#WrestleBudapest

LIVE BLOG: European Olympic Qualifier, Day Two (Tokyo Qualifying Session)

Friday, March 19, 2021 - 14:55 By Eric Olanowski

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BUDAPEST, Hungary (March 19) --- The #WrestleBudapest freestyle medal matches will start at 16:00 (local time) and will be followed by the women's wrestling #Tokyo2020 qualifying round at 18:00. 

20:07: That'll do it for Friday's coverage. We'll see you back here on Saturday at 11:00 as Greco-Roman actions gets underway at the European Olympic Qualifier.

20:04: Obviously two inactivity points was not the ideal way that Vorobeva wanted to earn Russia's Olympic spot, but sometimes the results is more important than the performance. She defeated Kuenz, 2-1, and will wrestle Marzaliuk in Saturday night's 76kg finals.

19:55: Olympic champion Natalia VOROBEVA (RUS) and world bronze medalist Martina KUENZ (AUT) will close Friday's women's wrestling semifinals. 

19:53: That was quick! Vasilisa MARZALIUK (BLR) pinned Mariya ORYASHKOVA (BUL) in just over two minutes and helped Belarus punch their fifth overall ticket to Tokyo and second in women's wrestling.

19:48: Here's the final weight for women's wrestling. Vasilisa MARZALIUK (BLR) and Mariya ORYASHKOVA (BUL) are up first!

19:46: The future is bright at 68kg! First, it was 22-year-old Larroque who qualified for the Olympics. Now, 21-year-old Khanum VELIEVA (RUS) just qualified Russia for the Olympics with her 6-0 victory over fellow European champion Elis MANOLOVA (AZE).

19:31: Larroque is on first early in the first period. She's scored three takedowns and leads 6-0 heading into the second period.

19:25: We'll move into the 68kg semifinals. First up will be Koumba LARROQUE (FRA) and Dalma CANEVA (ITA). 

19:24: WHAT A COMEBACK! Grigorjeva trailed 3-0 in the second period but scored a pair of takedowns to pick up the come-from-behind win over Yesilirmak and Olympic berth, 4-4.

19:20: European champions Elif Jale YESILIRMAK (TUR) and Anastasija GRIGORJEVA (LAT) will wrestle in the second semifinal match at 62kg.

19;19: Koliadenko secured Ukraine's second Olympic license of the day with a 10-0 win over Mariana CHERDIVARA ESANU (MDA) in the 62kg finals.

19:11: Mariana CHERDIVARA ESANU (MDA) and Iryna KOLIADENKO (UKR) are up next in the 62kg semifinals.

19:07: Alina HRUSHYNA AKOBIIA (UKR) put on a flawless performance in the 57kg semifinals and ended Sara LINDBORG'S (SWE) hopes of qualifying Sweden for the Olympic Games. She won the match, 10-0.

18:55: Sara Johanna LINDBORG (SWE) and Alina HRUSHYNA AKOBIIA (UKR) will wrestle in the second 57kg semifinals.

18:54: What a performance by Evelina NIKOLOVA (BUL)! She scored a pair of takedowns against Bediha GUN (TUR) in the 57kg semifinals and punched Bulgaria's 57kg ticket to this summer's Games.

18:45: Rio Olympic bronze medalist Sofia MATTSSON (SWE) was in disbelief as she picked up a late fall against Stalvira ORSHUSH (RUS) in the 53kg semifinal to punch Sweden's ticket to Tokyo.

18:36: Two-time world champion Vanesa KALADZINSKAYA (BLR) blasted through Iulia LEORDA (MDA), 9-1, in the first 53kg and helped Belarus book their fourth ticket to the Olympic Games. This week, Belarus claimed three spots from freestyle wrestlers and now one in women's wrestling.

18:23: The second 50kg Olympic berth went to Miglena SELISHKA (BUL). The reigning European champion caught Iwona MATKOWSKA (POL) off balance with just over two minutes left and gained the 2-1 advantage. She tacked on a second takedown after fighting off a late flurry of Polish attacks and won the match, 4-1

18:11: Evin DEMIRHAN (TUR) reached the final of the 50kg bracket and qualified Turkey for the Olympic Games with her 5-1 win over Julie SABATIE (FRA). 

