#WrestleSofia

LIVE BLOG: World Olympic Qualifiers, Day 1

By United World Wrestling Press

Sofia is set for the World Olympic Qualifiers -- the final chance for wrestlers to win a quota for the Tokyo Olympics. 12 tickets will be awarded on Thursday in freestyle wrestling.

WATCH LIVE | MATCH ORDER

Semifinal matches (stat time = 19:00)

57kg
SEMIFINAL - Yuki TAKAHASHI (JPN) vs. Reineri ANDREU ORTEGA (CUB)
SEMIFINAL - Giorgi EDISHERASHVILI (AZE)  vs. Bekhbayar ERDENEBAT (MGL) 

65kg
SEMIFINAL - Georgios PILIDIS (GRE) vs. David HABAT (SLO)
SEMIFINAL -  Jordan Michael OLIVER (USA) vs. Magomedmurad GADZHIEV (POL) 

74kg
SEMIFINAL - Vasyl MYKHAILOV (UKR) vs. Mitchell Louis FINESILVER (ISR) 
SEMIFINAL - Taimuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK) vs.  Magomedkhabib KADIMAGOMEDOV (BLR)

86kg 
SEMIFINAL - Abubakr ABAKAROV (AZE) vs. Boris MAKOEV (SVK) 
SEMIFINAL - Zbigniew BARANOWSKI (POL) vs. Sohsuke TAKATANI (JPN) 

97kg 
SEMIFINAL - Abraham de Jesus CONYEDO RUANO (ITA) vs. Ahmed Sultanovich BATAEV (BUL) 
SEMIFINAL -  Valerii ANDRIITSEV (UKR) vs. Albert SARITOV (ROU) 

125kg
SEMIFINAL - Jose Daniel DIAZ ROBERTTI (VEN) vs. Sumit SUMIT (IND) 
SEMIFINAL - Sergei KOZYREV (RUS) vs. Daniel LIGETI (HUN) 

15:05: There's the comeback of the competition thus far.  Ilman MUKHTAROV (FRA) trailed European silver medalist Selahattin KILICSALLAYAN (TUR) by eight points but scored nine unanswered points and moved into the semifinals with a 9-8 victory.

14:53: What a second period! After trailing 3-0, Demirtas strung together six points in the second period and defeated world champion Cabalov, 6-3. 

14:35: We'll roll right into the quarterfinal matches -- starting with Yuki TAKAHASHI (JPN) and Vladimir EGOROV (MKD). 

13:47: Abubakr ABAKAROV (AZE) continues to roll. He wins his second match of the day with a 12-5 win over Sandro AMINASHVILI (GEO).

13: 37: Sergei KOZYREV (RUS), the last Russian freestyle looking for an Olympic berth, gave up the first takedown against Georgi IVANOV (BUL) but scored ten consecutive points and won the match, 12-2. He'll wrestle Robert BARAN (POL) in the 125kg quarterfinals.

13:11: Olympic bronze medalist Albert SARITOV (ROU) is on his way to Mat C to take on Radoslaw BARAN (POL). 

13:00: Yuki TAKAHASHI (JPN) cruised to the quarterfinals with a 10-0 shutout win over Razvan KOVACS (ROU). The two-time world medalist will square off against Vladimir EGOROV (MKD) for a spot in tonight's semifinals.

12:47: World champion Hetik CABOLOV (SRB) kick-started his day with an 11-0 throttling of Colombia's Nestor TAFUR. He'll take on Olympic bronze medalist Soner DEMIRTAS (TUR)  ?? next!

12:23: Georgios PILIDIS (GRE) trailed George RAMM (GBR), 4-0, but went on a tear and scored 14 unanswered points. He moved into the 65kg 1/8 final against Wber CUERO MUNOZ (COL).

12:18: World champion Beka LOMTADZE (GEO), who is replacing Olympic champion Vlad KHINCHEGASHVILI (GEO) at 65kg, hangs on to beat Dillon WILLIAMS (CAN), 6-4. 

12:11: European champ T. SALKAZANOV (SVK) looked sharp in his opening-round match against Marc DIETSCHE (SWI). He scored eight consecutive points against and moved into the 1/8 finals with a 12-2 win.

Salkazanov will meet Zurab KAPRAEV (ROU) for a spot in the #WrestleSofia 74kg quarterfinals.

12:03: World champion Hetik CABOLOV (SRB) opens up his day with a 11-0 throttling of Nestor TAFUR (COL).

11:55: Upcoming wrestlers-to-match on Mat B:
Bout 62: ??Yuki TAKAHASHI
Bout 63: European ?Giorgi EDISHERASHVILI ??
Bout 64: ???Bekhbayar ERDENEBAT ??

11:50: European champion Magomedkhabib KADIMAGOMEDOV (BLR) is coming up in three matches on Mat C. He'll take on Arsalan BUDAZHAPOV (KGZ).

11:49:  Sandro AMINASHVILI (GEO) survives to move into the 1/8 finals. He led Akhmed Adamovitch MAGAMAEV (BUL), 6-1, but surrendered four unanswered points and hung on to win, 6-5. He'll wrestle Abubakr ABAKAROV (AZE) next round.

11:44: Here we go! European champion Salkazanov is making his way to Mat A. 

11:35: We apologize for the technical difficulties, but we're back to action on Mat A. After what felt like an hour break, Ayoub BARRAJ (TUN) comes away with the win over Malik AMIN (SMR). Barraj will take on the winner of Vasyl MYKHAILOV (UKR) and Byambadorj BAT ERDENE (MGL).

10:43: World bronze medalist Taimuraz FRIEV NASKIDAEVA (ESP) is wrestling Saifedine ALEKMA (FRA) over on Mat C.

