Suraj ends India's 32-year drought for U17 GR world gold

Tuesday, July 26, 2022 - 19:28 By Vinay Siwach

ROME, Italy (July 26) -- As he warmed up for his gold medal bout, Suraj VASHISHT (IND) saw an emotional Ronit SHARMA (IND). He ran up to Sharma and consoled him after the latter lost 3-3 in the 48kg Greco-Roman final. It could have been India's first gold at the U17 World Championships in 32 years.

A few moments later, Suraj took it upon himself to create history by winning the 55kg title at the U17 World Championships in Rome. His gold was India's first since Pappu YADAV (IND) won one back in 1990.

Since then, India had five different wrestlers reach the final at a U17 World Championships but none could clear the final hurdle. It took Suraj beating European champion Faraim MUSTAFAYEV (AZE), 11-0, to add another historic moment in India's wrestling.

Overall, this was India's only third gold at the U17 Worlds and fourth at all World Championships combined. Apart from Yadav, who also won the 1992 U20 World Championships, Vinod KUMAR (IND) won the U17 Worlds gold in 1980.

In Rome, Suraj eyes lit up seeing his draw as he hoped for a potential semifinal against Khurshidbek NORMUKHAMMADOV (UZB). The Uzbek had beaten Suraj 8-0 a month ago at the U17 Asian Championships.

"That was my first tour," Suraj said. "I had little experience of grips and stances. There was a camp [More Than Medals in Bishkek] in which I learned all this. Minor changes to help me avoid getting countered."

One of the biggest drawbacks of Suraj's technique to go for a one-on-two early was getting countered and giving up a takedown. With a weak par terre, stopping his opponent from a win was close to impossible.

Normukhammadov scored eight points in Bishkek using a similar move. But in Rome, keeping a closed stance and not going for the side attacks, Suraj keep the Uzbekistan wrestler quiet to win the semifinals.

"These wrestlers get tired very easily while I keep going for attacks and keep pushing," he said. "That helps because then you know that your opponent doesn't have much power."

In the final, the 16-year-old decimated Mustafayev with two big four-point throws in the final. An aggressive Suraj tried finding an opening against Mustafayev which made the referee call the Azerbaijan wrestler passive in the first period. Suraj failed to get a turn from par terre and led 1-0.

In the second period, he first avoided being passive and then struck a takedown to extend his lead to 3-0. But he still ran the danger of being called passive with more than a minute left. But Suraj, knowing he had to get to a safe zone, used an underhook to throw and collect four points and lead 7-0. Mustafayev tried a flying move but Suraj throw him on the mat with control to win the bout and gold 11-0.

The four medalists at 55kg with silver medalist Faraim MUSTAFAYEV (AZE), left, gold medalist SURAJ (IND) and two bronze medalists Saba SURMANIDZE (GEO) and Khurshidbek NORMUKHAMMADOV (UZB). (Photo: UWW / Martin Gabor)

Mustafayev looked a force to reckon with Monday as he won two bouts via technical superiority and one via fall. But he looked a shadow of himself from Monday and failed to get going when it mattered most.

According to India coach Inderjeet SINGH, Suraj was unfazed by the achievements of his opponents and followed a set plan for each bout."He had a very open stance so we told him to close his hands," Singh said. "Then the par terre defense of Indian wrestlers is weak so we told him to not be passive. He did well to defend a few par terre situations."

For Suraj, who hails from Rithal village, Rohtak in Haryana, the win meant another opportunity to celebrate by thumping his thigh, a popular celebration in mud-dangals across India. He now hopes that he can repeat the success in bigger stages.

"I have dreams to become the best in my weight class," he said. "Obviously a senior world title is a dream as well."

After a brief celebration, Suraj will stay back in Rome for the More Than Medals camp.

"These More Than Medals camps help us a lot. We get limited training in India but here the quality of partners is better. Ronit and Suraj will stay for the Rome camp," Singh said.

