#BudaWrestle2018

Sidakov Stuns Burroughs and Chamizo; Deng Notches One for China

Saturday, October 20, 2018 - 17:52 By Eric Olanowski

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BUDAPEST, Hungry (October 20) – On a day that saw three Olympic champions stumble it was youngsters from Russia and Georgia who proved to be the stabilizing antidote to chaos on the first day of wrestling at the 2018 Wrestling World Championships at the Papps Laszlo SportArena in Budapest.

Leading the way for Russia were wunderkinds Gadzhimurad RASHIDOV (57kg) and Zaurbek SIDAKOV (74), both only 22 years old. While Rashidov was dominant throughout the day, Sidakov had arguably the toughest road to the finals, needing to defeat four-time world champion and Olympic champion Jordan BURROUGHS in the quarterfinals and then defeated two-time world champion Frank CHAMIZO (ITA) in the semifinals.

The Georgian effort was spearheaded by defending world champion Geno PATRIASHVILI (125kg) who battled through back-to-back tense matches with Anzor KHIZRIEV (RUS) and Parviz HADI (IRI) to earn his second straight trip to the world finals. His finals compatriot, Avtandil KENTCHADZE (GEO), 22, breezed through the semifinals, earning a chest lock and fall in the second period against 2018 European Champion Soner DEMIRTAS (TUR).

DENG Zhiwei made history at 125kg, becoming the first freestyle wrestler from China to make the world finals. 

“I’m always having dreams about wrestling, and I’ve dedicated my life to the sport for the past 16 years…Now I get to bring honor to my country,” said Deng. 

Russia would have placed a third in tomorrow night’s finals were it not for an unlikely series of comebacks by David TAYLOR (USA). The fast-paced, rubber-kneed American had a career day, starting with an 11-6 decision over 2016 Olympic Champion Hassan YAZDANICHARATI (IRI). Taylor trailed 6-2 at the end of the first period before rattling off nine unanswered points to earn the win. 

Taylor faced Dauren KURUGLIEV (RUS) the semifinals, where early in the match he took a swinging heel to the lower jaw, unbalancing him and briefly stopping the match. Rattled, but undeterred, Taylor fought on, but trailed 5-1 heading into the second period. But as he did against Yazdanicharati, Taylor found another level and immediately began attacking, eventually securing three takedowns and a pushout for the 7-5 victory. 

After the match, Taylor said, “I’d trade a kick in the face for a world championship any day.”  He then dedicated his victory to a training partner and teammate who was severely injured last month during a training session in the United States.

“Perry Strong. Strong like Rich Perry. He’s a fighter.” said Taylor. 

Yowlys BONNE RODRIGUEZ (CUB) throws Joseph COLON (USA) in the 61kg world semifinals. (Photo by Max Rose-Fyne) 

When fan-favorite and two-time world bronze medalist BONNE-RODRIGUEZ (CUB) made his international debut at the 2005 Pan-American Championships, Gadzhimurad RASHIDOV (RUS) was only 9 years old. 

They’ll meet tomorrow night for the 61kg gold medal.

Sunday night’s finals will be the first time that the 34 year old Cuban has made a gold-medal bout, while Rashidov is looking to rebound from his silver medal performance from last year's World Championships.  

Tomorrow’s wrestling action starts at 10:30 am with championship action in 57kg, 65kg, 79, g and 92kg along with repechage from today’s weight categories. 

Finals will start at 7 pm local.

RESULTS 

61kg 
GOLD - Gadzhimurad RASHIDOV (RUS) vs. Yowlys BONNE RODRIGUEZ (CUB)

SEMIFINAL - Gadzhimurad RASHIDOV (RUS) df. Beka LOMTADZE (GEO), 10 - 0
SEMIFINAL - Yowlys BONNE RODRIGUEZ (CUB) df. Joseph Daniel COLON (USA), 9-4

74kg 
GOLD - Zaurbek SIDAKOV (RUS) vs. Avtandil KENTCHADZE (GEO)

SEMIFINAL - Avtandil KENTCHADZE (GEO) df. Soner DEMIRTAS (TUR), 8 - 1
SEMIFINAL - Zaurbek SIDAKOV (RUS) df. Frank CHAMIZO MARQUEZ (ITA), 3-2 

86kg
GOLD - David Morris TAYLOR III (USA) vs. Fatih ERDIN (TUR)

SEMIFINAL - David Morris TAYLOR III (USA) df. Dauren KURUGLIEV (RUS), 7 - 5
SEMIFINAL - Fatih ERDIN (TUR) df. Taimuraz FRIEV NASKIDAEVA (ESP)

125kg 
GOLD - Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO) vs. Zhiwei DENG (CHN)

SEMIFINAL - Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO) df. Parviz Khodavirdi HADIBASMANJ (IRI), 13 - 6
SEMIFINAL - Zhiwei DENG (CHN) df. Sumit SUMIT (IND)

#WrestleParis

10 seeded showdowns we need to see at Paris 2024 (No. 1-5)

Friday, July 19, 2024 - 11:28 By Eric Olanowski

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PARIS, France (July 18) --- Yesterday, we launched the No. 6-10 must-watch seeded matches that could take place in the quarterfinals and semifinals of the upcoming Paris Olympic Games. We continue the series with the top five matchups that could be between seeded athletes in the quarterfinals and semifinals.

