#WrestleAlmaty

LIVE BLOG: Asian Olympic Qualifier, Day One

Friday, April 9, 2021 - 04:56 By United World Wrestling Press

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Kyrgyzstan led the way with three wrestlers qualifying for the Tokyo Olympic Games at tge Asian Olympic Qualifiers in Almaty on Friday. China, Iran, and South Korea qualified two each while Japan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan managed to get one spot each.

WATCH LIVE | MATCH ORDER

2000 hrs: GOLD MEDAL! Muminjon ABDULLAEV (UZB) claims the 130kg gold medal after Minseok KIM (KOR) after the Korean pulls out due to injury

1940 hrs: Mohammadhadi Abdollah SARAVI (IRI) caps off his day with a stunning 10-0 win over Uzur DZHUZUPBEKOV (KGZ) to win the gold medal at 97kg. Second gold of the day for Iran

1920 hrs: GOLD MEDAL! TURSYNOV (KAZ) will capture the gold medal at 87kg after Fei PENG (CHN) is out injured

1900 hrs: GOLD MEDAL! Akzhol MAKHMUDOV (KGZ) finishes his day with a 7-3 win over Shohei YABIKU (JPN) and takes home the gold medal at 77kg. What a day for the youngster

1845 hrs: GOLD MEDAL! Mohammadreza Abdolhamid GERAEI (IRI) with a big throw and the win! He beats Hansu RYU (KOR) 9-0 to win the 67kg gold medal

 1833 hrs: Aram VARDANYAN (UZB) captures the bronze medal by defeating Azatjan ACHILOV (TKM) 11-2 while ASHU (IND) is the winner on Mat B as he beats Sheroz OCHILOV (TJK) 8-1 at 67kg

1825 hrs: Azatjan ACHILOV (TKM) and Aram VARDANYAN (UZB) are wrestling on Mat A while Sheroz OCHILOV (TJK) is up against ASHU (IND) on Mat B at 67kg

1823 hrs: GOLD MEDAL! Zholaman SHARSHENBEKOV (KGZ) with a solid defence to clinch the 60kg gold medal against Sailike WALIHAN (CHN)

1810 hrs: Hanjae CHUNG (KOR) with a reversal in the final 10 seconds to win the bronze medal over GYANENDER (IND) 4-3. Firuz MIRZORAJBNOV (TJK) fights off a tough battle against F Kh M J ALAJMI (KUW) 4-2 to win the bronze at 60kg

1800 hrs: Mohammad F Kh M J ALAJMI (KUW) and Firuz MIRZORAJABOV (TJK) will wrestle for the bronze medal on Mat A while Hanjae CHUNG (KOR) is wrestling GYANENDER (IND) for the second bronze medal at 60kg

1755 hrs: We are five minutes away from the medal bouts in Almaty. Here's the match order

The #WrestleAlmaty medal matches get underway in ten minutes.

Here's the match order.

EVENT PAGE: https://t.co/sRE0ARGXnj pic.twitter.com/IJAX9TT2DK

— United World Wrestling (@wrestling) April 9, 2021

1430 hrs: Here are the 12 Tokyo Olympics qualified wrestlers in Greco-Roman from Almaty

60kg: Zholaman SHARSHENBEKOV (KGZ) vs Sailike WALIHAN (CHN)
67kg: Hansu RYU (KOR) vs Mohammadreza GERAEI (IRI)
77kg: Akzhol MAKHMUDOV (KGZ) vs Shohei YABIKU (JPN)
87kg: Nursultan TURSYNOV (KAZ) vs Fei PENG (CHN)
97kg: Uzur DZHUZUPBEKOV (KGZ) vs Mohammadhadi SARAVI (IRI)
130kg: Minseok KIM (KOR) vs Muminjon ABDULLAEV (UZB)

1300 hrs: We are underway with the semi-finals in Almaty. First up is the 60kg weight category

1255 hrs: We are a few moments away from the semi-final bouts in Almaty. The winners of those bouts will qualify their countries for the Tokyo Games

1235 hrs: Gurpreet SINGH (IND) stuns 2012 Olympic gold and 2016 Rio Olympic bronze medalist Hyeonwoo KIM (KOR) with a pin. Three four point throws.