Ali AHMADI VAFA (IRI) defeated Ronit SHARMA (IND) to win the 48kg gold in Rome. (Photo: UWW / Kadir Caliskan)

Sharma could have been the history maker but Ali AHMADI VAFA (IRI) denied him history with a 3-3 win in the 48kg final. The two had met earlier at the U17 Asian Championships two times with Ahmadi Vafa winning the group stage bout and Sharma winning the final.

Ahmadi Vafa looked in all sorts of trouble in the final in Rome as Sharma secured a quick 3-0 lead with a turn from par terre as Ahmadi Vafa was called passive.

After the break, Sharma went for a front headlock looking for a four but lost his grip midway and Ahmadi Vafa ended up on top of him. Initially called a slip, Iran challenged and won, trimming Sharma's lead to 3-2.

In the final minute of the bout, Sharma is called passive and Ahmadi Vafa gets the 3-3 criteria lead. Despite him failing to turn Sharma from par terre, he defended against the attacks from the Indians to claim the world title for Iran.

Cemal BAKIR (TUR) avenged his European final loss to Laszlo DARABOS (HUN) to win the world gold at 110kg. (Photo: UWW / Martin Gabor)

Turkey wins 2 golds

Cemal BAKIR (TUR) and Alperen BERBER (TUR) gave Turkey two gold medals, winning the 110kg and 80kg weight classes respectively.

It was sweet revenge for Bakir as he defeated Laszlo DARABOS (HUN), 1-1, in the 110kg final. Darabos had pinned Bakir in the U17 European Championships final last month to win the gold. But Tuesday, Bakir did not let Darabos get going and defended well from par terre position.

While he also could not turn Darabos, Bakir made sure he defends his 1-1 criteria lead till the end of the four minutes.

Alperen BERBER (TUR) won the 80kg gold medal in Rome. (Photo: UWW / Martin Gabor)

Berber faced European silver medalist Ismayil RZAYEV (AZE) in the 80kg final and scored a come-from-behind 3-2 win to claim the gold. He got himself into trouble by trying an arm spin which resulted in Rzayev putting Berber's back on the mat for a pin. While he survived that, Berber then scored a pushout.

Rzayev held 2-2 criteria despite Berber scoring a stepout before the end of the first period. But it was the passivity call in the second period that hurt Rzayev and gave Berber a deserved win.

Berber, who finished fifth at the European Championships, outscored his opponents 31-2 over five bouts.

Joel ADAMS (USA) outscored his opponents 31-0 en route to the 65kg gold medal. (Photo: UWW / Kadir Caliskan)

The final gold of the night went to Joel ADAMS (USA) who defeated Ahoura BOUVEIRI PIANI (IRI), 6-0, in the 65kg final.

Adams had a near-perfect performance over the two days in which he showed a five-point move, a four-pointer, arm drags, duck under, and celebrations like no other with his USA teammates joining from the stands.

Outscoring his opponents 31-0 in Rome, Adams showed why he can be the next Greco-Roman star for the USA which won its third U17 world title in 30 years and second in five years. Cohlton SCHULTZ (USA) won the 100kg title in 2017.

Bouveriri Piani was in some strong position throughout the final but Adams' defense along with his ability to transition that into takedowns wreaked havoc on the Iranian. Adams scored two takedowns in the first period to lead 4-0 and added another in the second period to make it 6-0.

But the highlight from the gold medalist will be the five-point suplex he hit on Takaku SUZUKI (JPN) in the opening round bout.

After the medal bouts on in five weight classes, Azerbaijan leads the team title race with 80 points and Iran sitting a close second with 75 points. Turkey's impressive show has helped them to be number three with 60 points while India occupies the fourth spot with 57 points.

Defending champions Georgia will have to work hard if it wants to finish on the podium this year. Currently, it is fifth with 55 points.

