World Cup

Iran, Azerbaijan on Collision Course in Pool B; United States Tops Russians in Tiebreaker

Sunday, April 12, 2015 - 05:24 By Jason Bryant

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LOS ANGELES (April 11) – A pair of strong performances in Pool B by Iran and Azerbaijan on Saturday evening at the Forum in Los Angeles have the two nations ready to meet to determine what nation will wrestle for gold at the 2015 United World Wrestling Freestyle World Cup.

Iran won 15 of 16 matches, while Azerbaijan won 13 of 16 individual bouts. They teams will square off at 12:30 Pacific time to determine who will be the Pool B champion and wrestle for a World Cup title on Sunday evening.

 Iran opened up with an 8-0 shut out victory over Belarus. Key victories for Iran came at 65kg, 74kg and 125kg.

At 65kg, World No.2 Sayed AHMAD MOHAMMADI (IRI) knocked off World No.5 Azamat NURYKAV (BLR) 11-0, while unranked Morteza REZAEI GHALEH (IRI) picked up a huge 4-4 criteria victory over two-time World medalist and World No.4 Ali SHABANOV (BLR).

The third upset, at least from a United World Wrestling rankings perspective came at 125kg as No. 10 Parviz HADI (IRI) defeated 2011 World champion and World No.7 Aleksey SHEMAROV (BLR).

Iran continued to pour it on in its second victory, a 7-1 blasting of Turkey. The Turks were bested 7-1 in the opening round by Azerbaijan and will face Belarus to determine which team will wrestle for fifth place on Sunday.

Iran dominated after dropping the first match of the dual at 57kg. Seven ranked wrestlers prevailed, with two wins coming by forfeit. Iran also earned a fall and two technical falls.

Against Turkey, Azerbaijan’s lone individual loss came at 125kg as World No.11 Jamaladdin MAGOMEDOV (AZE) was leading 8-0 early in the match before getting thrown to his back and pinned by Tanju GEMICI (TUR) at 1:33. Azerbaijan defeated Belarus 6-2 in Saturday’s final round to finish the day 2-0.

"It was good enough but not what I was expecting," said Iranian coach Dr. Rasoul Khadem, who expects Sunday's dual with Azerbaijan to be "very serious and very competitive."

In Pool A, the United States powered past a game Cuban squad 6-2 in the opening round and then got past a feisty group of Russians in a 4-4 tiebreaker win to end the day 2-0. The U.S. will face Mongolia, which split a pair of matches with Russia and Cuba in Pool A on Saturday.

Against Russia, American Tervel DLAGNEV came up big at 125kg, scoring a crucial 10-0 technical fall over Arslanbek ALIEV (RUS) to earn four classification points, which would prove to be the difference. With each team winning four of the eight bouts, the first tiebreaker came down to total classification points. With five points for a fall, four for a technical fall and three for a decision and one for scoring a point in a loss that doesn’t end in a fall, Russia led 16-13 going into 125kg.

“I haven’t wrestled for a while, so I was hungry and very excited to get back out there,” Dlagnev told USA Wrestling following the bout. “It was a lot of fun. I came out looking to attack and score points. I knew that match helped our team advance and it was great to be able to help the team. I just went out there and tried to do my best. I knew I had to tech him or pin him, and not let him score a point.”

“It went right down to the wire,” U.S. coach Bruce Burnett said. “You have some expected things and you have some unexpected things happen. When that takes place, somebody has to rise up. I’m really proud of the team. Everybody on the team competed hard, top to bottom.”

The group of young Russians isn’t likely to represent their nation in Las Vegas at the 2015 World Championships, but despite not being ranked No.1 in their nation, the squad featured five World-ranked wrestlers.

“Considering everything, I am happy. I feel like the Americans won that meeting. They scored more points, and in the end, the rules determined the winner. Our guys did a good job. I am confident they can make the big moves,” said Russian coach Christakis Alexandridis.

“They are not our No. 1 team, more like numbers two and three. But they’ve done very well. None of them will be on the World Championship team.  We have stronger wrestlers back in Russia.”

While their might be “stronger” wrestlers back in Russia, World No. 13 Yuri BELONOVSKY (RUS) earned a crucial 4-0 victory over 2012 Olympic champion Jake VARNER (USA) to put the Russian contingent in a position to upend the Americans.

“I have tremendous respect for Jake; he is a great opponent,” said Belonovsky. “But wrestling is a sport and anything can happen. The match was grueling and a challenge.  I was really happy with my technical work and my physicality.”

One match prior to Belonovsky’s win, Dauren KURUGLIEV pinned American Ed RUTH in just under a minute.

“We are well-prepared for the tournament,” said Kurugliev. “The spectators were really getting behind Ruth and it really pumped me up.  I wanted to show them a great performance and I did.”

