Ringaci rules Baku; Ukraine best WW team at U23 Euros

Friday, May 24, 2024 - 19:25 By United World Wrestling Press

BAKU, Azerbaijan (May 24) -- For around 15 seconds in the first period, Ekaterina KOSHKINA (AIN) must have thought she had the 65kg gold medal bout in her control.

Koshkina had Irina RINGACI (MDA) exactly where she would have wanted: in the center, on the defensive and gripping her right leg firmly. The 22-year-old had done all these things right. But she couldn’t execute the most crucial thing, the takedown.

Instead, in that moment of desperation, Ringaci showed why at the young age of 22 she has already seen her reputation grow leaps and bounds. First, she mustered all her strength to ensure Koshkina couldn’t affect a takedown and then, combining that with her flexibility she staged a perfect escape to break free from her opponent’s grasp.

Irina RINGACI (MDA) won the 65kg gold medal at the U23 European Championships. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

In one motion, Ringaci freed her leg, got in a controlling position herself and flipped Koshkina on her back to score two points, adding to her 2-1 lead. That play, only two minutes into the final, set the tone for the rest of the bout as Ringaci won 11-3 to win her third U23 European Championship gold medal.

Conceding only five points and scoring 29, it was also quite a way for her to announce her readiness for the Paris Olympics. Only 22, Ringaci has won every possible title. In 2021, she won the senior World Championship gold (in 65kg) as a teenager and followed it up with two bronze medals in 68kg. She has two senior European Championship titles, a World Cup medal and U20 World Championship gold, apart from the third U23 continental crown.

Will the Olympic podium be the young wrestler’s next destination? We’ll know in August.

Ukraine Ukraine won the team title with 160 points. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Jake Kirkman)

Bondar leads Ukraine to team title

With three gold medals, Ukraine celebrated winning the women’s wrestling team title with 168 points. On Thursday, Mariia ORLEVYCH (UKR) defeated Laura KUEHN (GER) 6-0 on Thursday to win the 76kg title. And in the first gold medal bout on Friday, Liliia MALANCHUK (UKR) defeated Elnura MAMMADOVA (AZE) to be crowned the champion in 53kg category.

Malanchuk found the going difficult and was trailing until a minute-and-a-half remaining in the match. That’s when she attempted a suplex but Mammadova didn’t land in danger. Malanchuk was rewarded with two points for that takedown and she got a couple more for the rollover.

From trailing by two points, she now had a lead of four after Mammadova lost a challenge and Malanchuk then built on the advantage, finishing strongly with three two-point takedowns to win the bout 13-2.

Later in the day, Iryna BONDAR’S (UKR) fearless wrestling in the 62kg gold medal match ensured the country would finish on top.

Yana TRETSIAK (AIN) tried to keep the scorelines tight in the hope of launching a late attack but in her attempt to stop Bondar from scoring, she conceded passivity points in the opening round. The match-defining moment, however, came at the halfway stage of the second period.

Bondar was rewarded for her patience as she found the tiniest of openings to launch a speedy single-leg attack. It got her into a dominant position to execute a four-point takedown. Bondar didn’t let of off Trtsiak’s grips and rolled her on the mat twice to win the bout by technical superiority (11-0).

Apart from the three gold medals, Ukraine also won three silver with Mariia VYNNYK (55kg), Manola SKOBELSKA (68kg) and Nadiia SOKOLOVSKA (72kg) coming second best in their respective finals.

Turkiye finished second in the team standings with 118 points, followed by hosts Azerbaijan who ended with 76 points. Zhala ALIYEVA (AZE) won the gold at 57kg category, much to the happiness of the home fans.

Kanan HEYBATOV (AZE) was one of the two finalists for Azerbaijan as he reached the 70kg gold medal bout. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Jake Kirkman)

Azerbaijan eye freestyle gold medals

The host nation will hope to add more gold medals to its account two of its freestyle wrestlers qualified for the finals.

In the 70kg category, Kanan HEYBATOV (AZE) orchestrated a comprehensive drubbing of Mikita DZEMCHANKA (AIN) in the semifinals, winning 11-0 to put himself in contention for his maiden U23 title. Heybatov was in control for most parts of his bouts on Friday, but his resolve will be tested in the final where he will face Inalbek SHERIEV (AIN).

Sheriev is the reigning U23 World Champion and conceded only two points en route to the final while scoring 33 across the three bouts.

The other home favourite who will fight for the title is Ali TCOKAEV (AZE) in 79kg. The 21-year-old did not allow his opponents to score a single point as he spent a little more than 10 minutes on the mat to reach his maiden U23 European Championship final.