RESULTS

48kg
GOLD: Ali AHMADI VAFA (IRI) df. Ronit SHARMA (IND), 3-3

BRONZE: Arsen ZHUMA (KAZ) df. Tigran GALSTYAN (ARM), 5-3
BRONZE: Said KHALILOV (AZE) df. Yu TAKEMOTO (JPN), 9-1

55kg
GOLD: SURAJ (IND) df. Faraim MUSTAFAYEV (AZE), 11-0

BRONZE: Saba SURMANIDZE (GEO) df. Halil CINAR (TUR), 9-0
BRONZE: Khurshidbek NORMUKHAMMADOV (UZB) df. Kohaku KANAZAWA (JPN), 5-4

65kg
GOLD: Joel ADAMS (USA) df. Ahoura BOUVEIRI PIANI (IRI), 6-0

BRONZE: Bekhruz BARNOEV (UZB) df. Ali ALIZADA (AZE), 9-3
BRONZE: Aleksandre RUSITASHVILI (GEO) df. Petro SHAFRANSKYI (UKR), 6-4

80kg
GOLD: Alperen BERBER (TUR) df. Ismayil RZAYEV (AZE), 3-2

BRONZE: Luka GELASHVILI (GEO) df. Andrey ATANASOV (BUL), 5-1
BRONZE: Seyed Reza AZARSHAB (IRI) df. Branko DUKIC (SRB), 8-0

110kg
GOLD: Cemal BAKIR (TUR) df. Laszlo DARABOS (HUN), 1-1

BRONZE: Mohammad JAHANGIRI (IRI) df. Dmytro STRYZHEKOZIN (UKR), 9-0
BRONZE: Mazaim MARDANOV (AZE) df. Davit MGELADZE (GEO), via fall

#WrestlePontevedra

U20 Worlds: Iran wins golds, U.S. team title

Sunday, September 8, 2024 - 23:21 By Vinay Siwach

PONTEVEDRA, Spain (September 8) -- Iran won two gold, a silver, and a bronze medal on the final day of the U20 World Championships, but it failed to stop the United States from winning the team title. The U.S. collected the top rank in the team race with 175 points, 15 better than Iran, which finished second. Japan finished third with 90 points.

This was the first time since 2017 that the U.S. won the team title and stopped Iran from completing a hat trick of top-place finishes. All 10 U.S. wrestlers competed for a medal and nine won a medal.

The U.S. fielded a very young team, with five wrestlers who were only 18 years old and eight wrestlers who could wrestle at the U20 level again next year.

"Everyone put themselves in the position to get on the podium and win the best medal they could," J'den COX, coach of Team USA, said. "Everyone is going to get better but overall it was great. They are the best in the world. I get it that individually in some cases we didn't get where we wanted to go but as a whole, we wrestled an amazing tournament."

Amirreza MASOUMI (IRI) scores a takedown against Benjamin KUETER (USA). (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kostadin Andonov)

However, the final day of the U20 Worlds in Pontevedra, Spain did not go as planned for the U.S. It had five wrestlers on the mat and only one won his match. Marcus BLAZE (USA) won a bronze medal over Tolga OZBEK (TUR).

Ladarion LOCKETT (USA), Joshua BARR (USA) and Benjamin KUETER (USA) all dropped their finals while Connor MIRASOLA (USA) lost his bronze medal match.

Kueter, a U20 world champion at 97kg in 2022, was wrestling at 125kg and reached the final. However, he ran into a mountain named Amirreza MASOUMI (IRI) who already has a U23 world gold, two U20 world golds, and a U17 world gold.

Amirreza MASOUMI (IRI) gestures towards the crowd after winning the 125kg final in Pontevedra. (Photo: United World Championships / Jake Kirkman)

Masoumi added a third U20 world gold medal to his name after he won the 125kg final 4-2 over Kueter and is now a five-time age-group world champion. A naturally aggressive wrestler, Masoumi dropped that approach and was happy to win his matches by sitting on the lead.

He did the same against Kueter in the final as he scored a takedown, a point for Kueter's passivity and a stepout. As he defended his 4-0 lead, Kueter managed to trip him in the final 30 seconds to score a takedown for two points.