Women's Wrestling Olympic Qualification Round

17:27: That'll do it for freestyle action. We'll take a short 30-minute break and see you back here for the women's wrestling Tokyo qualification round. action at 18:00.

17:25: Belarus crowned a third champion on the day as Gennadij CUDINOVIC (GER) injury defaulted out of the 125kg title bout giving gold to  Dzianis KHRAMIANKOU (BLR).

17:10: Karadeniz grabbed a takedown and put the pressure on late, but Huyshtyn came up clutch with a short-time takedown to win back-to-back golds for Belarus. The final score of the match was 5-4.

17:06: It was a pretty even first period between Aliaksandr HUSHTYN (BLR) and Suleyman KARADENIZ (TUR) in the 97kg finals. They both scored a point, but the Belarusian has criteria heading into the final three minutes.

16:55: Shabanau continues to roll with that smoothing underhook. He's used it to pick up three takedowns in the finals, and after a lost Turkish challenge, the Belarusian walked away with a 7-0 win and the 86kg gold medal.

16:50: It's not something that'll show up on the results page or highlight clip, but let's give props to the refs for being extra cautious with knees and shoulders during these finals matches. The main objective of this competition was chasing the Olympic quota, and although a gold medal would be nice, the most important thing is the long-term safety of these competitors.

16:45: Shabanau, the four-time world medal-winner, is controlling the ties early in the match with his patented left-side underhook. He's so calculated with his attacks off that hook.

16:44:  Ali SHABANAU (BLR) and Osman GOCEN (TUR) are the next finals match up. They'll wrestle for 86kg gold. 

16: 41: It doesn't look like Khadzhimurad GADZHIYEV (AZE) will compete in the 74kg finals, which means the European OG Qualifier gold goes to Georgia's '18 world runner-up  Avtandil KENTCHADZE.

16:36: What a performance by Tevanyan. He has to be looked at as a serious contender to win the Tokyo Olympic Games at 65kg. Since December, he has wins over Olympic champion Vlad KHINCHEGASHVILI (GEO), world bronze medalist Ismail MUSUKAEV (HUN), two-time world medalist Magomedmurad GADZHIEV (POL), and now three-time world champion Aliyev.

16:24: Tevanyan just opened the match-up and leads 7-0. He was on the inactivity clock but snapped Aliyev down for a takedown. He caught the Azeri's left arm and roll twice with a trapped arm gut. He added another takedown and claimed 65kg gold, 9-0.

16:22: Nothing much to talk about in that first period outside of the inactivity point. Aliyev has to attack, and for us fans, that's a positive! This is where things are going to get interesting!

16:18: Vazgen TEVANYAN (ARM) has had a lot of tough tests since December, but none like three-time world champion Haji ALIYEV (AZE). This should be a great gauge for the '20 Individual World Cup champion.

16:16: The Bulgarian tried everything he could to close the gap, but Harutyunyan takes the safe route out and concedes a takedown and flattens out. Harutyunyan wins 57kg gold with an 8-3 victory over Vangelov. 

16:14: The Armenian built a comfortable 8-1 lead after a counter-offensive go behind and a pair of below the hip exposures.

16:12: Harutyunyan scored the lone first-period takedown and leads 2-1 at the break. The 21-year-old used a textbook head outside single to take the one-point lead into the closing period. 

16:08: Just over a minute into the 57kg finals and we have a stoppage due to a cut on the head of Georgi VANGELOV (BUL). Arsen HARUTYUNYAN (ARM) is staying loose -- bouncing around the medical stall as the tape up the Bulgarian's head.

16:00: Please keep in mind that there could a good amount of medical forfeits in this session. Wrestlers who made it to the finals have already qualified their nations for the Tokyo Olympic Games. For now, we'll have to wait and see who is going to take the mat.

