#WrestleSofia

Live Blog: U20 World Championships, Day 6

Saturday, August 20, 2022 - 07:57 By Vinay Siwach

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SOFIA, Bulgaria (August 20) -- The U20 World Championships are at the business end of the tournament. The final qualification rounds will be held Saturday. The Greco-Roman weight classes in action are 60kg, 67kg, 72kg, 82kg and 97kg.

WATCH LIVE | MATCH ORDER

The semifinals for the evening session are set

60kg
Saeid ESMAEILI (IRI) vs. Nihat MAMMADLI (AZE)
SUMIT (IND) vs. Suren AGHAJANYAN (ARM)

67kg
Seyed SOHRABI (IRI) vs. Nika BROLADZE (GEO)
Din KOSHKAR (KAZ) vs. Kanan ABDULLAZADE (AZE)

72kg
Amir ABDI (IRI) vs. Alexandru SOLOVEI (MDA)
Gurban GURBANOV (AZE) vs. Irfan MIRZOIEV (UKR)

82kg​​​​​​​
Alireza MOHMADIPIANI (IRI) vs. Alperen BERBER (TUR)
Ruslan ABDIIEV (UKR) vs. Achiko BOLKVADZE (GEO)

97kg​​​​​​​
Iussuf MATSIYEV (KAZ) vs. Nurmanbet RAIMALY UULU (KGZ)
​​​​​​​Richard KARELSON (EST) vs. Ali ABEDIDARZI (IRI) 

14:20: Din KOSHKAR (KAZ) began his quarterfinal with a takedown against Robert PEREZ (USA) and that proved crucial as he won the bout 3-3 at 67kg

14:05: The quarterfinals at 67kg

Din KOSHKAR (KAZ) vs. Robert PEREZ (USA)
Nestori MANNILA (FIN) vs. Nika BROLADZE (GEO)
Yanis NIFRI (FRA) vs. Seyed SOHRABI (IRI)
Kanan ABDULLAZADE (AZE) vs. Ilyosjon ABDINAZAROV (UZB) 

13:55: Alperen BERBER (TUR) over Mihai GUTU (MDA) at 82kg! Berber allows Gutu to take the passivity but then scores four points including a takedown to win 4-1. 

13:30: At 82kg, Alireza MOHMADIPIANI (IRI) moves into the quarterfinals after beating Shan LIN (TPE), 9-0. He will face  Fares GHALY (EGY) next.

13:05: Returning silver medalist at 67kg Seyed SOHRABI (IRI) beats Abdelrahman OMAR (EGY) 9-0 as he tries for the second straight final at U20 Worlds.

12:40: U20 European champion Richard KARELSON (EST) beats Harutyun KIRAKOSYAN (ARM) 2-0 at 97kg. He is trying to become Estonia's first-ever U20 World Championships medal

12:20: U17 world champion Alperen BERBER (TUR) makes a big comeback after being down against  Ruben GEVORGYAN (ARM). He wins 13-10 at 82kg.

12:05: Marek VRBA (CZE) cannot believe what just happened in the bout against James HOLDER (RSA). The scoreline read 8-0 in Holder's favor after two big throws. But the Czech Republic challenged the final call for a reversal. It was confirmed in the review. Vrba then scored an 18-10 win.

11:52: Din KOSHKAR (KAZ) comes back from a 4-0 deficit to secure an 8-4 win over returning bronze medalist Ankit GULIA (IND). He used a headlock to score a four and held Gulia in danger for 2 minutes 

11:45: At 67kg, Kanan ABDULLAZADE (AZE) with a huge 8-3 win over Alexei HAHLOVSCHI (MDA) in the opening round

11:32: Amir ABDI (IRI) was in some trouble Eito NISHIDA (JPN) scored a takedown but Abdi hangs on for a 4-2 win at 72kg. At the same weight, Gurban GURBANOV (AZE) beats Elsi MARTINEZ (MEX) 9-0

Deepak PUNIA (IND) led 3-0 but Georgios BARBANOS (SWE) hits a four to win 4-4 on criteria.

11:25: The 72kg qualifications will be the first to go on the mat. Temuri ORJONIKIDZE (GEO) begins his day with a 10-1 win over Omer DOGAN (TUR). 

11:00: Welcome to day six of the U20 World Championships in Sofia. The Greco-Roman wrestlers are ready to get the day going with the qualification bouts.

#WrestleTirana

Breaking down freestyle battles at World Championships for Non-Olympic weights

Wednesday, October 16, 2024 - 09:44 By Vinay Siwach

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TIRANA, Albania (October 15) -- Six months ago, no one had the Sadulaev-Taylor-Ghasempour three-way battle for world title on their bingo card. But it is about to go down in Tirana.