However, to win his first-ever gold medal in this competition, Tcokaev will have to get the better of defending champion Georgios KOUGIOUMTSIDIS (GRE), also a senior European Championship silver medallist.

RESULTS

53kg
GOLD: Liliia MALANCHUK (UKR) df. Elnura MAMMADOVA (AZE), 13-2

BRONZE: Venera NAFIKOVA (AIN) df. Sevval CAYIR (TUR), via fall (5-1)
BRONZE: Viktoryia VOLK (AIN) df. Laura STANELYTE (LTU), 12-1

57kg
GOLD: Zhala ALIYEVA (AZE) df. Elvira KAMALOGLU (TUR), 5-3

BRONZE: Solomiia VYNNYK (UKR) df. Nesrin SYULEYMANOVA (BUL), 11-0
BRONZE: Volha HARDZEI (AIN) df. Jana PETROVIC (SRB), 5-0

62kg
GOLD: Iryna BONDAR (UKR) df. Yana TRETSIAK (AIN), 11-0

BRONZE: Viktoria VESSO (EST) df. Ineta DANTAITE (LTU), 13-0
BRONZE: Alina KASABIEVA (AIN) df. Iris THIEBAUX (FRA), via fall

65kg
GOLD: Irina RINGACI (MDA) df. Ekaterina KOSHKINA (AIN), 11-3

BRONZE: Kateryna ZELENYKH (ROU) df. Ingrid SKARD (NOR), 10-0
BRONZE: Nesrin BAS (TUR) df. Laura GODINO (ITA), via fall (9-0)

72kg
GOLD: Alina SHAUCHUK (AIN) df. Nadiia SOKOLOVSKA (UKR),

BRONZE: Bukrenaz SERT (TUR) df. Marziya SADIGOVA (AZE), 13-0
BRONZE: Olesia BEZUGLOVA (AIN) df. Gia KASTELAN (CRO),

Freestyle Semifinals

57kg
GOLD: Muhammet KARAVUS (TUR) vs. Artem GOBAEV (AIN)

SF 1: Artem GOBAEV (AIN) df. Luka GVINJILIA (GEO), 12-1
SF 2: Muhammet KARAVUS (TUR) df. Vladyslav ABRAMOV (UKR), via fall (10-0)

65kg
GOLD: Khamzat ARSAMERZOUEV (FRA) vs. Ibragim IBRAGIMOV (AIN)

SF 1: Khamzat ARSAMERZOUEV (FRA) df. Abdullah TOPRAK (TUR), 9-6
SF 2: Ibragim IBRAGIMOV (AIN) df. Serghei CILCIC (MDA), 11-0

70kg
GOLD: Kanan HEYBATOV (AZE) vs. Inalbek SHERIEV (AIN)

SF 1: Kanan HEYBATOV (AZE) df. Mikita DZEMCHANKA (AIN), 11-0
SF 2: Inalbek SHERIEV (AIN) df. Bohdan OLIINYK (UKR), 11-0

79kg
GOLD: Georgios KOUGIOUMTSIDIS (GRE) vs. Ali TCOKAEV (AZE)

SF 1: Ali TCOKAEV (AZE) df. Marius RETCO (MDA), 10-0
SF 2: Georgios KOUGIOUMTSIDIS (GRE) df. Arsen BALAIAN (AIN), 3-1

97kg
GOLD: Radu LEFTER (MDA) vs. Soslan DZHAGAEV (AIN)

SF 1: Soslan DZHAGAEV (AIN) df. Rifat GIDAK (TUR), 3-1
SF 2: Radu LEFTER (MDA) df. Merab SULEIMANISHVILI (GEO), 14-4

#WrestleBaku

Five matches we need to see at the GR World Cup

Thursday, October 27, 2022 - 15:59 By Eric Olanowski

BAKU, Azerbaijan (October 27) --- The Greco-Roman portion of the 2022 calendar comes to a close November 5-6 in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku. The Greco-Roman World Cup entries feature a mixture of credentialed veterans who own a combined eight world titles and a youthful group of rising stars ready to make their mark on the senior level.

With the insane level of talent headed to Baku, there will be some great matches on the two-day slate. Some matches we’ve seen before, while others we’ll see for the first time. Here are five potential matchups we'd like to see at next weekend in Baku.

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5. 55kg - Eldaniz AZIZLI (AZE) vs. Poya DAD MARZ (IRI)

Azizli and Dad Marz head into Baku fresh off winning world titles.