1215 hrs: Massive four! Kazakhstan's Nursultan TURSYNOV was trailing 1-3 but comes up with a big four pointer to defeat Masato SUMI (JPN) 5-3 and advance to the semi-final at 87kg

1203 hrs: Aram VARDANYAN (UZB) with a top finish winning his quarter-final against Marlen ASIKEEV (KGZ) 9-1. Stunning finish from the Uzbek wrestler

 

We need to come up with a good nickname for Mohammadreza GERAEI ??!

His brother,???Mohammadali GERAEI ??, is nicknamed, "The Falcon."

— United World Wrestling (@wrestling) April 9, 2021

 

1200 hrs: Asikeev leading Vardanyan 1-0 at the break in the 67kg quarter-final. Big four-point throw from Vardanyan to lead 4-1

1155 hrs: Big bout on Mat A! 2019 World silver at 72kg Aram VARDANYAN (UZB) is wrestling Marlen ASIKEEV (KGZ) who has already effected an upset

1150 hrs: Five-time Asian champion and two-time world champion Hansu RYU (KOR) has already reached the semi-finals at 67kg 

1130 hrs: Top bout on Mat A. Minseok KIM (KOR) holds off Lingzhe MENG (CHN) for a 3-3 win in their Round 1 at 130 kg

1120 hrs: Upset on Mat B! Marlen ASIKEEV (KGZ) defeats World bronze medalist and Asian silver medalist Meiirzhan SHERMAKHANBET (KAZ) 8-2 and that will be the end of the Olympic dream here for the Kazak wrestler. Some good tactical wrestling from Asikeev giving up little to nothing 

1107 hrs: U23 World and Asia champion Mohammadreza Abdolhamid GERAEI (IRI) begins his day with a 52 second technical superiority win against Sheroz OCHILOV (TJK) 

1100 hrs: And we are off! All three mats begin the action with 130kg weight category 

#WrestleBaku, #WrestleParis

Nine nations, 2 AINs win Paris 2024 quotas at European qualifiers

Friday, April 5, 2024 - 22:13 By Vinay Siwach

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BAKU, Azerbaijan (April 5) -- Two months ago, Sergei SEMENOV (AIN) had pulled off one of the greatest wins in European history when he pinned Riza KAYAALP (TUR) in the 130kg final.

On Friday, Semenov continued his excellent form and qualified for the Paris Olympics 2024 from the European OG Qualifier in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Semenov was one of the two Individual Neutral Athletes who qualified for the Paris Games. Nine other countries shared the remaining 10 Greco-Roman spots on day one of the tournament.

Semenov, a two-time Olympic bronze medalist, controlled all three of his matches to win the spot. He blanked Dzmitry ZARUBSKI (AIN) 4-0 before holding off former world champion and London Olympics silver medalist Heiki NABI (FIN) 1-1.

In the Paris 2024 qualification bout, Semenov held off local favorite Beka KANDELAKI (AZE), 4-2, and silenced a loud Azerbaijani crowd at the National Gymnastics Center.

The second Paris 2024 quota at 130kg went to Jello KRAHMER (GER) who defeated three-time Olympian Alin ALEXUC CIURARIU (ROU), 6-1, in the semifinal.

Once he got the advantage in the first period, Krahmer asked to continue in standing instead of the usual par terre. Alexuc took the lead in the second period after Krahmer was called passive. But Alexuc failed to score any points.

As time was ticking, Krahmer managed to lock Alexuc's arm and threw him for a four-pointer which Romania challenged but lost, giving Krahmer a 6-1 win and a Paris 2024 quota.

Aleksandr KOMAROV (SRB) also continued his good form from Romania as the European champion made it look easy at 87kg and earned a Paris 2024 quota for Serbia. Up against former European champion Turpal BISULTANOV (DEN), who was coming back from a shoulder surgery, Komarov finished his bout against Bisultanov in just one minute and 23 seconds.

However, it wasn't a great start to the day as Komarov had to dig deep to win his opening bout against Ivan HUKLEK (CRO). Komarov fell behind 5-0 in the opening bout before using his strong gut-wrench to make a comeback and win 7-5.

