#wrestlebishkek

LIVE BLOG: Bishkek Ranking Series event, Day Two

Friday, June 2, 2023 - 04:18 By Eric Olanowski

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BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (June 2) --- The second day of wrestling at the Bishkek Ranking Series event get underway at 10:30 am. Friday's action will feature the final three Greco-Roman weights--72kg, 77kg and 87kg, and the first four women's wrestling weights--57kg, 62kg, 68kg and 76kg.

Everything you need to know:
📍Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan 🇰🇬
🗓️: June 1-4
🕙: Qualification = 10:30
🥇🥈🥉= 18:00
#️⃣: #WrestleBishkek
🖥️: http://uww.org 
📱: UWW App

Friday's final matches:
Greco-Roman
72kg: Mohammadreza GERAEI (IRI) vs.Ramaz ZOIDZE (GEO) 
77kg: Mohammadali Abdolhamid GERAEI (IRI) vs. Iuri LOMADZE (GEO) 
82kg: Alireza Azizkhoon MOHMADIPIANI (IRI) vs. Alperen BERBER (TUR) 

Women's Wrestling
57kg: Kexin HONG (CHN) vs. Alina HRUSHYNA AKOBIIA (UKR) 
62kg: Orkhon PUREVDORJ (MGL) vs. Ilona PROKOPEVNIUK (UKR) 
68kg: Delgermaa ENKHSAIKHAN (MGL) vs. Feng ZHOU (CHN) 
76kg: Aiperi MEDET KYZY (KGZ) vs. Yuanyuan HUANG (CHN) 

13:31: Talk about feeding off the crowd. Aiperi MEDET KYZY (KGZ) picked up her second come-from-behind win of the day, scoring four points in the final 20 seconds to defeat Qiandegenchagan QIANDEGENCHAGAN (CHN), 6-3. She reached the finals, where she'll meet Yuanyuan HUANG (CHN) for the 76kg title.

13:18: Geraei just made Basar's feet touch the ceiling with a perfectly timed duck under. I'm waiting for the video and will have it up shortly.

13:06: World bronze medalists Mohammadali Abdolhamid GERAEI (IRI) and Yunus Emre BASAR (TUR) are in a tight battle over on Mat A. Geraei just picked up two from a gut wrench, grabbing the 3-2 lead heading into the second period.

12:37: Two Olympic medalist are wrestling now. Reza Geraei is up on A and Meerim ZHUMANAZAROVA (KGZ) is up on Mat C.

12:35: Jia LONG (CHN) just put up 14 points in the second period against Bullen, erasing a nine-point first-period deficit. In one of the craziest turn of event I've ever seen, she went from being down 10-1 to winning 15-10.

12:29: Grace BULLEN (NOR) is in the midst of blowing a 10-1 lead. She's given up eight consecutive points in the second period and there's still over a minute to go.

12:12: In the battle of Mongolian world champs over on Mat C, Purevdorj picked up three counter-offensive go-behinds against Sukhee, picking up the 6-4 win. This was Purevdorj's second win over Sukhee after defeating her at the 2023 Mongolian National Championships. Although it's not official, with a 2-0 record against Sukhee, Purevdorj will likely be Mongolia's rep at the 2023 World Championships.

11:40: The Pan-American champions who made the trip to Bishkek are having a tough day. Elvira KAMALOGLU (TUR), who entered the competition with a 1-2 record on the season, just cruised to a 12-1 win over Luisa VALVERDE  (ECU). She'll wrestle reigning two-time European champion Alina HRUSHYNA AKOBIIA (UKR) next for a spot in the 57kg finals

11:21: Mongolia's pair of world champions Tserenchimed SUKHEE (MGL) and Orkhon PUREVDORJ (MGL) will wrestle in four matches on Mat C. This will likely determine the starting spot at 62kg on Mongolia's Belgrade world team.

11:12: The Olympic champ skates away with a 9-3 win over Abuladze and will meet  Adilkhan SATAYEV (KAZ) in the 72kg quarterfinals.