Azizli was arguably the most dominant Greco-Roman wrestler at the World Championships in Belgrade. He added a second world title to his credentialed resume and further established himself as the weights top wrestler after outscoring his four opponents 34-0.

Dad Marz is two weeks removed from winning gold at the U23 World Championships, where he cruised past all four of his opponents en route to 55kg title.

Iran and Azerbaijan are in opposite groups. Depending on how the group stage plays out, this match will take place on November 6.

4. 77kg - Zoltan LEVAI (HUN/ All-World Team) vs. Sanan SULEYMANOV (AZE)

After facing devastating heartbreaks in Serbia, Levai and Suleymanov are poised to make some noise at the World Cup, and nothing would ease the pain of facing defeat more than picking up a win over a fellow world silver medalist.

These two met once before, and that was in the finals of the 2020 European Championships, where Suleymanov picked up the 3-1 win over Levai.

In addition to Levai having that European finals loss on his mind, he’ll also be thinking about his last loss, which came in Serbia. The Hungarian, who finished the season ranked third in the world, is fresh off punching his ticket to the world finals but he suffered an upsetting 8-0 first-period loss to Akzhol MAKHMUDOV (KGZ).

Meanwhile, Suleymanov, after reaching the 2021 world finals, lost to Idris Hanpasaevic IBAEV (GER) in their opening round meeting at the World Championships and failed to bring home a second consecutive world medal.

The All-World team Azerbaijan are in Group A. This match will take place during the third session on November 5 at 19:30 (local time).

3. 72kg - Mate NEMES (SRB) vs. Ulvu GANIZADE (AZE)

This will be the first of two matchups between a Serbian reigning world champion and an Azerbaijani wrestler who is ranked No. 1 in the world. The second will be between 67kg, where Sebastian NAD (SRB) will take on Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE).

This would be the first meeting between Nemes and Ganizade.

In his last outing, Nemes shocked the world by pulling off the biggest upset of the ’22 season, taking out defending world and Olympic champion Mohammadreza GERAEI (IRI) to win the 67kg world gold on home soil.

Ganizade rounded out his 2022 season as the top-ranked wrestler in the world at 72kg. The 23-year-old fell to Ali ARSALAN (SRB) in the finals of the World Championships and settled for a silver medal. Outside of his Belgrade silver, Ganizdae also won a bronze medal at the European Championships and a silver medal at the Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series event.

Serbia and Azerbaijan are both in Group A. This match will take place during the first session on November 5 at 10:00 (local time).

2. 67kg - Sebastian Nad vs. Hasrat Jafarov

This would be a matchup of the reigning world champion at 63kg and the top-ranked wrestler in the world at 67kg. It’ll also be a rematch from the bronze-medal bout from the 2022 European Championships.

Nad is coming off one of the most surprising world title runs in recent memory. The 25-year-old’s breakout performance in Belgrade was highlighted by wins over 2021 world runner-up Leri ABULADZE (GEO) and 2022 European silver medalist Taleh MAMMADOV (AZE).

But it seems that Nad’s days competiting down at 63kg were short lived. He was without question the biggest 63kg wrestler in Belgrade, and after struggling immensely to make weight in Serbia, he’s moving back up to his natural weight of 67kg, where he wrestled in all five senior competitions prior to the 2022 World Championships.

Jafarov, after going 11-2 on the season, heads into the World Cup as the top-ranked wrestler in the world at 67kg. The 20-year-old star won gold at the Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series event and bronze medals at the World and European Championships.

In their last meeting at the 2022 European Championships, Jafarov defeated Nad for the European bronze medal and owns the upper hand coming into Baku.

Serbia and Azerbaijan are both in Group A. This match will take place during the first session on November 5 at 10:00 (local time).

1. 82kg - Burhan AKBUDAK (TUR) vs. Rafig HUSEYNOV (AZE)

Fellow world champions Akbudak and Huseynov are ranked first and second in the world at 82kg, respectively, and could meet for a third time in their career.

Coming into Baku, they’ve split their pair of previous meetings.

Akbudak, the 2022 82kg world champion, opened up his ’22 campaign with three wins in Istanbul, but none bigger than his dominate 9-0 win over the Huseynov in the semifinals of the Yasar Dogu Ranking Series event.

Prior to that, Huseynov, the Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist and ’21 world champion, edged his Turkish rival, 2-1, to claim the Oslo world title.

Turkey and Azerbaijan are in opposite groups. Depending on how the group stage plays out, this match would take place on November 6.

Catch all the action from Baku, live on the United World Wrestling app or on www.uww.org.

Ringaci rules Baku; Ukraine best WW team at U23 Euros

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Five matches we need to see at the GR World Cup