The World Championships in non-Olympic weight classes is returning after eight years. Despite the fact that none of the Paris Olympic participants were allowed in the tournament, it still has a host of stars hoping to become world champions.

Abdulrashid SADULAEV (AIN), a two-time Olympic and five-time world champion, did not participate in the Paris Olympics and is going down a weight class to 92kg in a bid to earn his sixth world title. Three-time world champion David TAYLOR (USA) jumped from 86kg to 92kg in a bid to compete at the World Championships. He now gets a shot at Sadulaev. Two-time world champion at 92kg Kamran GHASEMPOUR (IRI), who has been moving up and down in weight classes, has somehow been made the challenger.

Ghasempour participated in the 97kg weight class in the Zagreb Open but lost to Kyle SNYDER (USA). He was in line for Iran's 86kg spot for Paris but later opted out of a trial against Hassan YAZDANI (IRI).

Sadulaev lost a bout for the second time in his career and first in six years when he lost to Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN) at the 2023 World Championships. Taylor lost to Aaron BROOKS (USA) in the U.S. Olympic trials and Ghasempour barely scraped through in the trials for the world team in Iran.

Yet, the three will be the favorite for the gold medal and it will only be a surprise if any of them miss out on the podium in Tirana.

Jordan BURROUGHS (USA)Jordan BURROUGHS (USA) is eyeing his seventh world title. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Six-time world champion Jordan BURROUGHS (USA) is also chasing history. If he wins, he will win his seventh world title, making him the most successful American wrestler at the World Championships. He missed out on competing at the 2023 World Championships but stormed back in 2024, winning the trial in the United States.

But his path to gold won't be an easy one. Two-time U23 world champion Magomed MAGOMAEV (AIN), former world silver medalist Avtandil KENTCHADZE (GEO), three-time world medalist Mohammad NOKHODI (IRI) and Asian champion Kota TAKAHASHI (JPN) are also in the fray.

Nokhodi and Burroughs have wrestled in two back-to-back World Championships finals with the latter winning both. But Burroughs suffered his first loss to an Iranian in 2022 when Ali SAVADKOUHI (IRI) defeated him at the World Cup and Nokhodi will draw confidence from there.

All the big names will be looking to hand Burroughs his first World Championships loss since 2019.

Vitali ARUJAU (USA)Vitali ARUJAU (USA) is the defending world champion at 61kg. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Another Olympic champion eyeing a world title will be Zavur UGUEV (AIN) as he last won the second of two titles in 2019. Uguev won gold at the Tokyo Olympics at 57kg but finished fifth at the 2023 World Championships. He will be at 61kg in Tirana hoping to deny defending world champion Vitali ARUJAU (USA) a second world title.

Arujau won his first world gold medal in 2023 by beating Abasgadzhi MAGOMEDOV (AIN) in a tense final. He won the team trials in the U.S. to confirm his name for the World Championships in Tirana.

An interesting name entered is Azamat TUSKAEV (SRB). The former European champion will turn out for Serbia at 61kg but it is unlikely that he will be challenging for gold.

Masanosuke ONO (JPN), however, can be a big threat for the gold medal given his style and pace of wrestling. He rocked the competition at the U20 World Championships last month and won gold at 61kg. It will be interesting to see how he fares at his first senior World Championships.

Asian Championships silver medalist UDIT (IND) and Taiyrbek ZHUMASHBEK UULU (KGZ) have some good wins under their belts over the past two years and they would like to make a mark in Tirana.

Inalbek SHERIEV (AIN)Inalbek SHERIEV (AIN) and Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN) wrestled in the U23 World Championships final last year. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

U23 world and European champion Inalbek SHERIEV (AIN) will be making his senior international debut at 70kg in Tirana and will be the favorite to win the gold medal. However, the field has other top contenders like Amirmohammad YAZDANI (IRI), Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN) and James GREEN (USA) among others.

Yazdani lost the final at 70kg last year to Zain RETHERFORD (USA) but will look to make amends this year. He won the Asian Championships over Aoyagi in a high-scoring final. Yazdani's 13-9 win over Aoyagi was not convincing and the Japanese will look to change the result if the two meet in Tirana. Aoyagi was in the final against Sheriev but dropped the final 9-3. He finished eighth at the World Championships in 2023.

Former U20 world champion for Iran, Peiman BIABANI (CAN) will be turning out for Canada. He finished second at the Pan-Am Championships and the World Championships will be a big test for him. 2023 bronze medalist Ramazan RAMAZANOV (BUL) will look to change the color of his medal this year.