11:03: Things are getting crazy on Mat A. Otar ABULADZE (GEO) just pinned Olympic champ Mohammadreza Abdolhamid GERAEI (IRI) but the fall didn't stick.

After a back and forth exchange near the Georgian corner, Geraei ended up flat on his back, with Otar picking up the fall. But Geraei challenged that Abuladze's head and left head went out of bounds, which should have stopped all action. He was correct and we're back to action.

10:49: Continuing with the action on Mat A, world bronze medalist Aiperi MEDET KYZY (KGZ) has a slim 1-0 lead Gulmaral YERKEBAYEVA (KAZ) but is on the shot clock. Her coach just told her to start working on the head and get to her undertook on her right side.

10:45: Prokopevniuk and Godinez trade takedown in period two, but the Ukrainian pulls out the early upset of the morning, 8-3. She'll take on Lydia PEREZ TOURINO (ESP) in the 62kg quarterfinals.

10:41:  Ilona PROKOPEVNIUK (UKR) has built a solid 6-1 lead on Ana Paula GODINEZ GONZALEZ (CAN), scoring three takedowns on the reigning Pan-American champion. There's just under two minutes left in the opening round match 62kg. 

10:23: Welcome back to Bishkek, wrestling. Today, there will be three Olympic medalists in action: Olympic champion Mohammadreza Abdolhamid GERAEI (IRI), and Olympic bronze medal winners Iryna KOLIADENKO (UKR) and Meerim ZHUMANAZAROVA (KGZ).

#WrestleBudapest

Takahashi marks return from injury with Ranking Series gold

Friday, July 18, 2025 - 20:08 By Vinay Siwach

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BUDAPEST, Hungary (July 18) -- The last memories of Kota TAKHASHI (JPN) on the mat were painful. He had a heavily strapped right knee and was wrestling at the Non-Olympic World Championships in Tirana last year. He was torn.

A surgery and nine months later, Takahashi returned to international wrestling at the Budapest Ranking Series on Friday and captured the 74kg gold medal.

The world U23 champion was the third gold medalist from Japan in Budapest after Takara SUDA (JPN) and Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN) won at 61kg and 70kg, respectively.

In the other two weight classes that were in action on Friday, Arsenii DZHIOEV (AZE) and Trent HIDLAY (USA) captured the gold medal at 86kg and 92kg as Freestyle came to a close at the Ranking Series.

Takahashi, who won the Asian Championships gold in 2024, made himself a gold-medal threat for the World Championships in Zagreb with an impressive performance that saw him score wins over Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK) and David CARR (USA).

"This was my first international competition since my right knee surgery, and I wanted to show my true abilities," Takahashi said. "I'm very happy that I was able to win by thoroughly executing my tackles and aggressive wrestling style."

Takahashi was up against Salkazanov in his first match and began by blasting two double-leg attacks to race to a 4-0 lead. But the second period was not the same as he was put on the activity clock and Salkazanov cut the lead with a takedown during that.

Just when it seemed that Salkazanov can take the lead, Takahashi hit a low leg-attack and converted it into takedown to make the gap 6-3. Salkazanov did not let it go and scored a stepout with nine seconds left.

Takahashi was happy to not engage in those nine seconds, and happily gave a stepout and a caution. He won 6-6 and set up a quarterfinal against Murad KURAMAGOMEDOV (HUN). He did not need any of those attacks as he managed a 3-0 win.

The semifinal against Carr was a challenging one as Takahashi struggled to keep his conditioning for six minutes. He opened with a stepout and Carr was called for fleeing. As Carr used a chest wrap to stop Takahashi's double-leg attack, he fell on his back with hand opens. Only Takahashi was awarded two points which made his lead 4-0. Two stepouts later, it was 6-0.

Carr got going in the final two minutes as he scored two takedowns inside 20 seconds to make it 6-4. So far, Takahashi had remained low in his stance and cancelled Carr's long reach. However, his defense began to break up.

As Carr tried to turn Takahashi after the second takedown, Takahashi blocked the turn and got two points. Carr scored a reversal to make it 8-5. He then made it 8-7 with 10 seconds remaining but that was the final scoring action of the bout.

