#Zagreb2019

Starcevic Soars to Fifth Consecutive Zagreb Open Title

By Eric Olanowski

ZAGREB, Croatia (February 10) – Bozo STARCEVIC remained patient in his hometown of Zagreb and waited until the last bout of the tournament, but the Croatian wrestler capped off his impressive run to a fifth consecutive Zagreb Open title with a tactical 2-1 victory over Turkey’s Yunus BASAR in the 77kg finals. 

Starcevic, the hometown wrestler, grabbed the 1-0 lead after receiving a passivity point but found himself fighting back in the second period after Basar gained the 1-1 lead on criteria with a passivity point of his own. 

With just over a minute left, the Croatian wrestler continued to push the pace and broke the 1-1 tie after he was awarded a second passivity point. Starcevic remained composed in the final 30 seconds and closed out the match with the 2-1 victory, locking up his fifth consecutive Zagreb Open title. 

Starcevic's run to his fifth title also included a 6-1 quarterfinals win over Olympic champion KIM Hyeonwoo (KOR). 


Bulgaria’s Daniel ALEKSANDROV erased a 7-0 deficit to defeat reigning world silver medalist Emrah KUS (TUR) in the 82kg gold-medal bout. (Photo Kadir Caliskan) 

Two World Silver Medalists Go Down

Bulgaria’s Daniel ALEKSANDROV and Russia’s Ilia BORISOV knocked off reigning world runner-up’s Emrah KUS (TUR) and Kiril MILOV (BUL) respectively to with their first Zagreb Open titles. 

Daniel Aleksandrov erased a 7-0 opening-period deficit and scored eight unanswered points in the final period to upend returning world runner-up Emrah KUS (TUR), 8-7, in the 82kg Zagreb Open gold-medal bout. 

Aleksandrov trailed 7-0 after the first two minutes of action. He was dinged for passivity and thrown in par terre position, where Kus grabbed four-points from a reverse lift to control the 5-0 advantage. Aleksandrov found himself down 7-0 after Kus grabbed another two for exposure, but got on the board with a step out point and trailed 7-1 heading into the second period. 

The Bulgarian exploded for seven points in the closing three minutes and hung on to the 8-7 lead to knock off the clearly deflated returning world runner-up, 8-7.

In the 97kg finals, Ilia Borisov also knocked off a returning Budapest world runner-up to win his Zagreb Open title. Borisov, the lone Russian finalist, tossed around returning world runner-up Kiril MILOV (BUL) with ease and scored the 9-0 technical superiority victory in the opening period. 

Borisov grabbed the 1-0 lead after Milov was hit for passivity. The Russian went to work in par terre, throwing Milov for four points,  then used a pair of gut wrenches to close out the 97kg gold-medal match with a 9-0 technical superiority victory. 

Uzbekistan and Hungary Win Pair of Golds 

Islomjon BAKHRAMOV and Elmurat TASMURADOV handed Uzbekistan a pair of gold medals, while Robert Attila FRITSCH (HUN) and Viktor LORINCZ (HUN) won Hungary's two Zagreb Open titles. 

In the 63kg finals, Islomjon Bakhramov struck first with a four-point throw, but Xavier JOHNSON (USA) quickly scored a two-point exposure and cut the Uzbek's leads to 4-2. Bakhramov stayed offensive and scored a pair of takedowns and a gut wrench, ending the 63kg gold-medal match early with a 10-2 technical superiority victory. 

Elmurat Tasmuradov gave Uzbekistan their second gold medal of the day. Tasmuradov came out on fire in the opening seconds of 67kg finals and threw a huge headlock to secure the 4-0 lead over U23 and senior-level European champion Mihai MIHUT (ROU). Tasmuradov surrendered a step out point to the Romanian wrestler, but his first-period four-point throw was enough to give him the 4-1 victory. 

Robert Fritsch won Hungary's first gold medal of the night after Georgia's Ramaz ZOIDZE injury defaulted out of the 72kg finals. 