"My opponent in the final is a well-known wrestler as he won the World Championships Sofia, Bulgaria, two years ago," Masoumi said. "He had taken a year off from wrestling but had improved a lot since then. He’s a skilled and accomplished wrestler. Thank God I was able to use my knowledge of him to wrestle smartly and win 4-2"

Kueter did trouble Masoumi in the final but Masoumi, despite wrestling with a heavily tapped left hand, never dropped his guard. Masoumi said he had broken his wrist before coming to Spain so he was careful with his attacks.

While he won his four bouts outscoring his opponents 32-3, Masoumi had only one technical superiority win. In 2022, when he won both the U20 and U23 world titles, Masoumi won all but one of his matches via superiority.

"I had an injury in my hand and it was broken, so I tried to be careful with it," he said. "Otherwise, I’m always aggressive and a fighter."

He will be in Tirana, Albania in a month's time to wrestle at the U23 World Championships. He won the gold medal in 2022 but skipped the 2023 edition. But Masoumi said his main focus is to make the senior team.

"In the match against Amirhossein ZARE (IRI) in Croatia, I lost," he said of his 5-0 loss to Olympic silver medalist Zare at the Ranking Series in Zagreb in January. "Some might say that Amir Reza Masoumi has settled, but no, I’m not satisfied at all. I’m preparing myself for the World Championships in Zagreb, aiming for the national team selection."

Ali REZAEI (IRI) scores the match-winning takedown against Ladarion LOCKETT (USA) in the 74kg final. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Jake Kirkman)

Ali REZAEI (IRI) was the second gold medal for the day for Iran after he defeated 2023 U17 world champion Lockett 3-3 on criteria in a thrilling 74kg final. Rezaei is the first U20 world champion from Iran at 74kg in 15 years.

Lockett was leading the final 3-1 after scoring a takedown in the second period and Rezaei, who won a silver medal last year, needed at least a takedown to win.

It came in the fifth minute of the bout when Lockett missed a sweep single and Rezaei showed exceptional speed to get him a bodylock and finish with a takedown. Leading 3-3 on criteria, Rezaei did not allow Lockett to get into any attacking positions and won the gold medal.

Ali REZAEI (IRI) defends an attack from Ladarion LOCKETT (USA) in the 74kg final. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Jake Kirkman)

"I went through a tough final but with the great analysis from the coaches, I managed to defeat the strong American opponent," Rezaei said. "I hope to continue on this path and become a world and Olympic champion."

In Amman, Rezaei dropped the 70kg final against Meyer SHAPIRO (USA) 11-6 but planned to win the gold in Pontevedra.

"Last year, I won silver," he said. "I’ve been waiting for this moment for about a year and a half, and thankfully, in the final, my opponent was an American, and I managed to beat him. This journey continues."

Ibragim KADIEV (AIN) won the 86kg gold medal in Pontevedra. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kostadin Andonov)

The third American to suffer a loss in the final was Burr as Ibragim KADIEV (AIN) beat him 8-2 in the 86kg final. Kadiev won his second U20 world gold medal after winning the 79kg gold in Amman last year.

In the final against Burr, Kadiev jumped to a 3-0 lead 15 seconds into the match. Burr did get on a few leg attacks but he was able to score only a stepout in the first period, cutting the lead to 3-1 at the break.

Kadiev, who took multiple medical timeouts for his injured knee, scored a counter against Burr and got two more points. The U.S. challenged the decision to award two points to Kadiev as Burr was never in danger but the replays showed Burr's back on the mat. The lost challenge made the score 6-1. Burr scored a stepout with 12 seconds left and then tried a front headlock throw but Kadiev stopped it to get two points and an 8-2 win.

"The American opponent was the toughest one for me," Kadiev said. "I also injured my knee. I didn’t attack much, because I couldn’t risk it. If only I hadn’t injured the knee, the match would have gone in a different way. My wrestling style is to attack from the very first second, and then in the second period the opponent gets tired and it’s easier to finish him."

