#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

#WrestleBelgrade

Aitmukhan: From volunteer at Worlds to Kazakhstan's first world champ

Tuesday, September 19, 2023 - 15:31 By Vinay Siwach

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BELGRADE, Serbia (September 19) -- Daulet NIYAZBEKOV (KAZ) was hoping to become Kazakhstan's first-ever Freestyle world champion when he reached the 65kg final at the World Championships in 2019. He failed after losing to Gazdhimurad RASHIDOV.

In that final, Rashidov took a bleeding timeout. A volunteer, Rizabek AITMUKHAN (KAZ), ran out to clean the blood dropped on the mat. Little did Niyazbekov or Kazakhstan know that the tall volunteer would go on to achieve what Niyazbekov failed to.

Born in Kyzyltu, a village with only 600 people in the northern region of Kazakhstan, Aitmukhan became the central Asian country's first-ever world champion in Freestyle on Monday as he defeated Osman NURMAGOMEDOV (AZE) in the 92kg final in Belgrade, Serbia.

In a thrilling final, Aitmukhan made a comeback after being down 2-0. He scored a stepout and caution with 30 seconds left. His criteria lead was threatened by Nurmagomedov in the final second when he almost scored a pushout. But Aitmukhan pushed the Azerbaijan wrestler out of bounds and won 6-2.

"The final match was very intense and tough," Aitmukhan said. "I noticed that he was getting tired. I used that moment and snatched the victory. We work hard, but all the success comes from God."

This victory was after five other wrestlers from Kazakhstan had tried to win the elusive Freestyle gold in the country's wrestling history to check out another box. With a Freestyle world champion, Kazakhstan is now without a world champion only in Women's Wrestling.

Aitmukhan's gold medal was also the first for Kazakhstan at the World Championships since Mkhitar MANUKYAN's (KAZ) won the last one in 1999 in Greco-Roman.

"This victory is the biggest in my life," Aitmukhan said. "I’ve been working for it for so many years. I would like to dedicate this win to my country and to my grandmother, she would have been 81 years old today [Monday]. But she passed away 3 years ago. This victory means a lot to me."

Back in 2019, Aitmukhan was the fourth-placer at the World School Combat Games and later won bronze at the U15 Asian Championships. He competed at the U23 Asian Championships as a 17-year-old and won gold at 92kg. Four months later, he was at the U23 World Championships but lost to Amirhossein FIROUZPOUR (IRI) in the first round and to Feyzulla AKTURK (TUR) in the bronze medal bout. Akturk also defeated him in the bronze medal bout at the 2023 Ibrahim Moustafa Ranking Series.

But as fate would have it, he would return to Astana in April this year, for the Asian Championships and enter the final. The 19-year-old finished with a silver medal against another teenager Arash YOSHIDA (JPN). He stepped on the top of the podium at the U23 Asian Championships before adding bronze at the Budapest Ranking Series. In an agonizing close U20 World Championships final in Amman in August, he finished with a silver medal.

The run in Belgrade saw him beat European champion Akturk 11-0 in the quarterfinals and returning bronze medalist Miriani MAISURADZE (GEO) 8-1 in the semifinals.

For a wrestler who began only in 2014, the success meant that he was on the path to achieving something historic. Ironically, he had no liking for the sport as well.

"My dad made me wrestle by force nine years ago," he said. "I didn’t want to train at all, by the he made me do that. And then I liked it. And now, 9 years later I am a world champion, the first one in Kazakh history. I think it’s not a bad result for a 19-year-old."

The losses at the Asian and U20 World Championships fueled Aitmukhan's effort to win the gold in Belgrade.

"In the Asian championships final and in U20 Worlds, there was that moment when I had to push myself. But that wasn’t enough," he said. "This time I felt the same during the match. I realized that if I didn’t do it now, I might not ever get this chance again. So, I tried my hardest and I did it."

Now that one goal is achieved, Rizabek will move to the Olympic weight class of 97kg. 

"We’ve decided that it’s the last world championships in this weight class, next year I’ll move up to the Olympic weight 97kg," he said. "I’ll wrestle for an Olympic spot. I will try to become an Olympic champion."