#BuchaWrestU23

Japan Snags Three Champions in Final Day of #BuchaWrestU23 Women’s Action

By Taylor Miller

Photo of Ayana GEMPEI (JPN) by Martin Gabor. 

BUCHAREST, Romania – Japan won three more World titles in women’s freestyle on Friday night at the U23 World Championships in Bucharest, Romania, to win the team title with 188 points.

Winning for Japan tonight was Momoka KADOYA at 53 kg, Yukako KUWAI at 62 kg and Ayana GEMPEI at 65 kg, bringing Japan’s gold-medal total to five in women’s freestyle.

It was an emotional ending at 53 kg as it appeared that Milana DADASHEVA (RUS) won 5-4 with a late takedown. However, Kadoya’s corner challenged and won, giving Japan its third World champion of the week with a 4-3 decision.

Making her second World finals in less than a month, 2018 Senior World runner-up Yukako KAWAI (JPN) defeated Ilona PROKOPEVNIUK (UKR) in the 62 kg gold bout with a dominant 14-3 performance.

The final champion from Japan came at 65 kg as Gempei won her second-consecutive U23 World title. To earn gold, Gempei put up a decisive 7-3 decision against two-time Junior World bronze medalist Elis MANOLOVA (AZE).

Photo of Buse TOSUN (TUR) by Martin Gabor. 

The other two golds up for grabs tonight went to Canada and Turkey.

At 57 kg, Alexandria TOWN (CAN) stopped Japan from another gold medal, defeating 2018 Junior Asian champion Akie HANAI (JPN) with a 7-4 win.

To close out the night, 2018 Senior World bronze medalist Buse TOSUN (TUR) finished off fast 10-0 technical fall over host country’s Alexandra ANGHEL (ROU), ending the bout in 1:35.

This is Tosun’s third World medal as she also has a 2013 Junior World silver medal.

Finishing behind Japan in the team race was Russia in second with 113 points and China in third with 106 points.

The 2018 U23 World Championships continue tomorrow with men’s freestyle action.

Finals results

53 kg
GOLD - Momoka KADOYA (JPN) df. Milana DADASHEVA (RUS), 4-3
BRONZE - Khrystyna BEREZA (UKR) df. Aktenge KEUNIMJAEVA (UZB), fall
BRONZE - Andreea Beatrice ANA (ROU) df. Bolortuya BAT OCHIR (MGL), 5-3

57 kg
GOLD - Alexandria TOWN (CAN) df. Akie HANAI (JPN), 7-4
BRONZE - Tserenchimed SUKHEE (MGL) df. Alyona KOLESNIK (AZE), 11-3
BRONZE - Alexandra ANDREEVA (RUS) df. Qi ZHANG (CHN), 2-1

62 kg
GOLD - Yukako KAWAI (JPN) df. Ilona PROKOPEVNIUK (UKR), 14-3
BRONZE - Luisa NIEMESCH (GER) df. Kayla MIRACLE (USA), 6-3
BRONZE - Gantuya ENKHBAT (MGL) df. Kriszta Tunde INCZE (ROU), 4-2

65 kg
GOLD - Ayana GEMPEI (JPN) df. Elis MANOLOVA (AZE), 7-3
BRONZE - Iryna KOLIADENKO (UKR) df. Sofiya GEORGIEVA (BUL), fall
BRONZE - Mariia KUZNETSOVA (RUS) df. Moa NYGREN (SWE), 10-0

72 kg
GOLD - Buse TOSUN (TUR) df. Alexandra ANGHEL (ROU), 10-0
BRONZE - Xiaoqian WANG (CHN) df. Nomin Erdene PURVEE (MGL), 8-3
BRONZE - Zhamila BAKBERGENOVA (KAZ) df. Naina NAINA (IND), fall

Team scores      
1. Japan – 188
2. Russia – 113
3. China – 106
4. Ukraine – 81
5. USA – 76

#WrestleParis

Paris 2024 seeds announced for Freestyle, Greco-Roman, Women’s Wrestling

By Eric Olanowski

PARIS, (July 12) — For the first time ever, the Olympic Games will be seeding the top eight wrestlers in each weight class. Wrestlers who competed in the 2023 World Championships, 2024 Continental Championships, 2024 Zagreb Open Ranking Series and the 2024 Hungarian Ranking Series event have accumulated points towards their seeds at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

UWW RANKING RULE BOOK

Apart from the seeded eight wrestlers, the remaining eight wrestlers, who round out the 16-person bracket, will be randomly drawn into the bracket the day before each style begins in Paris.