#development

Development in 2024: UWW's rapid strides off and on mat activities

Wednesday, December 11, 2024 - 12:16 By United World Wrestling Press

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (December 10) -- Launching education programs that laid the foundation for future generations of sports administrators, a historic step taken towards gender parity, adding the first online beach wrestling course, providing unfettered access to coaches, wrestlers and spectators to an interactive site that analyses data from all major United World Wrestling tournaments and conducting workshops on the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in coaching.

The year 2024 will go down as a watershed year in wrestling not just because of the spectacular action on the biggest stage of all, the Olympics. The year will also be seen as critical because, through various developmental initiatives, the UWW did important groundwork to support the future generations of wrestlers.

One of the landmark moments of the year was the election of seven women to the UWW Bureau, the sport’s supreme body, during the Congress in Tirana, Albania, on October 27. This marked a big step in women’s wrestling leadership and made it the highest registered female candidate for the Bureau in UWW’s history.

“From Tokyo to Paris, we made great strides to promote gender equality within our wrestling community. We have to pave the way for our future generations for equal opportunities, no matter the gender, the religious beliefs, ethnicity, etc.,” UWW President Nenad LALOVIC said.

This was also the year when wrestling took another step in opening its platforms to wrestlers, coaches and fans from the world over. By making the site accessible to all, the data and metrics for each style at every major competition from 2020 to the present can be on the UWW Academy page under the ‘Analytics’ tab. This is a great way to see how points are being scored for each style, weight category, medal matches, teams, among other things.

One of the benefits of making all the data available is it could help improve training decisions (technical and tactical) and overall general knowledge of the sport.

Another great addition to the UWW Academy portal was the first-ever online beach wrestling course. This course is designed to provide an overview of beach wrestling, the fastest-growing style. Topics include the benefits of beach wrestling, basic rules and scoring, differences between beach wrestling and the Olympic styles, how competitions are organized, how bouts are organized and conducted, and the Beach Wrestling World Series.

Soon, there will be new referee and rules courses coming to the UWW Academy.

Apart from the wide array of online courses, the UWW also held on-ground sessions in different parts of the world.T

he More than Medals camps grew stronger this year, with sessions in Jordan, the Dominican Republic and for U17 wrestlers in Serbia.

A significant milestone was achieved by conducting the South-East Asia & Oceania Education Week in Perth from September 30 to October 4.

Representatives from seven Oceania nations — Australia, New Zealand, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Nauru, Tahiti, and the Marshall Islands — and a participant from Singapore gathered with the hope of enhancing wrestling expertise across the region. For many, the session was their first UWW certification in years, adding even more impact to the event and underlining the UWW’s efforts to grow the sport.

Argentina became the first country in the Americas to host a Level 3 Coaches Course. This was also the first-ever Level 3 course conducted in Spanish globally. Bulgaria successfully hosted a Level 2 Coaches Course while India was the destination for the Level 1 course.

A total of approximately 150 coaches benefitted from these sessions, marking a significant step in their education.

Tunisia, Senegal, Guatemala, Croatia, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia are some other countries where crucial UWW developmental programs were hosted.

Cambodia marked a significant milestone in terms of growth of wrestling in the country by conducting the Development of the National Sports System from July 18 to November 30, 2024.

Another important program was on using AI and other new technologies in coaching during the ASOIF Sports Development and Education Group (ASDEG) Workshop in Lausanne.

UWW Development Director and ASDEG Chair Deqa NIAMKEY, who was also elected as a Board Member of the International Council for Coaching Excellence (ICCE) in February 2024, underlined the transformative potential of AI.

The annual meeting, which attracted 60 experts representing over 30 International Federations (IFs), agreed to implement a range of initiatives over the next 12 months. It included supporting the IFs in increasing the representation of Women Technical Officials and Coaches to meet International Olympic Committee targets, establishing regular communication to facilitate cross-sport collaboration and knowledge-sharing and equipping IFs with incorporating technology in development programs and resources for education.