At 87kg, Viktor Lorincz grabbed a passivity point and a low-level gut and took the 3-0 lead over Kristoffer Zakarias BERG (SWE) into the second period. Lorincz gave up a passivity point but didn’t get turned and held on to the 3-1 decision over Berg, giving Hungary their second gold medal of the night. 

Kamal and Marvik Win Remaining Two Gold Medals 

There wasn't a 55kg gold-medal bout because it was a round-robin competition, so the final two gold medals went to Turkey's Kerem KAMAL  and Norway's Oskar MARVIK (NOR). 

In the 60kg gold-medal bout, two-time junior world champion Kerem Kamal handled Iran’s Milad REZANEZHAD from whistle-to-whistle and scored his first senior-level gold medal with the 9-3 victory, while Oskar Marvik used a first-period passivity point to defeat Muminjon ABDULLAEV (UZB), 1-0, in the 130kg finals.  

Results

Team Scores
GOLD - Turkey (132 points) 
SILVER - Uzbekistan (101 points) 
BRONZE - Croatia (91 points) 
Fourth - Bulgaria (85 points) 
Fifth - Hungary (83 points) 

55kg (Round-Robin) 
GOLD -   Poya Soulat DAD MARZ (IRI) 
SILVER - Ekrem OZTURK (TUR) 
BRONZE - Alexandru Vasile BOTEZ (ROU)

60kg 
GOLD - Kerem KAMAL (TUR) df. Milad Ali REZANEZHAD (IRI), 9-3

BRONZE - Erik TORBA (HUN) df. Virgil MUNTEANU (ROU), 3-3 
BRONZE -  Ivan LIZATOVIC (CRO) df. Seunghak KIM (KOR), 4-3 

63kg 
GOLD - Islomjon BAKHRAMOV (UZB) df. Xavier JOHNSON (USA), 10-2 

BRONZE -  Dawid Andrzej ERSETIC (POL) df. Irakli DZIMISTARISHVILI (GEO), 12-0 
BRONZE -  Firuz TUKHTAEV (UZB) df. Travis Michael RICE (USA), 9-0 

67kg
GOLD -  Elmurat TASMURADOV (UZB) df. Mihai Radu MIHUT (ROU), 4-1 

BRONZE - Enes BASAR (TUR) df. Morten THORESEN (NOR), 9-0
BRONZE - Ignazio SANFILIPPO (ITA) df. Danijel JANECIC (CRO), via injury default 

72kg
GOLD - Robert Attila FRITSCH (HUN)  df. Ramaz ZOIDZE (GEO), via injury default

BRONZE - Aik MNATSAKANIAN (BUL) df. Cengiz ARSLAN (TUR), 3-1 
BRONZE - Mateusz Lucjan BERNATEK (POL) df. Mate NEMES (SRB), 3-1 

77kg
GOLD - Bozo STARCEVIC (CRO) df. Yunus BASAR (TUR), 2-1 

BRONZE - Mohammad Aziz NAGHOUSI (IRI) df. Ilie COJOCARI (ROU), 7-4 
BRONZE - Hyeonwoo KIM (KOR) df. Rafael IUNUSOV (RUS), 10-0 

82kg
GOLD - Daniel ALEKSANDROV (BUL) df. Emrah KUS (TUR), 8-7

BRONZE - Burhan AKBUDAK (TUR) df. Jalgasbay BERDIMURATOV (UZB), 2-1 
BRONZE - Karlo KODRIC (CRO) df. Aivengo RIKADZE (GEO), via injury default 

87kg
GOLD - Viktor LORINCZ (HUN) df. Kristoffer Zakarias BERG (SWE), 3-1 

BRONZE - Tadeusz MICHALIK (POL) df. Yoan Danielov DIMITROV (BUL), 6-3 
BRONZE - Arkadiusz Marcin KULYNYCZ (POL) df. Erik SZILVASSY (HUN), 4-3 

