#BeachWrestlingWorldSeries

Mat Medalists Come to Rio for Beach Wrestling's Second Stop

Thursday, May 9, 2019 - 22:39 By Tim Foley

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RIO DE JANEIRO (May 10) -- With the shadow of Caricoa 2 looming over the beach wrestling circle at Olympic Park in Barra de Tijuca, world silver medalist Aline DA SILVA FERREIRA (BRA) and 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Dato MARSAGISHVILI (GEO) are preparing to compete in the second stop of United World Wrestling's Beach Wrestling World Series (BWWS).

Silva, a local hero since parlaying her 2014 silver medal in freestyle wrestling into a number of charitable acts in her home country, comes into the tournament hopeful she can earn enough points to qualify for the 2019 ANOC World Beach Games in San Diego this October.


'I want to represent my country. well," said Silva. 'This is going to be a lot of fun!"

For Marsagishvili the aim seems to be even simpler: to have fun wrestling. One of the world's best 86kg wrestlers, Marsagishvili travels to Rio on the heels of winning the BWWS first top in Chaves, Portugal. The quick-smiling Georgian not only took home the 1000 CHF prize for winning his weight category, but another 1000 CHF for winning the event's Move of the Tournament.

"The environment is so enjoyable at beach wrestling," Marsagishvili said at the time. "I look forward to these competitions and wrestling my best."

Marsagishvili will have a tougher tournament in Rio than he did in Chaves, facing off against two-time defending beach wrestling world champion Muhammed INAM of Pakistan. Inam won last year's world championships in deciding fashion and is looking to make it a three-peat later this year in Zagreb, Croatia at the world championships. 

Also joining the field is Reece Humphrey, a celebrated former member of the USA National Team in freestyle. His upperbody techniques and high-energy are sure to play well with tomorrow's crowds.

Wrestling action start at 2pm local time with coverage on United World Wrestling and FloWrestling.org.

Entry Lists

Men's Beach Wrestling 

70kg
Panah ILYASLI (AZE)
Jerome Kamel HOYTE (BAR)
Joilson DE BRITO RAMOS JUNIOR (BRA)
Joao Victor DOS SANTOS SILVA (BRA)
Levan KELEKHSASHVILI (GEO)
Niko AROUZMANIDIS (GRE)
Inayat ULLAH (PAK)
Hugo Miguel DA SILVA PASSOS (POR)
Mehmet Emin OGUT (TUR)
Semen RADULOV (UKR)
Reece HUMPHREY (USA)

80kg
Ibrahim YUSUBOV (AZE)
Angelo Rafael MARQUES MOREIRA (BRA)
Marcelo Antonio CASTRO CUMSILLE (CHI)
Davit KHUTSISHVILI (GEO)
Georgios KOULOUCHIDIS (GRE)
Edmilson BRITO GOMES (POR)
Efe Sami UNAL (TUR)

90kg
Kanan ALIYEV (AZE)
Wanderson Messias DA SILVA LIMA (BRA)
Pedro Henrique DE OLIVEIRA E SILVA ROCHA (BRA)
Andre Luiz RAMOS PINTO (BRA)
Dato MARSAGISHVILI (GEO
Grigorios KRIARIDIS (GRE)
Christos SAMARTSIDIS (GRE)
Muhammad INAM (PAK)
Adao Rafael ANDRADE DA SILVA (POR)
Murat OZKAN (TUR)

+90kg
Oyan NAZARIANI (AZE)
Davi Jose ALBINO (BRA)
Guilherme EVANGELISTA DIAS (BRA)
Christopher HIPOLITO DE ALMEIDA (BRA)
Mamuka KORDZAIA (GEO)
Ioannis KARGIOTAKIS (GRE)

Women's Beach Wrestling

50kg
Claudia Soledad CABRERA (ARG)
Fernanda ASCENCIO PERES (BRA)
Kamila BARBOSA VITO DA SILVA (BRA)
Susana Paula DE ALMEIDA DOS SANTOS (BRA)
Carmen Nireida GOMES TEIXEIRA VIEIRA (POR)

60kg
Crystal Shanika HOLDER (BAR)
Camila FAMA TRISTAO (BRA)
Ana Luiza PEREIRA FRANCA (BRA)
Isabel Cristina RODRIGUES (POR)
Mehlika OZTURK (TUR)

70kg
Brenda AGUIAR DOS SANTOS (BRA)
Nikeli FERREIRA DE OLIVEIRA (BRA)
Sonia Marina PEREIRA BRAZIO (POR)

+70kg
Aline DA SILVA FERREIRA (BRA)
Dailane GOMES DOS REIS (BRA)
Aysegul OZBEGE (TUR)

#WrestleParis

Olympic champion Focken carries Olympic torch for Paris 2024

Thursday, June 27, 2024 - 09:38 By Vinay Siwach

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ALSACE, France (June 27) -- Tokyo Olympic champion Aline FOCKEN (GER) was part of the Olympic Torch Relay on Wednesday in Alsace, stage 41 of the relay for the 2024 Paris Games.

"It was magical," Focken said. "It was a short run for only a few minutes but I enjoyed it. I felt the Olympic spirit and pride to run with the torch. We were briefed a lot, about the significance of the torch and it's for peace and I felt it all the time. It was special."

The relay began from the European Parliament and then passed in front of the European Court of Human Rights and the Council of Europe. It also lit up the city’s covered bridges, the Grande île district, the Alsatian Museum and the Notre Dame gothic cathedral before finishing at Place Kléber, in the city’s heart, where the celebration venue was located.

 

The Olympic Torch Relay continued its voyage through eastern France with a distinctly European tone. In addition to putting the spotlight on the gems of Alsace, the Olympic Torch Relay also highlighted fraternity between people, such as Franco-German links, which were celebrated during an exceptional collective relay on the Three Countries Bridge in Huningue. Another collective relay took place in Strasbourg, dedicated, as each day, to a specific sport.

Focken carried the torch at the start of the three country bridge for 250 metres. The starting point of Focken's run was in Germany while her finish was in France. She then handed over the Olympic Torch to Frenchman Eric Kueny, representative of the host country in Huningue.

Aline FOCKEN (GER)Aline FOCKEN (GER) with the Olympic torch on Wednesday. (Photo: Lewis Joly)

Focken, who won the gold medal in 76kg weight class in Tokyo, became the first woman from Germany to win gold at the Olympics in wrestling. She said her feeling was similar to Olympic Games but she was nervous before the run.

"I was nervous," she said. "It's different and all the TV is around you. I was relaxed but nervous. It was a really special moment and I thought that this may be the last Olympic moment for you so just enjoy it. I took my family with me to the relay."