The bracket will be structured as follows:

- The top side will feature the No. 1, No. 4, No. 5, and No. 8 seeded wrestlers.
- The bottom side will feature the No. 2, No. 3, No. 6, and No. 7 seeded wrestlers.

If the seeds hold true through to the finals, the bracket will play out as follows:

Quarterfinals:
- Top side: No. 1 vs. No. 8; No. 4 vs. No. 5
- Bottom side: No. 2 vs. No. 7; No. 3 vs. No. 6

Semifinals:
- Top Side: No. 1 vs. No. 4
- Bottom Side: No. 2 vs. No. 3

Finals:
- No. 1 vs. No. 2

Here are the top eight seeded athletes in all three styles for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games:

Freestyle
57kg

No. 1 Stevan MICIC (SRB)
No. 2 Rei HIGUCHI (JPN )
No. 3 Arsen HARUTYUNYAN (ARM)
No. 4 Meirambek KARTBAY (KAZ)
No. 5 Zelimkhan ABAKAROV (ALB)
No. 6 Aman AMAN (IND)
No. 7 Wanhao ZOU (CHN)
No. 8 Gulomjon ABDULLAEV (UZB)

65kg
No. 1 Vazgen TEVANYAN (ARM)
No. 2 Rahman AMOUZAD (IRI)
No. 3 Ismail MUSUKAEV (HUN)
No. 4 Sebastian RIVERA (PUR)
No. 5 Maxim SACULTAN (MDA)
No. 6 Haji ALIYEV (AZE)
No. 7 Islam DUDAEV (ALB)
No. 8 Tulga TUMUR OCHIR (MGL)

74kg
No. 1 Kyle DAKE (USA)
No. 2 Turan BAYRAMOV (AZE)
No. 3 Georgios KOUGIOUMTSIDIS (GRE)
No. 4 Daichi TAKATANI (JPN)
No. 5 Hetik CABALOV (SRB)
No. 6 Feng LU (CHN)
No. 7 Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK)
No. 8 Bacar NDUM (GBS)

86kg
No. 1 Azamat DAULETBEKOV (KAZ)
No. 2 Hassan YAZDANICHARATI (IRI)
No. 3 Myles AMINE (SMR)
No. 4 Javrail SHAPIEV (UZB)
No. 5 Magomed RAMAZANOV (BUL)
No. 6 Bat BYAMBASUREN (MGL)
No. 7 Dauren KURUGLIEV (GRE)
No. 8 Hayato ISHIGURO (JPN)

97kg  
No. 1 Magomedkhan MAGOMEDOV (AZE)
No. 2 Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN)
No. 3 Kyle SNYDER (USA)
No. 4 Ibrahim CIFTCI (TUR)
No. 5 Givi MATCHARASHVILI (GEO)
No. 6 Erik THIELE (GER)
No. 7 Alisher YERGALI (KAZ)
No. 8 Zbigniew BARANOWSKI (POL)

125kg
No. 1 Amir ZARE (IRI)
No. 2 Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO)
No. 3 Mason PARRIS (USA)
No. 4 Taha AKGUL (TUR)
No. 5 Daniel LIGETI (HUN)
No. 6 Giorgi MESHVILDISHVILI (AZE)
No. 7 Robert BARAN (POL)
No. 8 Zhiwei DENG (CHN)

Women’s Wrestling
50kg

No. 1 Yui SUSAKI (JPN)
No. 2 Otgonjargal DOLGORJAV (MGL)
No. 3 Ziqi FENG (CHN)
No. 4 Evin DEMIRHAN (TUR)
No. 5 Alisson CARDOZO REY (COL)
No. 6 Sarah HILDEBRANDT (USA)
No. 7 Mariya STADNIK (AZE)
No. 8 Oksana LIVACH (UKR)

53kg
No. 1 Lucia YEPEZ GUZMAN (ECU)
No. 2 Emma MALMGREN (SWE)
No. 3 Akari FUJINAMI (JPN)
No. 4 ANTIM (IND)
No. 5 Maria PREVOLARAKI (GRE)|
No. 6 Christianah OGUNSANYA (NGR)
No. 7 Qianyu PANG (CHN)
No. 8 Andreea ANA (ROU)