97kg
GOLD - Ilia BORISOV (RUS) df.  Kiril Milenov MILOV (BUL), 9-0 

BRONZE - Jahongir TURDIEV (UZB) df. Zsolt TOEROEK (HUN), 11-0
BRONZE - Tracy Gangelo HANCOCK (USA) df. Adam VARGA (HUN), 4-0 

130kg 
GOLD - Oskar MARVIK (NOR) df. Muminjon ABDULLAEV (UZB) , 1-0 

BRONZE - Yasmani ACOSTA FERNANDEZ (CHI) df. Osman YILDIRIM (TUR), 5-1 
BRONZE - Miloslav Yuriev METODIEV (BUL) df. Marko KOSCEVIC (CRO), 5-1 

#WrestleHangzhou

Asian Games Wrestling: Yazdani vs Punia, Tazhudinov vs Goleij in finals

By Vinay Siwach

LIN'AN, Hangzhou, China (October 7) -- The Asian Games in Hangzhou will see the final day of wrestling at the Lin'an Sports Culture and Exhibition Center. Hassan YAZDANI (IRI), Amir Hossein ZARE (IRI) and Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN) are wrestling today as wrestlers in Freestyle 74kg, 86kg, 97kg and 125kg

LIVE MATCH ORDER | BRACKETS | DAY 3 RESULTS

That's it for the session before repechage begins. Here are the finals for the evening session

74kg
Kirin KINOSHITA (JPN) vs. Yones EMAMI (IRI)

86kg
Deepak PUNIA vs Hassan YAZDANI (IRI)

97kg
Mojtaba GOLEIJ (IRI) vs Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN)

125kg
Lkhagvagerel MUNKHTUR (MGL) vs. Amir Hossein ZARE (IRI)

12:55: Hassan YAZDANI (IRI) returns to the 86kg final at the Asian Games with yet another 10-0 victory in the semifinal. He will take on Javrail SHAPIEV (UZB) who manages to score a late exposure against Deepak PUNIA to win 3-2. Wait we have challenge... Punia is asking for two points as well. The jury awards two points to Punia and he wins 4-3 against Shapiev.

12:48: Asian Championships silver medalist Kirin KINOSHITA (JPN) takes out defending champion Bekzod ABDURAKHMONOV (UZB) 6-0 to enter the final at 74kg. A top win for the Japanese. He will face Yones EMAMI (IRI) who defeats Magomet EVLOEV (TJK) 9-3.

12:45: Mojtaba GOLEIJ (IRI) and Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN) final set at 97kg. The two wrestled at the Asian Championships with Tazhudinov scoring a 13-8 win over Goleij.

12:33: Lkhagvagerel MUNKHTUR (MGL) with a fall over Khusanboy RAKHIMOV (UZB) in the 125kg semifinals. Munkhtur will wait for the winner of Amir Hossein ZARE (IRI) and Yusup BATIRMURZAEV (KAZ) to know his final opponent. 

12:25: Azamat DALUETBEKOV (KAZ) is absolutely livid with his coach who challenged a stepout call with 30 seconds on board. Javrail SHAPIEV (UZB) led 2-1 when he forced the stepout to make it 3-1. Kazakhstan corner decided to challenge the call and as Daluetbekov had put his hand out first, it was called a stepout and Kazakhstan lost the challenge, giving Shapiev an extra point. Daluetbekov scored the takedown but that made it only 4-3.

Just two weeks back, Daluetbekov had scored a final-second takedown against Shapiev to win the World Championships bronze medal.

12:15: Bekzod ABDURAKHMONOV (UZB) has still got it. The defending champion puts himself in the 74kg semifinal after beating Darkhan YESSENGALI (KAZ) 3-1. On Mat C, Yusup BATIRMURZAEV (KAZ) scores the winning takedown to beat Bali SOU (CAM) 5-1 at 125kg.

12:12: A stepout, takedown, stepout, takedown, turn, turn. That's the scoring pattern Hassan YAZDANI (IRI) used to beat in the first period and reach the 86kg semifinal.