10:29: Mat A has a world champion, a world silver medalist and the reigning European champion upcoming in the next ten matches. 

10:22: Reigning European champion Taimuraz SALKAZANOV ?? is coming up in seven matches on Mat A. The last time he took the mat, he scored improbable come-from-behind-wins against a two-time world champion, a world silver medalist and a U23 world champion. His opponent will be Marc DIETSCHE ??.

10:12: Giorgi EDISHERASHVILI (AZE) wins his opening-round matchup against Otari GOGAVA (GEO). The Georgian injury defaulted after trailing 4-0 with what appeared to be a lower body injury.

10:00: Welcome to Sofia! We are ready with freestyle action starting now. 57kg, 65kg, 74kg, 86kg, 97kg and 125kg will get two new Olympians by the end of the day.

#Grappling

Uzbekistan shines at Andijan Open Grappling

By United World Wrestling Press

ANDIJAN, Uzbekistan (June 11) -- The Grappling season is back. Andijan Open was organized in Andijan, Uzbekistan on June 1 and 2 in U17, U20 and Senior age-groups.

Host country Uzbekistan had the most grapplers entered in the competition which also serves as the test event for the World Grappling Championships to be held in Novi Sad, Serbia in October.

Out of the six weight classes competed in senior men's grappling, Uzbekistan won four gold medals. Avzal AKHMETOV (UZB) won the gold medal at 66kg, Janobiddin SATTAROV (UZB) won at 84kg and Azizbek SHARIPOV (UZB) defeated Alisher NEMATJONOV (UZB), 18-0, at 92kg, a weight class in which only two entries were received.

Asrorbek ANVARJONOV (UZB) won the gold medal at 100kg after he was the only grappler entered in the weight class.

At 62kg, Kiryl AHEIKA (UWW) won the gold medal after winning all his round-robin bouts. Zojiakbar KAMOLOV (UZB) was silver medalist while Avrangzebmirzosulton TORAQULOV (UZB) won bronze medal.

Nico PULBERMUELLER (GER) won the gold medal at 71kg after he won three bouts in round-robin. Makhmudjon ODILOV (UZB) won silver while Muhammad MAHSUDXOJAYEV (UZB) was bronze medalist.

In women's competition, only 64kg weight class was competed and Zebiniso OTAQULOVA (UZB) submitted Khilola SOBIROVA (UZB) to win the gold medal.

At the U20 level, Uzbekistan won four of the five gold medals on offer in men's grappling and Heorhi HLAZKO (UWW) won the gold medal at 77kg to break the cycle.

For detailed results of the U17, U20 and Senior Grappling Andijan Open, click here.

RESULTS

Senior Men's Grappling

62kg
GOLD: Kiryl AHEIKA (UWW)
SILVER: Xojiakbar KAMOLOV (UZB)
BRONZE: Avrangzebmirzosulton TORAQULOV (UZB)

66kg
GOLD: Avzal AKHMETOV (UZB)
SILVER: Umidjon ABDURAXIMOV (UZB)
BRONZE: Muhammad MAHSUDXOJAYEV (UZB)

71kg
GOLD: Nico PULVERMUELLER (GER)
SILVER: Makhmudjon ODILOV (UZB)
BRONZE: Khusniddin JURABOEV (UZB)

84kg
GOLD: Janobiddin SATTAROV (UZB)
SIVER: Azizbek MIRZAEV (UZB)
BRONZE: Ahmadullo NUMONOV (UZB)

92kg
GOLD: Azizbek SHARIPOV (UZB) df. Alisher NEMATJONOV (UZB), 18-0

100kg
GOLD: Asrorbek ANVARJONOV (UZB)

Senior Women's Grappling

64kg
GOLD: Zebiniso OTAQULOVA (UZB) df. Khilola SOBIROVA (UZB), via submission (9-0)

Men's U20 Grappling

58kg
GOLD: Farrux ERGASHEV (UZB) df. Abror SAIDGANIYEV (UZB), via submission (6-4)

62kg
GOLD: Egamberdi SOLIYEV (UZB)
SILVER: Temur UMARALIYEV (UZB)
BRONZE: Shuxratbek YUNUSJONOV (UZB)

66kg
GOLD: Abduraxmon XAYITOXUNOV (UZB)
SILVER: Muhammad MAHSUDXOJAYEV (UZB)
BRONZE: PRINCE (IND)

77kg
GOLD: Heorhi HLAZKO (UWW)
SILVER: Dostonjon MAMASHARIPOV (UZB)
BRONZE: Muhakammadali HAMIDJONOV (UZB)

84kg
GOLD: Firdavsbek GOFURJONOV (UZB) df. Ruslan PLOTNIKOV (UZB), 10-1

Men's U17 Grappling

50kg
GOLD: Shoxboz ABDUXARIMOV (UZB)
SILVER: Ibrokhimjon BOTIROV (UZB)
BRONZE: Ozodbek ABDUSAMADOV (UZB)

54kg
GOLD: Gofur ISMOILOV (UZB) df. Raxmatillo RUSTAMJONOV (UZB), via submission (8-3)

58kg
GOLD: Mikita KAPYCHKA (UWW)
SILVER: Holid ARABBOYEV (UZB)
BRONZE: Abdulaziz MAMATIMINOV (UZB)

69kg
GOLD: Elbek ERKINOV (UZB)
SILVER: Dzianis FEDARTSOU (UWW)
BRONZE: Asilbek MAHAMMADAMINOV (UZB)

Women's U17 Grappling

49kg
GOLD: Rayhona ISLOMBOYEVA (UZB)