#WrestleIstanbul

Tuesday's U17 World Championship semifinals set

By Eric Olanowski

ISTANBUL, Turkiye (August 1) --- The second day of wrestling at the 2023 U17 World Championships will continue with Greco-Roman action at 45kg, 51kg, 60kg, 71kg and 92kg. 

Today's schedule will be a little different than Monday's schedule. The morning session, which starts at 11:00 (local time), will run through the quarterfinals before taking our mid-day break. We'll return at 17:00 for the semifinals, then roll directly into the first round of medal bouts at 18:00.

Tuesday's opening session will feature 26 medalists from this year's continental champions, including ten wrestlers who reached the top of the podium at the 2023 Asian, European, African or Pan-American Championships.

Everything you need to know:
📍Istanbul, Turkiye 🇹🇷
🗓️: July 31-August 6
Qualification: 11:00
🥇🥈🥉= 18:00
#️⃣#WrestleIstanbul
🖥️: uww.org 
📱: UWW App

Here's a list of the reigning continental champs in action on Tuesday:
45kg - Turan DASHDAMIROV (AZE)
51kg - Ilia KANDALIN (AIN)
51kg - Omar Mohamed Hussin Abdelfatah IBRAHIM (EGY)
51kg - Mohammad Meraj Esmaeil MOHMADI (IRI)
60kg - Kiryl VALEUSKI (AIN)
60kg - Clisman Adrian CARRACEDO VELIZ (ECU)
60kg - Mohamed Ayman Mohamed Gaber IBRAHIM (EGY)
71kg - Abdurakhman ABDULKADYROV (AIN)
71kg - Youssef Ahmed Kadry Mohamed BADAWY (EGY)
92kg - Abdelfattah Elarabi Mohamed ABDELZAHER (EGY)
92kg - Saba PURTSELADZE (GEO)
92kg - Aliakbar Rasoul ASGHARIVALAD I(IRI)

Semifinal matchups (As the system updates in):
45kg
Yurik MKHITARYAN (ARM) vs. RUSTEM ABATSIEV (AIN) 
Turan DASHDAMIROV (AZE) vs. Alireza Ahmad AMIRIGHASRODDASHTI (IRI) 

51kg
Dostonbek ORIPOV (UZB) vs. Ilia KANDALIN (AIN) 
Manu YADAV (IND) vs. Artur BROYAN (ARM) 

60kg
Kiryl VALEUSKI (AIN) vs. Saba SURMANIDZE (GEO) 
Roman KARIMOV (AZE) vs. Mingiian GORIAEV (AIN) 

71kg
Alkan AKAR (TUR)  vs. Ahmadreza Nourmohamad MOHAMADIAN (IRI) 
Arionas KOLITSOPOULOS (GRE) vs. Abdurakhman ABDULKADYROV (AIN) 

92kg
Mikayil ISMAYILOV (AZE) vs. Saba PURTSELADZE (GEO) 
Gabriel Eduardo STAN (ROU) vs. Saipula GADZHIMAGOMEDOV (AIN)

15:23: That'll do it for the morning session. We'll take a 90-minute break and see you back here at 17:00 for the semifinals.

15:00: Akar wins the 20-point match and moves into the semifinals, but, without a doubt, that was the match of the competition thus far.

14:52: The current match on Mat C has been crazy. Isodzhon NURAKHMADOV (TJK) and Alkan AKAR (TUR) are leaving everything they have on the mat.

14:39: This kid Turan DASHDAMIROV (AZE) is blowing through the competition today. His technique--especially in par terre--is unmatched. If you're looking for someone to keep an eye out over the next few years, he's your guy.

14:15: That's back-to-back falls on Mat C, and they both came on the wrong side for the defending continental champs. First, it was Abdelzaher who got pinned. Then, Artur BROYAN (ARM) punched his ticket to the 51kg semifinals after head-locking U17 Asian champ Mohammad Meraj Esmaeil MOHMADI (IRI) in the opening 15 seconds.

14:07: Nurbolot SYRGABAI UULU (KGZ) just dominated African champion Abdelzaher. He was up 13-5 before pinning the reigning U17 African champion.

13:50: I just snagged a quick bite to eat and came back in time to catch all the stars that are about to come up on Mat C.

On a side note: Mohamed Ayman Mohamed Gaber IBRAHIM (EGY) has a shark on his Egyptian singlet. I've never seen that before, outside of the Kyrgyz singlets. What is the significance of the shark on the Egyptian singlet?

13:27: Mat C is the one to keep an eye on. Starting with bout 209, there will be three consecutive continental medalists wrestling. Saipula GADZHIMAGOMEDOV (AIN), the U17 European silver medalist, will wrestle first, followed by continental champs Abdelfattah Elarabi Mohamed ABDELZAHER (EGY) and Mohammad Meraj Esmaeil MOHMADI (IRI).

13:13: Reigning Pan-American champion Clisman Adrian CARRACEDO VELIZ (ECU) just defeated Kemal KAKABAYEV (TKM), 8-0, and secured Ecuador's first-ever Greco-Roman win at the U17 World Championships.

12:46: Rodin has Asgharivaldi on the ropes. The Croatian wrestled a calculated first period and leads 1-0 after the opening two minutes.

Just as I say that, Asgharivaldi picks up a passivity point and is going to work on top.

12:40: Reigning U17 Asian champion Aliakbar Rasoul ASGHARIVALADI (IRI) is making his way to Mat C with a massive smile on his face. He's wrestling Croatia's Andrej RODIN (CRO).

