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

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

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

#WrestleBucharest

Nine return to defend European titles in Women's Wrestling

Monday, February 5, 2024 - 10:52 By Vinay Siwach

BUCHAREST, Romania (February 5) -- Nine out of the ten Women's Wrestling European champions will return to the European Championships, hoping to defend their gold medals in Bucharest next week. The one not coming, Alina HRUSHYNA (UKR) is yet to recover from an injury which also kept her out of the World Championships.

Two of them, Andreea ANA (ROU) and Alexandra ANGHEL (ROU), will be the most keen on repeating as European champions. In Zagreb last year, they gave the double gold to Romania but next week, wrestling at home will give them extra motivation to repeat.

Ana and Anghel will be in the non-Olympic weight classes 55kg and 72kg respectively. Ana is a two-time European champion and will be the favorite in Bucharest. If any, former age-group European champion Ekaterina VERBINA (AIN) can trouble Ana as she returns to competition. Ukraine is sending Mariia VYNNYK (UKR) while Mariana DRAGUTAN (MDA), Roksana ZASINA (POL) and Tuba DEMIR (TUR) are also in the field.

Anghel, who defeated 68kg world champion Buse TOSUN (TUR) to win the gold medal at 72kg last year, can have a tougher time this year. 68kg European champion Yuliana YANEVA (BUL) is moving to 72kg after losing her place to Mimi HRISTOVA (BUL) at 68kg. Kendra DACHER (FRA), age-group world medalist Wiktoria CHOLUJ (POL), U23 world champion Nesrin BAS (TUR) and Anastasiya ALPYEYEVA (UKR) are also in this weight class.

Yasemin ADAR (TUR) is a six-time European champion. (Photo: UWW / Kadir Caliskan)

2022 world champion Yasemin ADAR (TUR) is returning to the mat after one year, having skipped all competitions after the 2023 Euros. She will, despite her time off, be the favorite to win the 76kg gold medal. Adar is chasing her seventh European title after six golds and a silver medal.

Former European champion Epp MAE (EST) will be her biggest threat as she also looks to return after a medalless World Championships. Mae recently trained in Japan with world champion Yuka KAGAMI (JPN). Anastasiia OSNIACH SHUSTOVA (UKR) will also hope to make the final.

Turkiye's world champion in 2023, Tosun will be at 68kg. She had a disastrous start to the year, losing her first-round bout at the Zagreb Open Ranking Series in January. Tosun will look to put that behind her and start afresh for the Bucharest tournament.

To avoid any disappointments, Tosun will have to navigate past world bronze medalist Koumba LARROQUE (FRA), Elis MANOLOVA (AZE), 65kg European champion Mimi HRISTOVA (BUL) and former European champion Tetiana SOVA RIZHKO (UKR). Larroque won the European Championships gold medal in 2021 and will be keen on getting back on the top of the podium.

Vanesa KALADZINSKAYA (AIN) will look to win her first European title since 2020. (Photo: UWW / Amirreza Aliasgari)

Two world silver medalists, Vanesa KALADZINSKAYA (AIN) at 53kg and Anastasia NICHITA (MDA) at 59kg, will also be in action in Bucharest.

Kaladzinskaya last wrestled at the European Championships in 2020 and won the gold medal. She will start as the favorite at 53kg despite the likes of Jonna MALMGREN (SWE) and Maria PREVOLARAKI (GRE) entered for the tournament.

Kaladzinskaya won the silver medal at the World Championships, dropping the final to Akari FUJINAMI (JPN). It was her first competition since winning a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games.

Malmgren, the two-time defending champion, will have her task cut out this year. She lost to Kaladzinskaya at the World Championships but that loss can only be a lesson for the former U20 world champion.

Former Maria PREVOLARAKI (GRE), Ekaterina POLESHCHUK (AIN), Sztalvira ORSUS (HUN), Iulia LEORDA (MDA) and Mariia YEFREMOVA (UKR) can upset the field in Bucharest and finish on the podium.

Defending champion Nichita is the clear front-runner for the gold at 59kg. After finishing with a silver medal at the World Championships at 57kg, Nichita returned to competition in Zagreb but suffered a loss to Kexin HONG (CHN).

Nichita will be drawn at random into the bracket as she has no ranking at 59kg. The top seed will be Othelie HOIE (NOR), a returning European bronze medalist and world bronze medalist. Age-group world medalists Alesia HETMANAVA (AIN) and Anastasiia SIDELNIKOVA (AIN) can also finish on the podium.

Grace BULLEN (NOR) and Bilyana DUDOVA (BUL) put a thriller in the 62kg semifinal last year. (Photo: UWW / Kadir Caliskan)

At 62kg, world bronze medalist Grace BULLEN (NOR) will have a chance to win her first European gold medal since 2020. She was a silver medalist last after suffering a heartbreaking loss to Iryna KOLIADENKO (UKR) in the final. She will have a chance to win the gold medal this year. Koliadenko has moved to 65kg for this tournament and is replaced by veteran Yuliia TKACH (UKR) which will also be a big test for Bullen.

Tkach, the silver medalist at 59kg from last year, has moved to 62kg after world bronze medalist Koliadenko moved up to 65kg. Tkach has every trick up her sleeve to keep Bullen at bay. But the Norway wrestler has improved leaps and bounds in recent times and can be called the favorite for this event.

One wrestler who will be waiting keenly to meet Bullen on the mat is Bilyana DUDOVA (BUL). She suffered a 7-6 loss to Bullen in the semifinal last year and finished with a bronze medal. Dudova, a former world champion at 59kg, is still trying to find her feet at 62kg. The two can only meet in the final, thanks to being seeded one and two.

Former U20 world champion Alina KASABIEVA (AIN) will also like to finish on the podium.

Mariya STADNIK (AZE) became a nine-time European champion last year. (Photo: UWW / Kostadin Andonov)

At 50kg, Mariya STADNIK (AZE) will look to extend her record streak of 10 European titles [12 as she has two European Games gold as well]. Last year, Oksana LIVACH (UKR) gave Stadnik a scare in the final but the Azerbaijan wrestler controlled the second period to keep her energy and win the gold.

A year older at 35, Stadnik will once again be tested by the young wrestler who will be participating in Bucharest. Livach will look to avenge the loss from last year while Miglena SELISHKA (BUL) and Emilia VUC (ROU) will also have a chance to upset the wrestling legend.

The 57kg weight class will see a new European champion as Hrushyna has not entered for her title defense. Tokyo silver medalist Iryna KURACHKINA (AIN) will be the favorite along with returning silver medalist Zhala ALIYEVA (AZE) and bronze medalist Evelina NIKOLOVA (BUL). Veteran Veronika CHUMIKOVA (AIN) and U20 world champion Aurora RUSSO (ITA) and former world bronze medalist Anhelina LYSAK (POL) are also entered.

World bronze medalist and returning silver medalist Irina RINGACI (MDA) will be at 65kg, hoping to win the gold that she dropped against Hristova last year. Ringaci will be tested by Taybe YUSEIN (BUL), Kriszta INCZE (ROU) and world bronze medalist at 62kg Iryna KOLIADENKO (UKR).

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

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Nine return to defend European titles in Women's Wrestling