#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.

#WrestlePontevedra

Wrestling legend Medved, three-time Olympic champion, passes away aged 86

By United World Wrestling Press

CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (September 2) -- Aleksandr MEDVED, the most successful Freestyle wrestler with 10 Olympic and World Championships gold medals, died on Monday aged 86 years.

Medved made his international debut at the 1961 World Championships, where he won bronze in the 87kg weight class. A year later, he jumped to 97kg and won the gold medal at the World Championships.

Barring 1965, Medved won all the World Championships gold medals from 1962 to 1971, majorly competing in the +100kg. He was considered small for the weight class, yet he dominated it for more than a decade.

Apart from winning seven gold medals, Medved also won a silver medal (1965) and a bronze medal (1961) at the World Championships.

Aleksandr  MEDVEDAleksandr  MEDVED as a referee in a wrestling bout. (Photo: IMAGO / ITAR-TASS)

"The passing of Aleksandr saddens us," United World Wrestling President Nenad LALOVIC said. "He was an ambassador of our sport and his achievements show that the world regarded him as the best."

"It's a great loss to the wrestling world and we are with the Medved family in this time of grief."

Medved won his first Olympic gold medal in 1964 at the Tokyo Olympic Games in the 97kg weight class. He repeated as the Olympic champion in the +97kg at the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games, beating Osman DURALIEV (BUL). The two met in the 1972 Munich Olympic Games in the +100kg final and Medved defeated Duraliev again to win his third Olympic gold medal.

He also has three European Championships titles as well.

After retiring from the sport, Medved was actively involved in coaching. He was inducted into the UWW Hall of Fame in 2003.

United World Wrestling expresses its condolences to the Medved family.