12;12: Khachatryan just picked up the biggest upset of the morning thus far, taking out U17 African champion Badawy, 6-1, setting up a 71kg second-round match against U17 Asian bronze medalist Ahmadreza Nourmohamad MOHAMADIAN (IRI).

Mohamadian kicked off his day with a 9-0 opening-round win against Antoni Adam TRETTER (POL).

12:09: Khachatryan was just awarded four points for a throw in the danger zone, taking the 5-1 lead over U17 African champion Badawy. There are 68 seconds left, but the four-pointer is currently under review. Originally, the Armenian was only awarded two, but after the officials came together, they changed it to four points.

11:54: Youssef BADAWY (EGY), the reigning 71kg U17 African champion, will be the first continental champion to take the mat today. He'll wrestle Armenia's Gor KHACHATRYAN (ARM) in two matches on Mat C.

11:40: That does it for this morning's repechage session, which means we'll roll right into the qualification round.

11:34: Ahmed stopped a cartwheel attempt by Ismagulov, picked up four points and punched his ticket to the 110kg bronze-medal match. He'll try to become the first Egyptian wrestler to win a U17 world medal since Mohamed EL SAYED (EGY) finished with a silver medal at the 2015 U17 World Championships.

11:29: The big guys at 110kg Bekzhan ISMAGULOV (KAZ) and Mohamed Abdelnaby Hegazy Farag AHMED (EGY) are going toe-to-toe on Mat C. They are currently knotted up, 3-3, with 90 seconds left and a spot in tonight's bronze-medal match on the line.

11:10: The crowd has returned in full form to the Başakşehir Gençlik ve Spor İlçe Müdürlüğü Tesisleri in Istanbul to watch the second day of Greco-Roman wrestling. It'll be around 30 minutes before any of the above-listed continental champs take the mat. For now, we'll run through the repechage matches to determine who'll wrestle in tonight's bronze-medal matches.

10:45 - We're 15 minutes away from starting Day Two action.

#AmateurMMA

Amateur MMA: Kutzli wins gold for U.S.; Ukraine best team

By Vinay Siwach

NOVI SAD, Serbia (October 19) -- It was only her fourth-ever bout but Natalie KUTZLI (USA) showed no lack of experience in defeating Oliwia STAWSKA (POL), and become a world champion at the UWW Amateur MMA World Championships in Novi Sad, Serbia.

Kutzli, the lone fighter from the United States, won by unanimous decision after three rounds against Stawska who has been on the circuit for a longder time.

"I'm just at a loss of words," Kutzli said. "I just feel so surreal."

In the final against Stawska, Kutzli opened the match with clear striking and controlled the round. She followed a similar strategy and never allowed Stawska to land cleanly. Kutzli won all three rounds in the final.

"She was a challenging fighter for sure," she said. "She was really tough. It's just such a amazing opportunity to be able to fight somebody who has that much experience. I loved every second of it."

Hailing from Michigan, Kutzli began her sports career with taekwondo before switching to wrestling. Her mother, Jeanie, would drive her from one practice to another and supported her when she switched sports.

"First person I talked to was my mom," she said. "She's just so proud of me and amazed by me and what I do and I just I made her proud and my family really proud. I do it for her in hopes of someday being in the UFC and be able to pay for my family and just be able to take care of my loved one, so that's my dream.

"From a young age, I was raised by a single mom. So I'm doing this for her and to be able to thank her and just sort of appreciation to my family."

At 57kg, Viktoriia DUDAKOVA (UWW) showed that she belongs to the big league she knocked out Justine TAILFER (FRA) in the 57kg final. The bout went to the second round but Dudakova dominated it throughout.

Dudakova and Tailfer went out of bounds in the second round with the former on top. The referee called it to center and when the bout restarted with Dudakova getting the back mount advantage, she kept her striking with Tailfer not able to defend which forced the referee to call it a knockout.

In other finals, Anna BEZHENAR (UKR) scored a victory via submission against Daria RAMANOVA (UWW) to win the gold medal at 50kg. However, two other Ukraine finalists failed to win.

Veronika SUSHINA (UWW) stormed back after a slow start to beat Yana MELNYCHUK (UKR) via split decision as two judges gave her the win to one who scored it in favor of Melnychuk as Sushina won the 61kg gold.

Khalida TIMOFEEVA (UWW) did not give any chances to the judges to score differently as she defeated Yuliia MELNYCHUK (UKR) via unanimous decision to win at 65kg and bag the gold medal.

At 80kg, Anna ERSHOVA (UWW) had one of the most dominant wins in the final as she humbled Dana DROZHZHINA (UWW), winning via unanimous decision, to claim the gold medal.

Kazakhstan also got a gold medal as Aigerim TOREKHANOVA (KAZ) dominated the final against Veronika VYKHVATEN (UWW) at 53kg to win via unanimous decision. Her strong start in the first two rounds gave her the advantage despite a strong show from Vykhvaten in the final round.

RESULTS

50kg Final
Anna BEZHENAR (UKR) df. Daria ROMANOVA (UWW), via submission

53kg Final
Aigerim TOREKHANOVA (KAZ) df. Veronika VYKHVATEN (UWW), via unanimous decision

57kg Final
Viktoriia DUDAKOVA (UWW) df. Justine TAILFER (FRA), via submission

61kg Final
Veronika SUSHINA (UWW) df. Yana MELNYCHUK (UKR), via split decision

65kg Final
Khalida TIMOFEEVA (UWW) df. Yuliia MELNYCHUK (UKR), via unanimous decision

70kg Final
Natalie KUTZLI (USA) df. Oliwia STAWSKA (POL), via unanimous decision

80kg Final
Anna ERSHOVA (UWW) df. Dana DROZHZHINA (UWW), via unanimous decision