"Car is very aggressive, and I am also good at aggressive wrestling, but in the second half, my opponent's attacks were superior to mine. I ended up conceding points," he said. "I think that was my mistake. In the second period, I tried to attack, but the opponent kept attacking repeatedly. I ended up just defending, and that was the reason I lost points. I need to be more aggressive and attack more."

Takahashi's aggressive wrestling was once again on show in the final against another former world U23 champion Magomed KHANIEV (AZE). He scored two takedowns and defending so well that Khaniev was not able to score a point and Takahashi won gold medal, 4-0.

But the Japanese accepted the chinks in his armor and has decided to work on them before the World Championships where he knows that the competition will be even tougher.

"Similar story against Salkazanov. I want to review my stamina to maintain an aggressive attack throughout the six minutes without breaking my stance, and keep solid stance," he said. "In the second half, my desire to attack weakened, and I ended up being attacked by the opponent, leading to them scoring points. I need to improve on that."

Carr returned for the bronze medal bout and defeated Salkazanov 4-4, avenging his previous to the Slovak from Zagreb.

Trent HIDLAY (USA)Trent HIDLAY (USA) defeated Miriani MAISURADZE (GEO) 7-2 in the 92kg final. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Trent HIDLAY (USA), a 86kg silver medalist last year in Budapest, upgraded to gold medal after beating world silver medalist Miriani MAISURADZE (GEO), 7-4, in the 92kg final.

Hidlay was in red-hot form the whole day as he began with a win over Abubakr ABAKAROV (AZE)  and then posted a 10-0 win over Krizstian ANGYAL (HUN) in the quarterfinal. He began the semifinal against Dauren KURUGLIEV (GRE) with a powerful double-leg takedown.

As Kurugliev fell, he landed on his knee and suffered an injury so bad that he was unable to walk off the mat. Hidlay reached the final after the injury forced Kurugliev to stop.

It was Maisuradze who opened the scoring in the final with a snapdown to takedown for two points but Hidlay answered with two stepouts and the Georgian led 2-2 on criteria at the break.

Hidlay opened the second period with a takedown to take a 4-2 lead and then continued to put pressure on Maisuradze. It paid off as he scored another takedown on the edge to lead 6-2. Georgia challenged that both wrestlers were already out of the zone and it should be one point. But the challenge was lost, making it 7-2 for Hidlay with 1:47 left on the clock.

That was all in the bout as Hidlay captured the gold and put his name in contention for the gold medal at the upcoming World Championships.

At 86kg, Arsenii DZHIOEV (AZE) was the gold medalist after European silver medalist Mahamedkhabib KADZIMAHAMEDAU (UWW) pulled out of the final injured.

Kadzimahamedau suffered a knee injury in the semifinal against Ali SAVADKOUHI (IRI) as the Iranian did not let go off his knee despite it turning more than 90 degrees.

RESULTS

74kg
GOLD: Kota TAKAHASHI (JPN) df. Magomed KHANIEV (AZE), 4-0

BRONZE: David CARR (USA) df. Taimuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK), 4-4
BRONZE: Magomedrasul ASLUEV (BRN) df. Yeldos KUANYSHBAY (KAZ), 8-2

86kg
GOLD:  Arsenii DZHIOEV (AZE) df. Mahamedkhabib KADZIMAHAMEDAU (UWW), via inj. def.

BRONZE: Osman GOCEN (TUR) df. Boris MAKOEV (SVK), 3-2
BRONZE: Ali SAVADKOUHI (IRI) df. Nurzhan ISSAGALIYEV (KAZ), 3-0 

92kg
GOLD: Trent HIDLAY (USA) df. Miriani MAISURADZE (GEO), 7-4

BRONZE: Benjamin HONIS (ITA) df. Musza ARSUNKAEV (HUN), via fall (5-5)
BRONZE: Abubakr ABAKAROV (AZE) df. Dauren KURUGLIEV (GRE), via inj. def.