#WrestleIstanbul

Tuesday's U17 World Championship semifinals set

Tuesday, August 1, 2023 - 07:34 By Eric Olanowski

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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.

#WrestlePontevedra

Begenjov wins Turkmenistan's historic world title in Freestyle

Saturday, September 7, 2024 - 23:12 By Vinay Siwach

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PONTEVEDRA, Spain (September 7) -- After falling agonizingly short of a World Championship medal two years in a row, Alp BEGENJOV (TKM) made amends in the most impressive way possible -- winning Turkmenistan's first-ever world title in Freestyle.

Begenjov won the gold medal in 79kg weight class at the U20 World Championships in Pontevedra, Spain on Saturday, becoming the first Freestyle world champion of his country. It is only the second time Turkmenistan has won a gold medal at any World Championships. Shorat KHODAYEV (TKM) won a U17 world gold in 1994.

"It was my dream," Begenjov said. "I made my dream come true. I’ve become a world champion. It’s the first time in the history of my country [in Freestyle]."

Begenjov had competed at the U17 World Championships in 2022 and 2023, finishing 12th and fifth respectively. This year, he finished fifth at Asian Championships, 12th at the Asian Olympic Qualifiers and won bronze at the U23 Asian Championships. The loss at the Asian Championships hurt Begenjov.

"I was so disappointed after losing at the Asian Championships," he said. "I started training harder and last month I won the U20 Asian Championships and now the World Championships."

Not only did he win gold, Begenjov did so without conceding a point in the tournament. He outscored his opponents 46-0, including the 5-0 win over Jackary RYDER (USA) in the final.

He led 1-0 at the break after Ryder failed to score after being put on the activity clock. Begenjov used his fake attacks to keep Ryder on check and scored a stepout to extend his lead to 2-0.

Ryder did get on Begenjov's leg a couple of times but failed to finish those attacks. On one occasion, Ryder was trying to lift after a single-leg attack but Begejnov grabbed Ryder's leg and he fell on his back, giving up two points as Begenjov extended his lead to 4-0. A lost challenge made it 5-0.

The 18-year-old plans to compete at the U23 World Championships but doesn't plan to compete at the senior level yet.

"I have to train harder to repeat this and win the senior world title," he said. "I am physically not strong enough yet for senior level."

Trained by his uncle in Ashgabat, Begenov graduated from school earlier this year and joined the university.

"I will start my first year," he said. "I will study stock exchange. We have this faculty in Turkmenistan."

Apart from Ryder's silver medal, the United States won gold and three bronze medals. Luke LILLEDAHL (USA) upgraded his silver from last year to gold, winning the 57kg weight class by beating Lev PAVLOV (AIN) in the final.

This was Lilledahl's fourth straight age-group world final after he made two at U17 level and one at U20. He won silver in 2021 and upgraded to gold in 2022 at the U17 Worlds.

In the final against Pavlov, who he had beaten on his way to the final last year in Amman, Lilledahl got two activity points while Pavlov got one. Pavlov failed to find a perfect opening to score a point in the final seconds and dropped the final 2-1.

"When I wrestled him before, it was a lot more wide open," Lilledahl said. "With it being the finals [this year], he would kind of just wrestle to win. That's what you have to do. You're here to win. 

"That's pretty much what I figured would happen. He doesn't really like to create a lot of action, which kind of plays against me because I like the action. It was a stylistic matchup. Having wrestled him before, we kind of knew each other and knew how each other felt and stuff like that."

Aitmukhan adds U20 title

World champion at 92kg Rizabek AITMUKHAN (KAZ) gave the U20 World Championships a try and went home with a gold medal. Aitmukhan became Kazakhstan's first Freestyle world champion at the senior level last year at 92kg in Belgrade.

By winning the 97kg gold medal in Pontevedra, Aitmukhan as became only the fourth wrestler from Kazakhstan, and first in 24 years, to win a gold in Freestyle at U20 World Championships.

Aitmukhan was so dominant in the final that Khetag KARSANOV (AZE) could not stop him from winning the final 10-0.

Ali KHORRAMDEL (IRI)Ali KHORRAMDEL (IRI) completes a takedown in the 65kg final. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Jake Kirkman)

Iran won the gold medal at 65kg as Ali KHORRAMDEL (IRI) shut out Makoto HOSOKAWA (JPN), and won the final 10-2. Khorramdel lost his semifinal to Eldar AKHMADUDINOV (AIN) last year but won a bronze medal in the 61kg weight class.

The U20 Asian champion had a difficult path to the final as he had to make a comeback in his opening bout against Abdullah TOPRAK (TUR), winning 12-11. Aykhan ABDULLAZADA (AZE) also fought hard but lost 9-6 before Khorramdel hung on for a 6-4 win over Adam ARKHIEV (AIN) in the semifinals.

Hosokawa was displeased with his performance as Khorramdel blocked him from the right side and Hosokawa failed to score from his strong position. 

