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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).

#UWWAwards

UWW Most Dominant Wrestlers 2025: Amouzad, Motoki, Esmaeili

Thursday, December 25, 2025 - 11:08 By Eric Olanowski

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (December 24) -- There were several dominant performances in 2025 on the wrestling mat. But it was three wrestlers who remained at the top of their weight classes and racked up dominant wins one after another. Two were Olympic champions while one was an Olympic silver medalist. All three became world champions in Zagreb.

Freestyle Most Dominant Wrester: Rahman AMOUZAD (IRI)

- 14–0
- Rank 1 at 65kg 
- 58,000 RS points 
- Outscored world and Olympic medalists 42–4
- World Championships, Tirana RS and ISG golds

Rahman AMOUZAD (IRI) was about as perfect as you could be in a season, returning to prominence with title-winning efforts at the World Championships, Islamic Solidarity Games and Muhamet Malo Ranking Series event and finishing the season as the No.1 ranked wrestler in the world at 65kg with 58,000 Ranking Series points.

The Paris silver medalist, collected an unblemished 14-0 record in 2025 -- with five of those wins coming against top-level opponents who have world or Olympic medals on their resumes in Olympic champion Kotaro KIYOOKA (JPN), Umidjon JALALOV (UZB), Taiyrbek ZHUMASHBEK UULU (KGZ) and Real WOODS (USA). The craziest part about those five matches against the world’s best, Amouzad outscored 42-4.

But without a doubt, the highlight of Amouzad’s season came in Zagreb when he finally got his long awaited rematch, beating Kotaro KIYOOKA in a revenge match from the Paris 2024 Olympic finals.

The scariest part about Amouzad’s dominance -- he’s only 23 years old and he’s still getting better.

Women's Wrestling Dominant Wrestler: Sakura MOTOKI (JPN)

- 9-0
- Five pins, two technical superiorities
- 45,000 RS points 
- 8/9 bouts finished before regulation
- Completed Golden Grand Slam (U17, U20, U23, Senior World and Olympic gold)

Coming into the 2025 season, Motoki made her goals crystal clear -- become the third wrestler in history of the sport to win wrestling’s Golden Grand Slam -- and for those who don’t know, that is gold medals at the U17, U20, U23, Senior World Championships and the Olympic Games.

The only two missing from the Olympic champ's resume were the U23 and Senior World golds.

At the 2025 U23 and senior World Championships, Motoki showed that she’s in a league of her own, as she went 9-0, with eight  matches finishing before time expired. She scored five falls and two technical superiority wins.

Her win in the final of the World Championships will be one that will be talked about for ages as the most dramatic win of the season. Motoki scored a buzzer-beating takedown against Ok Ju KIM (PRK) with a 10-second flurry that consisted of a head outside single, arm throw, over-under knee pick, before head locking Kim with four tenths of a second left to keep her history making hopes alive.

In the end, Motoki’s heart and courage under fire helped her close out the year as the third wrestler to complete the Golden Grand Slam and she did it with a level of dominance we may not see again for a very long time.

Greco-Roman Dominant Wrestler: Saeid ESMAEILI (IRI)

- Rank 1 at 67kg 
- 58,000 RS points  
- 11–0 Record
- World Championships, Asian Championships and  ISG golds

In a 2025 campaign that saw him become a world champion, Esmaeili's season was immaculate, as he cemented his place among the sport’s top pound-for-pound wrestler with a season full of titles, stacking gold-medals at the World Championships, Asian Championships and Islamic Solidarity Games, rounding out the season ranked No. 1 in the world at 67kg.

The Paris Olympic champion remained unbeaten in 2025, winning all 11 bouts of his bouts in dominant fashion -- scoring eight shutout wins, with seven technical falls -- including a pair of 9-0 win against world champions Aytjan KHALMAKHANOV (UZB) and Sebastian NAD (SRB). The reigning Olympic gold medalist also collected two victories over Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medalist Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE), one in the world final and one in the Islamic Game gold-medal match, where he tossed his Azeri opponent for four as time expired to rob his rival of the title.

His opponents should not ease up because at just 22 years old, Esmaeili is still sharpening his tool set and leveling up his skills.