, who will head to Tokyo looking to vastly improve on a 12th-place finish at the Rio 2016 Olympics, had had to come from behind to eke out a 7-5 win over Zhumanazarova in the preliminary group match.

But in the rematch, the tall Chinese came out far more aggressively and scored early with a front headlock roll to take a 2-0 lead into the second period. She padded the lead with a spin-behind takedown and gut wrench, then added an 2-point exposure off a counter.

In the 57kg final, Khongorzul BOLDSAIKHAN (MGL) held on for a 7-4 win over Anshu ANSHU (IND) that went down to the wire.

Boldsaikhan, who scored a takedown and roll for a 4-1 lead early in the second period, had the advantage on criteria when Anshu tied the score at 4-all. In the final seconds, the Mongolian scored a takedown that was unsuccessfully challenged to clinch the victory.

The two other finals went uncontested due to injury defaults. Jia LONG (CHN) took the 62kg gold over rising star Sonam SONAM (IND), while Bolortuya BAT OCHIR (MGL) was awarded the 53kg gold over Tatyana AKHMETOVA AMANZHOL (KAZ).

Both Sonam and Akhmetova Amanzhol suffered knee injuries in their semifinal matches, and noticably limped onto the mat to concede in the finals.

Women's wrestling results

50kg 
GOLD -  Yui SUSAKI (JPN) 4-0
SILVER  - Namuuntsetseg TSOGT OCHIR (MGL) 3-1
BRONZE -  Dauletbike YAKHSHIMURATOVA (UZB) 2-2
Key Match: Yui SUSAKI (JPN) df. Namuuntsetseg TSOGT OCHIR (MGL) by TF, 10-0, 1:49, in Round 5

53kg
GOLD - Bolortuya BAT OCHIR (MGL) df. Tatyana AKHMETOVA AMANZHOL (KAZ) by Default
BRONZE - Meng Hsuan HSIEH (TPE) df. Hyungjoo KIM (KOR) by Default

57kg
GOLD - Khongorzul BOLDSAIKHAN (MGL) df. Anshu ANSHU (IND), 7-4
BRONZE - Shokhida AKHMEDOVA (UZB) df. Jieun UM (KOR) by Fall, 1:28 (4-0)

62kg
GOLD - Jia LONG (CHN) df. Sonam SONAM (IND) by Default
BRONZE - Tserenchimed SUKHEE (MGL) df. Ayaulym KASSYMOVA (KAZ), 4-2

68kg
GOLD - Feng ZHOU (CHN) df. Meerim ZHUMANAZAROVA (KGZ), 8-0
BRONZE - Nisha NISHA (IND) df.  Hyeonyeong PARK (KOR) by Fall, :44 (8-0)

76kg
GOLD -  Aiperi MEDET KYZY (KGZ) 4-0
SILVER  - Burmaa OCHIRBAT (MGL) 3-1
BRONZE - Pooja POOJA (IND) 2-2|
Key match: Aiperi MEDET KYZY (KGZ) df. Burmaa OCHIRBAT (MGL) by TF, 10-0, 1:41, in Round 4