#Trnava2018

India Inserts Trio into #Trnava2018 Greco-Roman Semifinals

By Eric Olanowski

TRNAVA, Slovakia (September 17) – The biggest surprise of the opening round at the #Trnava2018 2018 Junior World Championships was India inserting three wrestlers into tonight’s Greco-Roman semifinals. 

Led by last year’s Tampere bronze medalist Sajan SAJAN (IND), along with Vijay VIJAY (IND) and Sagar SAGAR (IND), India wrap up the first session that saw seven wins and only two defeats. 

Sajan, one of four returning 74kg Junior World medalists, will compete against Dmytro GARDUBEI (UKR) in the 77kg semifinals. The winner of that bout will have the opportunity to wrestle against the winner of reigning world champion Kamal BEY (USA) and Russia’s Islam OPIEV for the gold medal. 


Kamal BEY (USA), reigning World champion looks for a life in the opening round of the 2018 Junior World Championships. (Photo by Max Rose-Fyne) 

Bey, arguably the most electrifying Junior wrestler in the world, made the semifinals with an opening round technical superiority victory that was followed by two falls. 

Opiev, one of three Russians to make the semifinals stunned the Trnava crowd, upsetting reigning World runner-up Akzhol MAKHMUDOV (KGZ), 1-1 in the 77kg quarterfinals. Opiev’s win stopped the potential 74kg rematch of last year’s Tampere World Championships between Bey and Makhmudov, a match that United World Wrestling voted as the No. 2 Greco-Roman match of the year. 

Iran became the third nation to insert three wrestlers into semifinals with quarterfinal wins from Pouya NASERPOUR (IRI) (55kg), Amin MIRZAZADEH (IRI) (130kg), and Mohammadhadi SARAVI (IRI) (87kg). 

Semifinal action will resume tonight at 18:00. 

SEMIFINALS 
55kg
Nurtazin KERIMBERDI UULU (KGZ) vs. Pouya NASERPOUR (IRI) 
Vijay VIJAY (IND) vs. Tigran MINASYAN (ARM)

63kg
Azamat KAIROV (RUS) vs. Erbol BAKIROV (KGZ) 
Sagar SAGAR (IND) vs. Hassan Hassan MOHAMED (EGY)

77kg
Kamal Ameer BEY (USA) vs. Islam OPIEV (RUS) 
Dmytro GARDUBEI (UKR) vs. Sajan SAJAN (IND)

87kg 
Ilia ERMOLENKO (RUS) vs. Mohammadhadi SARAVI (IRI) 
Nazarshah FATULLAYEV (AZE) vs. Ramon Rainer BETSCHART (SUI)

130kg 
Cohlton Michael SCHULTZ (USA) vs. David OVASAPYAN (ARM)
Beka MAKARIDZE (GEO) vs. Amin MIRZAZADEH (IRI)

#WrestleParis

UWW announces hosts for 2024 Paris Olympic qualifiers

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (June 27) -- United World Wrestling on Tuesday announced the hosts for the 2024 Paris Olympic qualifiers.

After a UWW Bureau meeting, the dates for the four Continental Olympic Qualifiers and the World Olympic Qualifier for the 2024 Games were unveiled.

The Pan-American Olympic Games Qualifier will kick off the qualifying cycle next year. The first continental qualifier will be hosted in Acapulco, Mexico. The tournament will be preceded by the Pan-American Championships which will be held at the same venue.

Next, the African & Oceania Olympic Games Qualifier will be held in Alexandria, Egypt followed by the European Olympic Games Qualifier which will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan will witness the Asian Olympic Games Qualifier preceded by the Asian Championships at the same venue.

The final tournament that offers quotas for the Paris Games, known as the World Olympic Qualifier, will take place in Istanbul, Turkiye.

The qualifying events for the Paris Games begin with the 2023 World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, scheduled for September and it will offer 90 quotas, five in each Olympic weight class.

Each of the four continental qualifiers will offer 36 quotas, totaling 144 quotas. The World Olympic Qualifier, to be held in Istanbul, will have 54 places available for the 2024 Olympic Games.

The dates for the four continental Olympic Games qualifiers and the World Olympic Games Qualifier will be announced at a later stage.