While Hosokawa lost, his Nippon Sports Science University teammate Ryoya YAMASHITA (JPN) won the gold medal at 70kg. Two days before his bouts, Yamashita had announced in the dining hall that he could "only see the gold medal". Yamashita made sure he took it home.

In a high-paced final, Magomed BAITUKAEV (AIN) failed to challenge Yamashita's speed and style and lost 6-0 in the 70kg final.

"This was my first international world tournament," Yamashita said. "I played with the intention of having fun and had a lot of fun. This is my goal for this year, but after competing, I realized that the senior world championships or the Olympics would be even more amazing. "

It was not all fun for Baitukaev on the mat as Yamashita showed his A game. Yamashita got the first point via stepout and earned a second when the 30-second activity clock against Baitukaev ended. Yamashita blasted a double in the second period to get two points and turned using head-in-middle lace to lead 6-0. Baitukaev had no energy left to attack and Yamashita won the gold medal.

Yamashita celebrated by gesturing like he was taking out the imaginary Samurai swords. 

"I came up with it when I was thinking of doing a performance based on Japanese culture," he said. "It's a Japanese tradition since ancient times. I did it because I admired it."

Yamashita trains with Olympic champions Rei HIGUCHI (JPN and Kotaro KIYOOKA (JPN) at NSSU and wants to replicate the success his teammates had.

"I realized that what I was doing was correct," he said. "It was a great environment to have someone close to me that I was aiming for. I was really moved by watching the matches. I was inspired by that."

For him to be at the Olympics, Yamashita will have to wait at least four years and jump to 74kg to make the team for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.

"I'm still thinking about it, but I guess I can only be 74kg to qualify for the Olympics," he said "I would like to be at 74kg for Los Angeles."

RESULTS

57kg
GOLD: Luke LILLEDAHL (USA) df. Lev PAVLOV (AIN), 2-1

BRONZE: Luka GVINJILIA (GEO) df. Myktybek UKIMETULY (KAZ), 4-1
BRONZE: ANKUSH (IND) df. Hayko GASPARYAN (ARM), 6-2

65kg
GOLD: Ali KHORRAMDEL (IRI)  df. Makoto HOSOKAWA (JPN), 10-2

BRONZE: Bowen BASSETT (USA) df. Nikoloz BESHIDZE (GEO), 10-0
BRONZE: Adam ARKHIEV (AIN) df. Abdullah TOPRAK (TUR), 4-1

70kg
GOLD: Ryoya YAMASHITA (JPN) df. Magomed BAITUKAEV (AIN), 6-0

BRONZE: Ali KARAMPOUR (IRI) df. Goga OTINASHVILI (GEO), via fall (9-0) 
BRONZE: Peter DUKE (USA) df. Aikyn BOLATULY (KAZ), 18-7

79kg
GOLD: Alp BEGENJOV (TKM) df. Zackary RYDER (USA), 5-0

BRONZE: Leandro ARAUJO (BRA) df. Said SAIDULOV (AIN), 5-4
BRONZE: Mahdi YOUSEFI (IRI) df. AMIT (IND), 13-2

97kg
GOLD: Rizabek AITMUKHAN (KAZ) df. Khetag KARSANOV (AZE), 10-0 

BRONZE: Justin RADEMACHER (USA) df. Nikolaos KARAVANOS (GRE), 10-0
BRONZE: Adam JAKSIK (SVK) df. Rifat GIDAK (TUR), 2-1

Semifinals

61kg
GOLD: Masanosuke ONO (JPN) vs. Ebrahim KHARI (IRI)

SF 1: Masanosuke ONO (JPN) df. Marcus BLAZE (USA), 7-2
SF 2: Ebrahim KHARI (IRI) df. Abdinur NURLANBEK (KAZ), 6-4

74kg
GOLD: Ali REZAEI (IRI) vs. Ladarion LOCKETT (USA)

SF 1: Ali REZAEI (IRI) df. Shingo ANDO (JPN), 10-0
SF 2: Ladarion LOCKETT (USA) df. Aghanazar NOVRUZOV (AZE), 3-1

86kg
GOLD: Ibragim KADIEV (AIN) vs. Joshua BARR (USA)

SF 1: Ibragim KADIEV (AIN) df. Abolfazl RAHMANI (IRI), 12-2
SF 2: Joshua BARR (USA) df. Ahmet YAGAN (TUR), 10-0

92kg
GOLD: Sali SALIEV (BUL) vs. Mustafagadzhi MALACHDIBIROV (AIN)

SF 1: Sali SALIEV (BUL) df. Connor MIRASOLA (USA), 5-4
SF 2: Mustafagadzhi MALACHDIBIROV (AIN) df. Kamil KURUGLIYEV (KAZ), 5-0

125kg
GOLD: Amirreza MASOUMI (IRI) vs. Benjamin KUETER (USA)

SF 1: Amirreza MASOUMI (IRI) df. Hakan BUYUKCINGIL (TUR), 3-1
SF 2: Benjamin KUETER (USA) df. Nambardagva BATBAYAR (MGL), 13-3