#BudaWrestle2018

Russia Sweeps Greco Gold Medals on Final Day of World Championships

Sunday, October 28, 2018 - 16:58 By Andrew Hipps

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BUDAPEST, Hungary (October 28) -- Russia put the finishing touches on a world team title in Greco-Roman by sweeping the gold medals on the final day of the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. 

Aleksandr CHEKHIRKIN (77kg), Musa EVLOEV (97kg) and Sergey SEMENOV (130kg) came through to win gold medals in Greco-Roman for Russia on Sunday.

Russia finished with 178 team points in Greco-Roman, 89 points ahead of runner-up Hungary (89). Turkey finished third in the team standings with 75 points. 

Chekhirkin captured his gold medal by defeating crowd favorite Tamas LORINCZ (HUN) 3-1 in the gold-medal match at 77kg. The Russian led 1-1 on criteria after the opening period and added to his lead in the second period off a passivity and then scored a late step out to win by two. 

Evloev upgraded his world medal from silver to gold as he topped Kiril MILOV (BUL) 7-2 in the gold-medal match at 97kg. The Bulgarian scored the first point of the match off a passivity, but Evloev dominated the rest of the way. He came back with a takedown to lead 2-1 at the break. After extending his lead to 3-1, the 25-year-old Russian used a side lift to execute a four-point throw to extend his lead. 

Semenov dominated Adam COON (USA) 9-0 in the gold-medal match at 130kg. The 23-year-old Russian heavyweight used two four-point throws to cruise to the technical fall victory. Semenov was a gold medalist at the U23 World Championships last year and won two world gold medals as a junior. 

The bronze medals at 77kg were won by world champions Hyeonwoo KIM (KOR) and Viktor NEMES (SRB)

Kim, a multiple-time Olympic medalist, picked up a 3-1 win over Bilan NALGIEV (UZB). The Korean scored a two-point throw in the first period, which proved to be the difference in the match. 

Nemes won his second straight world medal by defeating Alex KESSIDIS (SWE) 6-2 for bronze. The Serb held a 2-2 criteria lead after the opening period and tacked on four more points in the second period.

In the first bronze-medal match at 97kg, Mihail KAJALA (SRB) won his first world medal and denied Balazs KISS (HUN) a fourth world medal. Kiss seemed to be in control early after scoring off a passivity and adding a takedown to grab a 3-0 lead at the break. But Kajala used a four-point arm throw to grab the lead midway through the second period and hung on to win on criteria, 4-4. 

Mahdi ALIYARIFEIZABADI (IRI) won the other 97kg bronze medal by forfeit.

At 130kg, Oscar PINO HINDS (CUB) won his second straight world bronze medal with a 3-1 victory over Heiki NABI (EST). Pino Hinds scored his first point off a passivity. Nabi grabbed the lead in the second period after getting a passivity point of his own. But the Cuban would add another passivity point along with a point for a failed challenge to win by two. 

Minseok KIM (KOR), a past junior world bronze medalist, claimed his first senior world medal as he hung on to defeat Eduard POPP (GER) 2-1 in the second bronze-medal match at 130kg. Kim scored a two-point exposure in the first period, which was enough to get him the victory. 

Final Results

Greco-Roman

77kg
GOLD: Aleksandr CHEKHIRKIN (RUS) df. Tamas LORINCZ (HUN) by VPO1, 3-1
BRONZE: Viktor NEMES (SRB) df. Alex BJURBERG KESSIDIS (SWE) by VPO1, 6-2
BRONZE: Hyeonwoo KIM (KOR) df. Bilan NALGIEV (UZB) by VPO1, 3-1

97kg
GOLD: Musa EVLOEV (RUS) df. Kiril MILOV (BUL) by VPO1, 7-2
BRONZE: Mahdi ALIYARIFEIZABADI (IRI) df. Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM) by VIN, 0-0
BRONZE: Mihail KAJALA (SRB) df. Balazs KISS (HUN) df. VPO1, 4-4

130kg
GOLD: Sergey SEMENOV (RUS) df. Adam COON (USA) by VSU, 9-0
BRONZE: Minseok KIM (KOR) df. Eduard POPP (GER) by VPO1, 2-1
BRONZE: Oscar PINO HINDS (CUB) df. Heiki NABI (EST) by VPO1, 3-1
 

#JapanWrestling

Paris Olympic Champ Sakurai Retires at Age 24

Sunday, April 5, 2026 - 09:12 By Ken Marantz

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TOKYO (April 4) -- Having never really regained the motivation that led her to achieve her ultimate goal of an Olympic gold, Tsugumi SAKURAI (JPN) has decided to retire at the tender age of 24.

