#wrestlebishkek

LIVE BLOG: Bishkek Ranking Series event, Day Two

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

Share this article

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).

#GrecoRoman

'Thank you, wrestling': Tokyo Olympic medalist Elsayed, 27, retires

Monday, July 14, 2025 - 10:34 By Vinay Siwach

Share this article

EGYPT (July 14) -- Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist Mohamed ELSAYED (EGY) has announced his retirement from wrestling, concluding a distinguished career that included two Olympic appearances and two world U23 gold medals.

Elsayed posted on Instagram about his struggles with injuries and shared that the decision to retire was the "most difficult" for the 27-year-old wrestler.

"After many years of hard work, challenges, and victories [and] after I honored my country and raised its flag in internationally, and was able to achieve my dream and win an Olympic medal in Greco-Roman wrestling, I have reached the most difficult decision in my sports career.  I have decided to officially announce my retirement," Elsayed wrote in an emotional post.

Having won five gold medals at the African Championships, Elsayed was a trailblazer in Greco-Roman and was Egypt's new-found hope for the Olympics. He did not disappoint in Tokyo, where he had a surprising run to the semifinal, which he lost to Parviz NASIBOV (UKR), 7-6.

He bounced back in the bronze-medal bout and defeated Artem SURKOV (ROC), 1-1 to capture bronze, Egypt's first medal since 2012 London Olympics and only the third since 1960.

"Wrestling has always been more than just a sport to me," he wrote. "It was my life, my passion, and my support in the most difficult times. I thank God for every moment I lived on the mat and every moment of pride, and every encouragement I heard from my family, fans, and country."

One of the biggest achievements of Elsayed, apart from the Olympic medal, was winning successive world U23 gold medals in 2018 and 2019 at 67kg.

Elsayed expressed gratitude to various individuals who supported him throughout the journey including coaches and trainers. He also thanked wrestling.

"I thank every coach who helped me, every colleague who stood by me, and everyone who supported me with a kind word or a prayer from the heart. Thank you to everyone who was part of the journey.

"Thank you to wrestling, which taught me to be a man before being a champion."