#WrestlePontevedra

Russia Brings Freestyle Finalist Total to Seven

By Eric Olanowski

PONTEVEDRA, Spain (June 8) – Russia holds the team lead after the sixth day of freestyle competition and inserted three additional wrestlers into gold-medal matches -- bringing their overall finalist total to seven. 

Russia opened up the freestyle competition by winning 12 of 13 matches, went 11-3 on Saturday, and brought their freestyle win/loss total to 23-4. Their three Day 7 finalists who’ll wrestle for gold at 74kg, 92kg, 125kg, respectively, are Dmitrii KUPRIN, Aslanbek SOTIEV, Saipudin MAGOMEDOV. 

Of the three Russian finalists, Magomedov and Sotiev will have the toughest test in the finals.

Soltiev will wrestle Azerbaijan’s two-time age-level world bronze medalist Askhab HAMZATOV. 

Hamzatov, who had locked up his third European medal, will be wrestling in the junior finals for the second consecutive year. Last year, Hamzatov fell to Russia’s Azamat ZAKUEV in the 92kg finals and settled for a silver medal. 

Magomedov will take on Ukraine’s Yurii IDZINSKYI in the 125kg finals. This’ll be the third time that Idzinskyi has competed in the European finals, but the Ukrainian has fallen in each of his two previous attempts. Idzinskyi fell in the U23 European finals earlier this year, and also dropped last year’s junior European finals. 

The other finalist is Dmitrii Kuprin. He’ll wrestle Turkey’s Abdulvasi BALTA (TUR) in the 74kg finals. 

The Day 7 finals begin on Sunday at 18:00 and can be followed live on www.unitedworldwrestling.org.

RESULTS

61kg 
GOLD - Hrachya MARGARYAN (ARM) vs. Oleksandr YEVSIEIENKO (UKR)
SEMIFINAL - Hrachya MARGARYAN (ARM) df. Hamza ALACA (TUR), 5-2
SEMIFINAL - Oleksandr YEVSIEIENKO (UKR) df. Gamzatgadzhi KHALIDOV (HUN), 10-9 

74kg 
GOLD - Abdulvasi BALTA (TUR) vs. Dmitrii Alekseevitch KUPRIN (RUS)
SEMIFINAL - Abdulvasi BALTA (TUR) df. Valentin BORZIN (MDA), 8-3 
SEMIFINAL - Dmitrii KUPRIN (RUS) df. Goga MAMIAURI (GEO), 9-2

86kg 
GOLD - Miriani MAISURADZE (GEO) vs. Mher MARKOSYAN (ARM)
SEMIFINAL - Mher MARKOSYAN (ARM) df. Slavik NANIEV (RUS), 6-4
SEMIFINAL - Miriani MAISURADZE (GEO) df. Demid KARACHENKO (UKR), 11-3 

92kg 
GOLD - Askhab HAMZATOV (AZE) vs.  Aslanbek SOTIEV (RUS)
SEMIFINAL - Aslanbek SOTIEV (RUS) df. Aliaksei PARKHOMENKA (BLR), 10-4
SEMIFINAL - Askhab HAMZATOV (AZE) df. Matous VONDAL (CZE), 6-0 

125kg
GOLD - Saipudin MAGOMEDOV (RUS) vs. Yurii IDZINSKYI (UKR)
SEMIFINAL - Saipudin MAGOMEDOV (RUS) vs. Islam ABUEV (AZE), 5-0 
SEMIFINAL - Yurii IDZINSKYI (UKR) df. Mikita HORHUN (BLR), 11-0 

#AmateurMMA

Historic Amateur MMA World Championships kicks off in Novi Sad

By Vinay Siwach

NOVI SAD, Serbia (October 18) -- The first-ever Amateur MMA World Championships kicked off in Novi Sad Serbia in men's and women's.

The three-day event began with preliminary rounds and with quarterfinals, semifinals and finals scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.

The World Championships is live on uww.org and on Instagram.

Here are a few top photos from day one on Friday:

AMMAScott HEATHCOTE (CAN), blue, and Aayush DIPU (IND) showing some early kicks during their match. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

The matches are of nine minutes divided into three rounds of three minutes each with two breaks of one minute each between the three periods.

AMMAFront rolls for the win. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

The are fought without a headgear but with protective gloves. Other part of the uniform includes tight-fitting rash guards, shorts, and the fights are fought barefoot.

AMMAUp in the air. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

Athletes are allowed to wear mouthguards. However, the mouthguards cannot be of red color.

AMMAIt's all about respect in the end. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

The UWW Amateur MMA is competed in various weight classes:

Men's (U20, U23, Seniors): 57kg, 62kg, 66kg, 71kg, 77kg, 84kg, 93kg, 100kg, 130kg
Women's (U20, U23, Seniors): 50kg, 53kg, 57kg, 61kg, 65kg, 70kg, 75kg, 80kg, 90kg

AMMAThe coach improvised there. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

The various types of victories include: Submission, Knockout (KO), Technical Knockout (TKO), Disqualification (DSQ), Forfeit, Judge’s Decisions.

AMMAWin or lose, the reaction can't give it away. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

In certain cases, there can be draws in the bouts. Draw decisions occur in the following scenarios:
- Unanimous Draw: all three judges score the bout equally
- Majority Draw: two judges score the bout as a draw
- Split Draw: each judge scores the bout differently, resulting in an overall draw
- Technical Draw: awarded when a bout is prematurely stopped due to injury from an intentional foul after continuing, and subsequent injury forces stoppage from either legal or illegal actions with scores equal or insufficient for a clear winner.

Resolving Draws

If a winner must be declared (e.g., elimination rounds) and a draw occurs on the judges’ scorecards, the following criteria apply, in order:
1. The athlete who had points deducted for fouls loses the bout
2. If no fouls occurred, the athlete who won any single round by the largest margin (e.g., one round 10-8 versus two rounds 10-9) wins the bout.
3. If neither of these criteria resolves the draw, the Mat Chairman polls judges to vote for the winner. The athlete receiving the majority of judge votes is declared the winner. This decision is final and cannot be appealed