Beach wrestling

National Champion in Freestyle and Beach Style Goes for First World Title

By Marc Berman

SARIGERME, Turkey (October 6th and 7th) -- When Huseyin BAKIR (TUR) began wrestling at age 11 in his childhood home of Istanbul, he never imagined that 8 years later he would already be a national champion in freestyle and beach wrestling and competing for his first world title in beach wrestling.

“I never thought to wrestle in the beach style. My focus has been on freestyle but, a month ago I came to Sarigerme to see my cousin. The national championship was going on the same time and I decided to try.” Bakir was able to capture the national title and qualify for the World Championship.

The transition between styles has been an interesting one for Bakir. “ The beach style is completely different than freestyle. I normally like to shoot in and attack my opponents legs but, you can not do that in the beach ( point awarded to opponent if the knee touches the sand during a takedown attempt). The time of the match is less so, the strategy changes. Wrestling is wrestling and I have trained many years so the change in style is not impossible to overcome.”

Another plus of competing on the beach for Bakir is the beautiful weather and wonderful beach. “ So perfect here, the weather, the beach and after the competition we will swim.”

Don’t miss Bakir tomorrow in the medal rounds. Catch him and the rest of the competition live on United World Wrestling.


 

#WrestleParis

Paris 2024 Olympics Freestyle Entries

By United World Wrestling Press

PARIS (July 11) -- The Olympic Games in Paris will see 97 Freestyle wrestlers competing for six gold medals. None of the Tokyo Olympic champions are entered which guarantees history books will be rewritten in Paris.

But former Olympic champions Hassan YAZDANI (IRI), Taha AKGUL (TUR) and Kyle SNYDER (USA) are looking for their second titles at the Games. The United States and Azerbaijan are the only countries to qualify all six weight classes for Paris 2024. Apart from the regular 96 competitors, Iman MAHDAVI (EOR) will be part of the Olympic Refugee Team at 74kg, making it a 17-man bracket.

Apart from the aforementioned Olympic champions, former Olympic medalists entered include Rei HIGUCHI (JPN), Haji ALIYEV (AZE), Frank CHAMIZO (ITA), Kyle DAKE (USA), Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO) and Amir Hossein ZARE (IRI) are entered.

PARIS 2024 SCHEDULE | PARIS 2024 NEWS | PARIS 2024 WOMEN'S WRESTLING ENTRIES | PARIS 2024 GRECO-ROMAN ENTRIES

57kg
Zelimkhan ABAKAROV (ALB)
Arsen HARUTYUNYAN (ARM)
Aliabbas RZAZADE (AZE)
Wanhao ZOU (CHN)
Gamal MOHAMED (EGY)
Diamantino IUNA FAFE (GBS)
AMAN (IND)
Rei HIGUCHI (JPN)
Meirambek KARTBAY (KAZ)
Bekzat ALMAZ UULU (KGZ)
Roman BRAVO YOUNG (MEX)
Vladimir EGOROV (MKD)
Darian CRUZ (PUR)
Stevan MICIC (SRB)
Spencer LEE (USA)
Gulomjon ABDULLAEV (UZB)

65kg
Islam DUDAEV (ALB)
Vazgen TEVANYAN (ARM)
Georgii OKOROKOV (AUS)
Haji ALIYEV (AZE)
Alejandro VALDES TOBIER (CUB)
Goderdzi DZEBISASHVILI (GEO)
Iszmail MUSZUKAJEV (HUN)
Rahman AMOUZAD (IRI)
Kotaro KIYOOKA (JPN)
Ernazar AKMATALIEV (KGZ)
Maxim SACULTAN (MDA)
Austin GOMEZ (MEX)
Tulga TUMUR OCHIR (MGL)
Sebastian RIVERA (PUR)
Gaku AKAZAWA (SAM)
Zain RETHERFORD (USA)

74kg
Mahamedkhabib KADZIMAHAMEDAU (AIN)
Chermen VALIEV (ALB)
Turan BAYRAMOV (AZE)
Feng LU (CHN)
Geandry GARZON CABALLERO (CUB)
Amr HUSSEN (EGY)
Iman MAHDAVI (EOR)
Bacar NDUM (GBS)
Georgios KOUGIOUMTSIDIS (GRE)
Yones EMAMI (IRI)
Frank CHAMIZO (ITA)
Daichi TAKATANI (JPN)
Hetik CABALOV (SRB)
Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK)
Viktor RASSADIN (TJK)
Kyle DAKE (USA)
Razambek JAMALOV (UZB)
Anthony MONTERO CHIRINOS (VEN)

86kg
Fateh BENFERDJALLAH (ALG)
Jayden LAWRENCE (AUS)
Osman NURMAGOMEDOV (AZE)
Magomed RAMAZANOV (BUL)
Alexander MOORE (CAN)
Vladimeri GAMKRELIDZE (GEO)
Dauren KURUGLIEV (GRE)
Hassan YAZDANI (IRI)
Hayato ISHIGURO (JPN)
Azamat DAULETBEKOV (KAZ)
Bat Erdene BYAMBASUREN (MGL)
Ethan RAMOS (PUR)
Myles AMINE (SMR)
Vasyl MYKHAILOV (UKR)
Aaaron BROOKS (USA)
Javrail SHAPIEV (UZB)

97kg
Magomedkhan MAGOMEDOV (AZE)
Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN)
Awusayiman HABILA (CHN)
Arturo SILOT TORRES (CUB)
Luis PEREZ SOSA (DOM)
Mostafa ELDERS (EGY)
Givi MATCHARASHVILI (GEO)
Erik THIELE (GER)
Amirali AZARPIRA (IRI)
Alisher YERGALI (KAZ)
Radu LEFTER (MDA)
Zbigniew BARANOWSKI (POL)
Nicolaas DE LANGE (RSA)
Ibrahim CIFTCI (TUR)
Murazi MCHEDLIDZE (UKR)
Kyle SNYDER (USA)

125kg
Giorgi MESHVILDISHVILI (AZE)
Amarveer DHESI (CAN)
Zhiwei DENG (CHN)
Diaaeldin ABDELMOTTALEB (EGY)
Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO)
Daniel LIGETI (HUN)
Amir Hossein ZARE (IRI)
Yusup BATIRMURZAEV (KAZ)
Aiaal LAZAREV (KGZ)
Lkhagvagerel MUNKHTUR (MGL)
Ashton MUTUWA (NGR)
Robert BARAN (POL)
Jonovan SMITH (PUR)
Taha AKGUL (TUR)
Oleksandr KHOTSIANIVSKYI (UKR)
Mason PARRIS (USA)

Note:
Shamil MAMEDOV (AIN) was initially entered at 65kg but he subsequently withdrew. He is replaced by Maxim SACULTAN (MDA)

* Mahamedkhabib KADZIMAHAMEDAU was entered at 74kg

* Serbia replaced Ali ARSALAN (SRB) with Hetik CABALOV (SRB) at 74kg

* Ukraine replaced Yurii IDZINSKYI (UKR) with Oleksandr KHOTSIANIVSKYI (UKR) at 125kg