Milad ALIRZAEV (AIN) got the second quota at 87kg after he defeated Kiryl MASKEVICH (AIN) 2-1 in a very close semifinal. Alirzaev earlier beat Exauce MUKUBU (NOR) 10-2 in a tense bout.

Tokyo Olympian Victor CIOBANU (MDA) qualified Moldova at 60kg after he defeated Hleb MAKARANKA (AIN), 9-1, in the semifinals. After giving up passivity in the second period, Ciobanu got the par terre advantage in the second and out came the reverse lift for four and flip for two more points to lead 7-1.

If Moldova allows Ciobanu to represent it in Paris, it will be the first time that a Moldovan Greco-Roman wrestler will be a two-time Olympian.

The other quota was secured by Enes BASAR (TUR), who had a field in Baku. He earned Turkiye the Paris spot at 60kg after beating Anvar ALLAKHIAROV (AIN) in the second semifinal at 60kg. After beating European champion and local favorite Nihat MAMMADLI (AZE) in the quarterfinal, Basar stunned Allakhiarov 3-2 in the semifinal. Allakhiarov had beaten Basar 10-9 in the 63kg quarterfinals at the European Championships in February.

At 67kg, Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Parviz NASIBOV (UKR) scored a late stepout to beat Krisztian VANCZA (HUN), 5-4, in the semifinal to earn a quota for Ukraine. Vancza had taken 4-4 lead before Nasibov found a way to score via stepout.

France will have their own as Mamadassa SYLLA (FRA) defeated Gevorg SAHAKYAN (POL), 3-3, in a closely fought battle. Sylla scored his points in the second period which helped him secure the victory. This is the first time since the 2012 London Olympics that France has qualified in Greco-Roman.

Former world champion Burhan AKBUDAK (TUR) turned up at 77kg and went home with the Paris 2024 quota for Turkiye. Up against the dangerous Alexandru GUTU (MDA) in the semifinal, Akbudak sneaked out a 10-8 win.

Akbudak scored three turns in par terre to lead 7-0 but Gutu blocked him in the last roll and then scored two more points. Akbudak led 8-5 at the break but Gutu scored three pushouts to tie it 8-8, However, Akbudak led on criteria, ultimately claiming the win.

Jonni SARKKINEN (FIN) got two four-pointers as he stunned Zoltan LEVAI (HUN), 9-0, to earn the other quota at 77kg.

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RESULTS

60kg Paris 2024 Qualification Bouts
SF 1: Enes BASAR (TUR) df. Anvar ALLAKHIAROV (AIN), 5-2
SF 2: Victor CIOBANU (MDA) df. Hleb MAKARANKA (AIN), 7-1

67kg Paris 2024 Qualification Bouts
SF 1: Mamadassa SYLLA (FRA) df. Gevorg SAHAKYAN (POL), 3-3
SF 2: Parviz NASIBOV (UKR) df. Krisztian VANCZA (HUN), 5-4

77kg Paris 2024 Qualification Bouts
SF 1: Jonni SARKKINEN (FIN) df. Zoltan LEVAI (HUN), 9-0
SF 2: Burhan AKBUDAK (TUR) df. Alexandrin GUTU (MDA), 10-8

87kg Paris 2024 Qualification Bouts
SF 1: Milad ALIRZAEV (AIN) df. Kiryl MASKEVICH (AIN), 2-1
SF 2: Aleksandr KOMAROV (SRB) df. Turpal BISULTANOV (DEN), 8-0

97kg Paris 2024 Qualification Bouts
SF 1: Mindaugas VENCKAITIS (LTU) df. Mihail KAJAIA (SRB), 5-2
SF 2: Roberti KOBLIASHVILI (GEO) df. Lucas LAZOGIANIS (GER), 2-1

130kg Paris 2024 Qualification Bouts
SF 1: Sergei SEMENOV (AIN) df. Beka KANDELAKI (AZE), 4-2
SF 2: Jello KRAHMER (GER) df. Alin ALEXUC CIURARIU (ROU), 6-1