Olympic Champion Borrero Wows Home Crowd To Make Granma Cup Finals

Sunday, February 18, 2018 - 03:10 By

HAVANA, Cuba – The heavy hitters emerged as day one of the Granma Cup Greco-Roman scrap came to a close on Saturday evening in Cuba’s illustrious capitol city.

Havana raved the return of its Olympic champion, Ismael BORRERO MOLINA (CUB), who competed in front of his home-country crowd for the first time since the Rio Games.

Competing eight kilograms above the weight class in which he won his Olympic gold medal, Borrero Molina navigated his way through three bouts to qualify for tomorrow afternoon’s final at 67kg.

He tackled a pair of countrymen to kick off his day, downing Damian CRISTIAN (CUB), 5-1, and Miquel MARTINEZ (CUB), 3-2. Hitting his stride in round three, Borrero Molina executed a sweeping five-point arm throw to pin Alejandro SANCHO (USA) in just over one minute.

Borrero Molina, also a 2015 world champion, will rematch against Martinez for the gold medal.

Three additional finals feature two competitors from the host nation of Cuba. None are larger than the 130kg final pitting 2016 Olympic silver medalist Yasmany LUGO CABRERA (CUB) opposite 2017 world bronze medalist Oscar PINO HANDS (CUB).

Both heavyweight combatants went unscored upon throughout the day, with each grabbing two individual victories. Pino Hinds earned the tougher win of the two by edging 2017 European silver medalist Balint LAM (HUN) in the semifinals, 3-0.

The past two years Lugo Cabrera and Pino Hinds have been Cuban teammates at the Pan American Championships. Both earned gold on each occasion. In fact, Lugo Cabrera has amassed a whopping seven Pan American titles dating back to 2009.

The remaining Cuba-on-Cuba finals come at 60kg between Luis ORTA (CUB) and two-time Pan American champion Javier DUMENIGO (CUB), and at 63kg with Joy MAREN (CUB) and Janier ALMENARES (CUB) earning the nod.

The 87kg final will be a rematch of the Grand Prix of Zagreb final held two weeks ago in Croatia. Two-time world bronze medalist and reigning European champion Viktor LORINCZ (HUN) and U23 world champion Erik SZILVASSY (HUN) are slated to meet in an all-Hungarian final tussle once more. Lorincz won the latest battle between the two top-tier talents.

A highly-anticipated Hungary-Cuba showdown will take place at 72kg, with 2016 world champion Balint KORPASI (HUN) meeting two-time defending Granma Cup champion Yosvani PENA (CUB) for the gold.

The electric junior world champion from the United States, Kamal BEY (USA), downed two of last year’s Pan American medalists to secure a berth in the 77kg finals against Ariel FIZ (CUB).

Two-time Pan American bronze medalist Luigi PEREZ (VENEZUELA) will be challenged by Gabriel ROSILLO (CUB) in the 97kg final contest.

The 82kg weight class featured a four-man round-robin, therefore will not have a designated gold-medal match. The last bout scheduled to be wrestled in this bracket comes with 2016 world bronze medalist Lazlo SZABO (HUN) facing Antonio DURAN (CUB). Should Szabo take this bout, he will be named champion.

Of note, Szabo won a tight, 2-0 bout over 2014 world champion Peter BACSI (HUN) in the opening round of the day. Bacsi is positioned to win the silver medal if Szabo holds serve tomorrow.

The Greco-Roman medal matches at the Granma Cup will take place at 2 p.m. (ET) on Sunday. Complete results and a live stream of the event can be found at unitedworldwrestling.org.

RESULTS: http://uww.io/NQ6AU

MEDAL MATCHES

60kg

Gold – Luis ORTA (CUB) vs. Javier DUMENIGO (CUB)

Bronze – Andrej GINC (GER) vs. Dalton ROBERTS (USA

67kg

Gold – Ismael BORRERO MOLINA (Cuba) vs. Miquel MARTINEZ (Cuba)

Bronze – Alejandro SANCHO (United States) vs. Wilexys RIVAS (Venezuela)

72kg

Gold – Balint KORPASI (Hungary) vs. Yosvani PENA (Cuba)

Bronze – Anthony SANDER (Germany) vs. Logan KASS (United States)

77kg

Gold – Ariel FIZ (Cuba) vs. Kamal BEY (United States)

Bronze – Juan ESCOBAR (Mexico) vs. Luis AVENDANO (Venezuela)

87kg

Gold – Erik SZILVASSY (Hungary) vs. Viktor LORINCZ (Hungary)

Bronze – Friedrich FOUDA (Germany) vs. Geovanis CARRERAS (Cuba)

Bronze – Kevin RADFORD (United States) vs. Daniel GREGORYCH (Cuba)

97kg

Gold – Luigi PEREZ (Venezuela) vs. Gabriel ROSILLO (Cuba)

