#Trnava2018

Riesterer’s Road to Dethrone World Champ Susaki

Thursday, September 20, 2018 - 08:45 By Eric Olanowski

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TRNAVA, Slovakia (September 20) - On Thursday night, Ellen RIESTERER will try to become the first German women to win a junior world gold medal since Anita Schaetzle reached the top of the podium back in 2001. 

To do so, she’ll have to dethrone reigning senior-level world champion, Yui SUSAKI (JPN). Susaki, who is wrestling for the first time on the junior circuit is a three-time cadet world champion and last year's senior-level world champion. The Japanese superstar has never lost to a non-Japanese opponent.

“Yui Susaki is one of the best wrestlers in the world, but she’s only 19-years-old, and I have to remember that,” Riesterer said. “She doesn’t make a lot of mistakes, but maybe she’ll make one or two mistakes that I can use in my favor.” 

Riesterer is trying to get Germany back to their winning ways after dropping four straight gold-medal matches at the junior world championships. For that to happen, Riesterer, the European bronze medalist has to focus on listening to her coaches in the 50kg gold-medal bout.

Ellen RIESTERER (GER) scores a 6-2 semifinals win over Marina ZAKSHEVSKAYA (KAZ). (Photo by Max Rose-Fyne) 

“At the junior European championships, I wrestled with my headgear on, and I couldn’t understand my coaches well, so I was just doing my own thing.” Since then, Riesterer has removed the headgear and placed more of an emphasis on listening to her coaches. 

“I’ve worked so hard on listening better to what the coaches say because I’m such a mental wrestler. I need my coaches. My coaches help calm my nerves, and that helps me mentally.” 

Riesterer will have to check her nerves at the door of the City Sports Hall before the 50kg finals if she has hopes of stopping Susaki from reaching the top of the world podium for the fifth time. 

In a joking manner, Riesterer ended with, "I'm just glad I made the finals because my sister came all the way here to watch me wrestle. I told her that I wanted to get a medal because if I didn’t, she would have traveled all this way to see me cry.” 

The women's wrestling finals begin on Thursday night at 18:00. Riesterer and Susaki will be the second match up on Mat B.  

#WrestleZagreb

Zagreb Open Flashback: Iran, U.S. opened season with success

Monday, January 19, 2026 - 10:21 By Vinay Siwach

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ZAGREB, Croatia (January 18) -- United World Wrestling's 2026 season will kick off with the Ranking Series in Zagreb February 4. The recent memories of Zagreb may be the September World Championships but the 2025 season also kicked off with the Ranking Series in the Croatian capital.

Iran and the United States had strong performances in the first of the four stops of the Ranking Series, a theme which continued throughout the 2025 season as the U.S. dominated Freestyle while Iran dominated Greco-Roman.

Women's Wrestling participants were less in numbers but still saw U.S. and UWW wrestlers share gold medals.

Here's a drip down the memory lane of the 2025 Zagreb Open Ranking Series before the 2026 season kicks off:

Freestyle

A young Iranian team snapped four gold medals in Zagreb with Ahmad JAVAN (IRI) winning gold at 61kg, Abbas EBRAHIM (IRI) winning at 65kg, Amirhossein FIROUZPOUR (IRI) became champion at 92kg and Amirreza MASOUMI (IRI) winning the 125kg gold.

For the U.S., Spencer LEE (USA) kicked off the season with 57kg with gold, Zahid VALENCIA (USA) won at 86kg and Kyle SNYDER (USA) at 97kg. Both Valencia and Snyder went on to win gold at the World Championships later in the season.

Azerbaijan, Slovakia and France won one gold each, with Kanan HEYBATOV (AZE) winning at 70kg for Azerbaijan, Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK) winning gold at 74kg, and Zelimkhan KHADJIEV (FRA) winning at 79kg for France.

Iran dominance began when Ahmad JAVAN (IRI) won gold at 61kg, beating the likes of Nuraddin NUVROZOV (AZE), Nashon GARRETT (USA), Giorgi GONIASHVILI (GEO) and Ebrahim KHARI (IRI). Javan would later win a silver medal at the World Championships. At 65kg, Ebrahim held his own in a thrilling final against Joseph MCKENNA (USA) to grab the second gold for Iran.

Young superstars Firouzpour and Masoumi put up a show to win gold medals at 92kg and 125kg respectively.

Lee was making a returning to competition six months after winning the silver medal at the Paris Olympics. He won the Zagreb Open gold with rather ease. For the U.S., Valencia saw himself win gold at 86kg outscoring his opponents 35-4 in four bouts. In the final, Valencia defeated world bronze medalist Arsenii DZHIOEV (AZE), 8-0.

Snyder opened his season with a 33-1 scoring run in three bouts at 97kg in Zagreb. In the final, he easily defeated Abolfazl BABALOO (IRI).

Heybatov gave early warnings to the 70kg field by winning gold in Zagreb, a run which included wins over Austin GOMEZ (MEX), two back-to-back wins over Iranian wrestlers including a 12-1 one again Sina KHALILI (IRI) in the final. The two would wrestle again towards the end of the year at the U23 World Championships. Heybatov won that final with a 9-4 score.

Two veterans, Salkazanov and Khadjiev, were at their best in the opening Ranking Series tournament. Salkazanov blanked everyone, including winning 4-0 against David CARR (USA) in the final, to win 74kg gold.

Khadjiev had a tougher bat but managed to win the 79kg gold with a 5-3 win over Mahdi YOUSEFI (IRI) in the final. The French wrestler would later win silver at the European Championships.