SCHEDULE | PARIS 2024 EVENT PAGE 

The top eight Ranking Series point scorers from the 2023 World Championships, 2024 Continental Championships, and the Croatian and Hungarian Ranking Series events earned a top eight seed in Paris. The remaining eight wrestlers will be randomly drawn into their respective brackets.

Here are the top-five seeded showdowns that can take place in Paris:

5. 97kg SEMIFINAL – No. 1 Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM) vs. No. 4 Gabriel ROSILLO (CUB)
If you were to rank the ten Greco-Roman favorites expected to win gold at last year’s World Championships, Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM) would have been either at the top or second on that list.

Unfortunately (or fortunately), no one told Gabriel Rosillo that the list existed.

In their lone career meeting, Rosillo, with the most perfectly timed arm drag that the wrestling world has seen in recent memory, stopped Aleksanyan from winning his fifth world gold medal. The Cuban sucked in an arm drag to Aleksanyan’s right arm, then perfectly timed a re-drag to the left side just as the Armenian pulled away, giving him the go-ahead takedown with 23 seconds left.

After the match, Aleksanyan said he relaxed at the most inopportune time and he’ll use the loss to Rosillo as motivation heading into Paris.

The second meeting between Aleksanyan and Rosillo could happen on August 6 in the 97kg semifinals.

4. 125kg SEMIFINAL – No. 1 Amir ZARE (IRI) vs. No. 4 Taha AKGUL (TUR)
Zare and Akgul have been going blow for blow for the last three years, with Zare grabbing the 2-1 advantage from his 2021 and 2023 wins, which were sandwiched between a 2022 world championship loss.

Zare picked up the biggest win of his career (at the time) with his win 4-0 shutout win over Akgul at the 2021 Oslo World Championships. Up until that point, the Iranian was looked at as a tier-two heavyweight. His win over Akgul in Norway pushed him into the ranks with Akgul, Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO) and Gable STEVESON (USA).

In the second meeting, Akgul stood tall on the United World Wrestling logo in the center of the mat and didn't budge. He evened the score at one match apiece, striking late with a counter-offensive 360 spin, moving into the world finals with a 3-3 win.

Zare regained his crown in the third meeting, with a tactical heavy-handed 4-0 win.

Zare knew Akgul wasn’t much of an offensive threat and couldn't afford to make a similar mistake as he did the year before, giving up the match-deciding takedown with no time left. He remained composed and scored a pair of stepouts and a takedown to win 4-0, giving him the 2-1 advantage heading into Paris.

The fourth meeting between world champions Zare and Akgul could happen on August 9 in the 125kg semifinals.

3. 57kg SEMIFINAL –  No. 2 Rei HIGUCHI (JPN ) vs. No. 3 Arsen HARUTYUNYAN (ARM)
Harutyunyan and Higuchi are two guys with unlimited offensive and have gas tanks that rival a nuclear submarine.

That was on display in last year’s Freestyle Match of the Year, where Harutyunyan and Higuchi put up a combined 30 points in one match—17 points in the first period and 13 in the second.

In their epic second meeting, Higuchi surrendered an early 6-0 lead, but clawed his way back before the ending whistle in the first, taking the 10-7 lead with a beautiful four-point arm-throw. Higuchi’s onslaught of attacks continued as the second period started, scoring six straight points and extending his lead to 16-8. From there, Higuchi seemingly shut it down to conserve energy for the semifinals, as he gave up six unanswered points but still won the bout, 16-14.

The second meeting between Higuchi and Harutyunyan would go down on August 8 in the 57kg semifinals.

2. 97kg SEMIFINAL – No . 2 Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN) vs. No. 3 Kyle SNYDER (USA)
Coming into the 2023 World Championships, Tazhudinov was a relatively unknown 20-year-old. The most fans knew about the 21-year-old was that he was a young guy trained by Sadulaev’s coach but left Russia to compete for Bahrain.

That all changed for Tazhudinov after his sub-three-minute quarterfinal routing of world and Olympic champion Kyle SNYDER (USA). The lengthy pupil of the Sadulaev’s School of Wrestling threw Snyder twice for four, using all four of the American’s shot attempts to score his 10 quick points.

Heading into Paris, there’s nothing more that Snyder wants more than revenge against Tazhudinov on his way to a potential third Olympic medal.

“I’m pumped about the bracket. It worked out great, in my opinion,” said Snyder in an interview with FloWrestling. “The third match of the day, that’s probably my best match. Once I start getting warm, I feel like I can wrestle forever.”

Round two of the Snyder vs. Tazhudinov rivalry will take on August 10 in the 97kg Olympic semifinals.

1. 60kg SEMIFINAL  –  No. 1 Zholaman SHARSHENBEKOV (KGZ) vs. No. 4 Kenichiro FUMITA (JPN)
The Sharshenbekov and Fumita gold-medal bout from the 2023 World Championships was voted as the 2023 Match of the Year by fans.

In their second career meeting, the pair of two-time world champions wowed the crowd from whistle to whistle, with Sharshebekov scoring the first four-pointer of the match five seconds after the referee blew the whistle.

The points continued to pile up throughout the match. The pair collectively scored 15 points in the opening 90 seconds. They ultimately scored 17 points in the six-minute bout, with Sharshenbekov taking ownership of the world title with an 11-6 victory.

Sharshenbekov and Fumita are scheduled to meet on August 5 in the 60kg semifinals.

Wrestling at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games starts August 5-11 and can be followed on www.uww.org.