Bronze – Monteaqudo REINIER (Cuba) vs. Hayden ZILLMER (United States)

Bronze – Kevin MEJIA (Honduras) vs. Pablo REINIER (Cuba)

130kg

Gold – Yasmany LUGO CABRERA (Cuba) vs. Oscar PINO HINDS (Cuba)

Bronze – Diego ALMENDRA (Chile) vs. Balint LAM (Hungary)

Bronze – Eduardo MORRELL (Puerto Rico) vs. Franz RICHTER (Germany)

2026 Muhamet Malo

'Important Gold’: Sadulaev Relishes Successful 97kg Return

Thursday, February 26, 2026 - 21:58 By Vinay Siwach

TIRANA, Albania (February 26) -- World champion Kyle SNYDER (USA) could have challenged him. Up-and-coming Mukhamed KHANIEV (UWW) could have caused trouble. Or maybe Rizabek AITMUKHAN (KAZ) would have caused an upset.

None of that happened. A calm and composed Abdulrashid SADULAEV (UWW) marked his return to the mat with yet another gold medal, winning the 97kg weight class at the Muhamet Malo Ranking Series event on Thursday in Tirana, Albania.

It has become increasingly rare to see Sadulaev wrestle internationally, but when he does, the results tend to be a foregone conclusion. Sadulaev last wrestled at a global event at the same Feti Borova Arena in Tirana in October 2024 when he claimed his sixth world title, stunningly dropping to 92kg.

After 15 months, he was back -- at 97kg and, the top of the podium.

"Thank you to everyone who supported me, those in the arena and those watching on TV and smartphones," Sadulaev said. "Everyone who cheered, worried, and prayed for me. I want to say a huge, heartfelt thank you to all of you."

When Sadulaev stepped on the mat on Thursday, he rolled back the years. Right hand on his opponent's forehand, circling while standing tall. He would throw himself back if someone tried to attack his legs and then get a front headlock to score.

A true throwback in Tirana would have been a Sadulaev and Snyder clash but Khaniev decided to postpone that for now by beating the United States wrestler in the quarterfinals. Sadulaev got Khaniev in the final.

He was the first on board with a double-leg attack which gave him four points. He then made Khaniev toil to find an opening and when he did, Sadulaev defended like a rock. Khaniev was able to score only through stepouts -- managing four points from it while Sadulaev added three more takedowns to finish the final 10-4.

While the gold medal was a satisfactory result for Sadulaev, there was an added incentive that he was chasing.

"For me, this gold means qualifying for the European Championships, which will take place here in this same arena in two months, in April. It was very important for me to qualify there," he said.

Sadulaev, if he competes, will be at the European Championships after six years having last competed at the tournament in 2020. He won gold medal at 97kg in Rome.

Abdulrashid SADULAEV (UWW) scores on Mukhamed KHANIEV (UWW) in the 97kg final in Tirana. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

The final against Khaniev was a virtual wrestle-off to win the spot for the continental championships, to be held from April 20 to 26. And despite beating Khaniev, Sadulaev was all praise for the youngster.

"Khaniev is young and promising," he said. "I thought we might meet before the final, but [because of the bracket] we faced each other only in the final.

"I know him well, we train in the same region, we’ve been at training camps together and worked side by side. He’s very tough, with a really good stamina. He hasn’t gained that much experience yet, but I believe he has everything ahead of him."

Khaniev, making his debut at 97kg internationally, sprung a surprise when he defeated Snyder 10-4, using some crafty counters in the second period. He also defeated Magomedov in the semifinals.

Abdulrashid SADULAEV (UWW) completes a fireman's carry move. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

However, Sadulaev isn't reading much into Snyder's loss as the U.S. wrestler had lost to Arash YOSHIDA (JPN) in Tirana but went on to win the world gold in September.

"At tournaments like this, he [Snyder] usually doesn’t come in at peak form the way he does for the World Championships or the Olympic Games, where he’s been in his best shape," Sadulaev said. "So this loss doesn’t really say much. Maybe he will win the next World Championships."

The World Championships in Manama, Bahrain is scheduled in October and there is a good chance that both Sadulaev and Snyder will be there. But Sadulaev is hoping for a more decorated field.

"If everything goes well and I make it for the World Championships, four Olympic champions could compete in this weight class [in Bahrain] -- Hassan YAZDANI (IRI), Kyle [SNYDER] and Ahmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN) and myself, and other medalists," he said. "I think it will be the most competitive and exciting weight category."

Sadulaev, in his subtle humor, would go on.

"It’s hot enough there [Bahrain], but I think at the World Championships, it will be even hotter."

Olympic Champion Borrero Wows Home Crowd To Make Granma Cup Finals

Comments

'Important Gold’: Sadulaev Relishes Successful 97kg Return