12:05: Mojtaba GOLEIJ (IRI) scored a takedown in each of the two periods to beat Gankhuyag GANBAATAR (MGL) 4-2 at 97kg. He moves into the semifinals.

12:03: Deepak PUNIA gives up three stepouts against Shota SHIRAI (JPN) but his two takedowns, one stepout and two caution points against Shirai are enough to help him move into the semifinals with a 7-3 win.

11:48: Hassan YAZDANI (IRI) takes a minute and 56 seconds to beat Mukhammad ABDULLAEV (KGZ) at 86kg. Yazdani is the defending champion at the Asian Games.

11:40: World champion Amir Hossein ZARE (IRI) on Mat A wrestling BUHEEERDUN (CHN) in the 125kg quarterfinals. Alisher YERGALI (KAZ) wrestling Takashi ISHIGURO (JPN) at 97kg on Mat B. Zare works to a 10-0 win while Yergali holds off Ishiguro for a 4-2 victory.

11:35: Azamat DALUETBEKOV (KAZ), the 86kg world bronze medalist, is made to work hard by Gwanuk KIM (KOR) in the opening bout but he gets the job done 6-0.

11:30: Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN) with a go-behind to open the scoring against Kanybek  Abdulkhairov. He adds exposure and an activity period point to lead 5-0. An arm-bar to get the fall just at the break!

11:22: Defending champion Bekzod ABDURAKHMONOV (UZB) with two activity points in either period to win 2-0 against Magomedrasul ASLUEV (BRN) at 74kg. 

11:15: Yones EMAMI (IRI) will feel the heat of this bout against Orozobek TOKTOMAMBETOV (KGZ) perhaps later in the day. Emami scores a 7-2 win but Toktomambetov brought the pace with him and Emami looks a little tired here.

10:55: World champion Amir Hossein ZARE (IRI) with a composed 10-0 win over Zaman ANWAR (PAK) at 125kg. He will have a 10-minute break before the next round of matches. 

10:50: Yusup BATIRMURZAEV (KAZ) and Feng LU (CHN) roll to technical superiority wins on Mat C. The Kazakhstan wrestler beats Farkhod ANAKULOV (TJK) at 125kg while Lu thrills the crowd by beating Inayat ULLAH (PAK) at 74kg.

10:35: Omar SAREM (SYR) got a big four against Taiki YAMAMOTO (JPN) to lead 4-4 on criteria but the Japanese wrestler scored a takedown to make it 6-4. A reversal for Sarem but that doesn't change the final result.

10:25: Alisher YERGALI (KAZ) with a 10-0 win over VICKY to advance. Next up on Mat C is Aiaal LAZAREV (KGZ) and SUMIT at 125kg. Sumit qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in Sofia but was later found to have failed a dope test. His place was awarded to Lazarev.

10:20: Mojtaba GOLEIJ (IRI) built a 2-0 lead over Magomed IBRAGIMOV (UZB) but the Uzbek with a counter four! Goleij with a stepout to lead cut the lead 4-3 at the break. Ibragimov with a takedown in the second period to lead 6-3 now. Both wrestlers are on the edge and it's a stepout for Ibragimov who now leads 7-4. Well, that was it for Ibragimov as Goleij scored a takedown and three turns to make it 13-7 and advance.

10:14: Deepak PUNIA lost to Magomed SHARIPOV (BRN) in the Asian Championships in 92kg but he avenged that loss with a 3-2 win at 86kg. Bost wrestlers had a takedown each but Punia with an activity point in the second period to win the bout.

10:00: World champion Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN) is on Mat A against Awusayiman HABILA (CHN), a rematch of the Asian Championships final in which Tazhudinov won. The Bahrain wrestler with a big attempted lift but gets only two points. A takedown for Tazhudinov but Habila scores a reversal just before the break. The second period begins with Habila go behind and he cuts Tazhudinov's lead to 5-3. Tazhudinov answers with a takedown to lead 7-3 and is happy to keep it as the clock expires.