Pool A Standings: United States 2-0, Russia 1-1, Mongolia 1-1, Cuba 0-2
Pool B Standings: Azerbaijan 2-0, Iran 2-0, Belarus 0-2, Turkey 0-2

Full Day 1 Results, Notes & Standings: http://uww.io/zuR7L
Event Information page (Photos, Live Stream, Results):
 https://unitedworldwrestling.org/event/world-cup-senior-7

Competition Schedule (All Times are PDT; GMT -7)
Sunday, April 12
11:00 a.m. – Mat A: USA vs. Mongolia; Mat B: Turkey vs. Belarus
12:30 p.m. – Mat A: Cuba vs. Russia; Mat B: Azerbaijan vs. Iran
2:00 p.m. – Mat A: Fifth Place Dual; Mat B: Seventh Place Dual
4:15 p.m. – Mat A: Third Place Dual
5:45 p.m. – Mat A: Championship Dual

 

About United World Wrestling
United World Wrestling is the international governing body for the sport of wrestling and is headquartered in Corsier-Sur-Vevey, Switzerland. To learn more about United World Wrestling and the activities of its 179 national federations, please visit: www.UnitedWorldWrestling.org, Facebook and Twitter. 

For any press inquires please contact Tim Foley at foley@unitedworldwrestling.org or Gordon Templeman at gordon@unitedworldwrestling.org.

#WrestleTirana

Elor wins eighth world title, sets sights on Paris Olympics

Friday, October 27, 2023 - 21:38 By Vinay Siwach

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TIRANA, Albania (October 27) -- If you were logging in to watch Amit ELOR (USA) compete in the 72kg final of the U23 World Championships, most likely you missed the final. That's because she was lightning fast in winning the bout in mere 21 seconds.

And if you think that was quick, Elor finished her first bout in 16 seconds and the second in 18 seconds. Only her semifinal against Wiktoria CHOLUJ (POL) was for six minutes. Out of the 24 minutes for four bouts, Elor spent only six minutes and 55 seconds on the mat to win the U23 World Championships in Tirana, Albania on Friday.

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At the age of 19, Amit Elor now holds an impressive record of eight world titles across different age groups, including two senior, two U23, three U20, and one U17 world gold.

While her remarkable stats speak about her dominance on the mat, Elor herself has kept no record of her international wins or scores.

"Maybe I should go over," she says. "We used to do it in high school. And ever since I got into international wrestling, I haven't thought about it as much. But it would be really cool to look back and see how many matches they've had and how many wins and losses. I remember the competitions, but not always every single match unless it was really meaningful."

Amit ELOR (USA)Amit ELOR (USA) used the lace to win her 72kg final. (Photo: UWW / Kadir Caliskan)

For most, the final would mean a lot but for Elor, the semifinal at the U23 World Championships against Choluj was the stand-out match. Choluj managed to stop Elor from scoring a fall or win via technical superiority and lost only 5-0.

"Probably my semi-final had a strong opponent and our styles matched up against each other," she says. "It was kind of similar styles which made it difficult. A lot of hand-fighting. I had some injuries from senior Worlds that made it difficult to hand fight. But I stayed composed and in good position and I was able to win."

The final against Jyoti BERWAL (UWW) was unbelievably one-sided as by the time Berwal could try any move on Elor, the American had laced her for a 10-0 victory.

With that, Elor extended her international career record to 38-1, the one loss coming at the U17 World Championships in 2019. "I'll get it next year," a 16-year-old Elor would say back then. She won the gold at the next U17 Worlds without conceding a point.

"It's not easy," Elor says. "There's so much work involved that leads up to the competition. There's a lot of pressure and I want to do my best and I have high expectations for myself. When you go out there and you wrestle it seems so short and easy but that's just the result of all the work leading up to the competition."

In the lead-up to the U23 Worlds, Elor trained with six-time world champion Adeline GRAY (USA), trained at her home in California and also used her experience at the U20 and senior worlds which she called the 'perfect preparation.'

"Training with Adeline has been amazing for me," she says. "I am constantly learning so much from her. Not just about wrestling but about being an athlete and taking care of yourself. She is a very confident, strong person and so I've kind of learned how to think more for myself and what I need as an athlete.

"The two World Championships were perfect preparation for this."

It was the same script last year in which Elor won three world titles, becoming the first from the U.S. to win all the world titles. She just repeated the three-peat.

 

But the season is not over for her. Elor will soon be challenging herself to make the Olympic weight of 68kg (72kg is not an Olympic weight) in her bid to be at Paris 2024. 

"The most important thing for me is that I feel my best when I'm wrestling," she says. "Right now my plan is to drop my weight to 68kg and see how I feel there. That's going to be a big challenge, a different weight."

Elor says she has not reduced weight for a competition. Though she spent her early days in international wrestling at 68kg, that was at the U17 level.

"I was 68kg in 2021, so it's nothing new but it's still been two years," she says. "It's going to be challenging but I'm really excited and I'm ready to do everything I possibly can because it's the Olympic year."

Being at the Olympics will make Elor the second wrestler in the world to win all world titles and also compete at the Games. A gold in Paris will put her next to Yui SUSAKI (JPN), the only wrestler to have won all world titles and the Olympic gold. 

But just to be in Paris, Elor will have a marathon stretch. In the U.S., she will have to first wrestle at the team trials to be at the Pan-Am Olympic Qualifiers in March. If the country qualifies the weight for Paris, Elor will have to go through the Olympic Team Trials in April.

"Unfortunately, 68kg wasn't qualified yet for the Olympics," she says. "There's going to be a wrestle-off in February and whoever wins will go to Pan Ams and try to qualify the weight there. I would really need to work more on my speed and coordination and definitely add more to my arsenal. I'll wrestle in the wrestle-off at 68 and see how I do."