Kadiev will get a chance to showcase his skills again at the U23 Worlds next month in Tirana. He also said that winning the gold medal last year made his more happy than this year.

"When I first won the U20 Worlds, I was much happier than now," he said. "This time there is no such feeling of excitement as it was last time. I wrestle more confidently, and we’ve worked on our mistakes with the coaches. I don’t know how fast I can recover from this knee injury. Hopefully, I can still make it to the U23 Worlds."

At 92kg, Mustafagadzhi MALACHDIBIROV (AIN) got some motivation from Kadiev as he finished his final against Sali SALIEV (BUL), 11-0, well before time.

Malachdibirov got Saliev in a gut-wrench and managed to turn him to win the gold medal at 92kg.

Masanosuke ONO (JPN) asks for the 'champion belt' after his 61kg final. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Jake Kirkman)

Ono warning before Tirana

At the non-Olympic World Championships in Tirana from October 28 to 31, one wrestler to watch will be Masanosuke ONO (JPN) who destroyed everyone in Pontevedra to win the 61kg gold medal.

After winning his four bouts on Saturday, Ono returned to wrestle Ebrahim KHARI (IRI) for the final. It was expected to be an action-packed final but Ono finished it in one action.

As soon as the referee blew the whistle, Ono got an attack on Khari and scored a takedown. 26 seconds later, Ono had finished the final using the gut-wrench to win the gold medal in 26 seconds.

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"I was surprised that it ended sooner than I expected, but it was a very enjoyable 25 seconds," Ono said. "I'm satisfied."

Ono will now look to win the gold medal at 61kg in Tirana. However, he is aware that his opponents in Tirana will be more powerful.

"I'm still not satisfied unless I win there (Tirana)," he said.

Ono began wrestling only after his teacher in the music class during kindergarten encouraged him to wrestle. Ono, now at the Yamanashi Gakuin University, trains under former world champion Yuka TAKAHASHI (JPN) and is from the Matsue City, Shimane Prefecture, which is in the countryside.

RESULTS

61kg
GOLD: Masanosuke ONO (JPN) df. Ebrahim KHARI (IRI), 10-0

BRONZE: BHUVANESH (IND) df. Abdinur NURLANBEK (KAZ), 6-5
BRONZE: Marcus BLAZE (USA) df. Tolga OZBEK (TUR), 5-0

74kg
GOLD: Ali REZAEI (IRI) df. Ladarion LOCKETT (USA), 3-3

BRONZE: Aghanazar NOVRUZOV (AZE) df. Tamir ESHINIMAEV (AIN), 4-1
BRONZE: Shingo ANDO (JPN) df. Muhamed BEKTEMIROV (AUT), 9-3

86kg
GOLD: Ibragim KADIEV (AIN) df. Joshua BARR (USA), 8-2

BRONZE: Ahmet YAGAN (TUR) df. Ryogo ASANO (JPN), 3-2
BRONZE: Abolfazl RAHMANI (IRI) df. Gabriele NICCOLINI (ITA), 9-2

92kg
GOLD: Mustafagadzhi MALACHDIBIROV (AIN) vs. Sali SALIEV (BUL), 11-0

BRONZE: Kamil KURUGLIYEV (KAZ) df. Amirreza DALIRI (IRI), 8-5
BRONZE: Anar JAFARLI (AZE) df. Connor MIRASOLA (USA), 6-2

125kg
GOLD: Amirreza MASOUMI (IRI) df. Benjamin KUETER (USA), 4-2

BRONZE: Nambardagva BATBAYAR (MGL) df. Alikhan KUSSAINOV (KAZ), 4-1
BRONZE: Hakan BUYUKCINGIL (TUR) df. Jaspooran SINGH (IND), 3-2

Suraj ends India's 32-year drought for U17 GR world gold

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U20 Worlds: Iran wins golds, U.S. team title