Sakurai, the women’s 57kg champion at the Paris Olympics, has announced that she will hang up her singlet and begin a second career nurturing a new generation of wrestlers and serving as a goodwill ambassador of sports for her native Kochi Prefecture in western Japan.

“After 21 continuous years, I feel I have reached the cutoff point of my wrestling career, so I have decided to retire,” Sakurai said at a press conference Friday at the Kochi Prefecture government office.

“I gave everything I had for the Olympics, and I was able to experience the feeling of achievement and the ultimate joy. It's difficult to win the Olympics without determination. I couldn't get back to the mindset I had before Paris. That is the biggest reason [for retiring].”

Known for her steely aggressiveness belying a quiet demeanor, and a wicked use of a 2-on-1 arm bar, Sakurai prefaced her triumph in Paris by winning three consecutive world titles, at 55kg in 2021 and back-to-back golds at 57kg in 2022 and 2023.

A U17 world champion in 2016, she won golds at the Asian Championships and Asian Games in 2022 and 2023, respectively, but suffered the second of just two career international losses at the 2024 Asian Championships, where she fell to Yongxian FENG (CHN) in the final.

She bounced back five months later for her crowning achievement in Paris, where she defeated 2016 Rio Olympic champion Helen MAROULIS (USA) 10-4 in the semifinals, then took the gold with a 6-0 victory over Anastasia NICHITA (MDA) in a rematch of the 2023 world final.

Making the win in Paris even more special was the fact that not only did Sakurai strike gold, but so did another Japanese wrestler who started the sport together with her at the kids wrestling club in Kochi run by her father.

Kotaro KIYOOKA (JPN), the freestyle 65kg champion in his Olympic debut, and Sakurai became the toast of Kochi, a rural prefecture fronting the Pacific on the island of Shikoku. They were paraded through the streets of the prefectural capital of Kochi City and hailed as heroes.

Like almost all of Japan’s medalists in Paris, the two took time off from the sport to run the gauntlet of TV interviews and variety shows, and just chill out in general. Sakurai, who returned to Kochi and started graduate studies in sport sciences at Kochi University, was particularly slow in returning to the mat.

In what would prove to be her first – and last – competition after Paris, she won the 57kg title at the second-tier Japan Women’s Open in October 2025, ostensibly to qualify for the Emperor’s Cup All-Japan Championships the following December. That would be the starting point for domestic qualifying for major global tournaments.

But Sakurai never made it to the Emperor’s Cup, and has now fully turned the corner on a new career.

“Over the past year, this decision was made after talking to many people, fretting about it, and thinking things through,” she said.

Sakurai said that as an extension of her father’s Kochi Wrestling Club, she wants to run a series of clinics outside of the city, mainly in her hometown of Konan just to the east of Kochi, to expose more children to wrestling and help it grow.

“Aside from wrestling, I'm learning so many things in graduate school right now, so I want to acquire a wide range of knowledge so that I can give back to Kochi Prefecture properly,” Sakurai said. “I think there will be various problems when I put things into practice, so I want to acquire solid knowledge so that I can solve those problems.”

Fans at this week’s Asian Championships in Bishkek will see another product of the Kochi Wrestling Club in action in Moe KIYOOKA (JPN), Kotaro’s younger sister and a former world champion who will be looking to add the 53kg gold to the one she won at 55kg in 2024. She and Sakurai were also teammates at Ikuei University.

And the name Sakurai might soon be appearing on the world stage again. Her younger sister, Tsukino SAKURAI (JPN), won the Asian U15 title last year.