57kg
No. 1 Tsugumi SAKURAI (JPN)
No. 2 Anastasia NICHITA (MDA)
No. 3 Odunayo ADEKUOROYE (NGR)
No. 4 Anhelina LYSAK (POL)
No. 5 Helen MAROULIS (USA)
No. 6 Kexin HONG (CHN)
No. 7 Giulia PENALBER (BRA)
No. 8 Luisa VALVERDE (ECU)

62kg
No. 1 Aisuluu TYNYBEKOVA (KGZ)
No. 2 Sakura MOTOKI (JPN)
No. 3 Grace BULLEN (NOR)
No. 4 Iryna KOLIADENKO (UKR)
No. 5 Bilyana DUDOVA (BUL)
No. 6 Luisa NIEMESCH (GER)
No. 7 Ana GODINEZ (CAN)
No. 8 Kayla MIRACLE (USA)

68kg
No. 1 Buse CAVUSOGLU TOSUN (TUR)
No. 2 Delgermaa ENKHSAIKHAN (MGL)
No. 3 Koumba LARROQUE  (FRA)
No. 4 Irina RINGACI (MDA)
No. 5 Tetiana SOVA RIZHKO (UKR)
No. 6 Blessing OBORUDUDU (NGR)
No. 7 Soleymi CARABALLO HERNANDEZ (VEN)
No. 8 Feng ZHOU (CHN)

76kg
No. 1  Aiperi MEDET KYZY (KGZ)
No. 2 Yuka KAGAMI (JPN)
No. 3 Tatiana RENTERIA (COL)
No. 4 Catalina AXENTE (ROU)
No. 5 Milaimys MARIN (CUB)
No. 6 Hannah RUEBEN (NGR)
No. 7 Justina DI STASIO (CAN)
No. 8 Bernadett NAGY (HUN)

Greco-Roman
60kg

No. 1 Zholaman SHARSHENBEKOV (KGZ)
No. 2 Liguo CAO (CHN)
No. 3 Victor CIOBANU (MDA)
No. 4 Kenichiro FUMITA (JPN)
No. 5 Mehdi MOHSEN NEJAD (IRI)
No. 6 Islomjon BAKHRAMOV (UZB)
No. 7 Raiber RODRIGUEZ (VEN)
No. 8 Razvan ARNAUT (ROU)

67kg
No. 1 Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE)
No. 2 Luis ORTA (CUB)
No. 3 Slavik GALSTYAN (ARM)
No. 4 Mate NEMES (SRB)
No. 5 Amantur ISMAILOV (KGZ)
No. 6 Mamadassa SYLLA (FRA)
No. 7 Saeid ESMAEILI (IRI)
No. 8 Valentin PETIC (MDA)

77kg
No. 1 Nao KUSAKA (JPN)
No. 2 Sanan SULEYMANOV (AZE)
No. 3 Akzhol MAKHMUDOV (KGZ)
No. 4 Malkhas AMOYAN (ARM)
No. 5 Yosvanys PENA FLORES (CUB)
No. 6 Demeu ZHADRAYEV (KAZ)
No. 7 Zoltan LEVAI (HUN)
No. 8 Aram VARDANYAN (UZB)

87kg
No. 1 Ali CENGIZ (TUR)
No. 2 David LOSONCZI (HUN)
No. 3 Semen NOVIKOV (BUL)
No. 4 Zhan BELENIUK (UKR)
No. 5 Nursultan TURSYNOV (KAZ)
No. 6 Bachir SID AZARA (ALG)
No. 7 Aleksandr KOMAROV (SRB)
No. 8 Carlos MUNOZ (COL)

97kg
No. 1 Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM)
No. 2 Abubakar KHASLAKHANAU (AIN)
No. 3 Mohammadhadi SARAVI (IRI)
No. 4 Gabriel ROSILLO (CUB)
No. 5 Arvi SAVOLAINEN (FIN)
No. 6 Mindaugas VENCKAITIS (LTU)
No. 7 Mihail KAJAIA (SRB)
No. 8 Kevin MEJIA (HON)

130kg
No. 1 Amin MIRZAZADEH (IRI)
No. 2 Abdellatif MOHAMED (EGY)
No. 3 Lingzhe MENG (CHN)
No. 4 Alin ALEXUC CIURARIU (ROU)
No. 5 Heiki NABI (EST)
No. 6 Mantas KNYSTAUTAS (LTU)
No. 7 Yasmani ACOSTA (CHI)
No. 8 Seungchan LEE (KOR)

NOTE: These seeds are subject to change. The NOCs have until 24 hours before the start of the competition to make changes to their entries.