Weekly FIVE!

Weekly FIVE! April 2, 2019

Tuesday, April 2, 2019 - 14:32 By Eric Olanowski

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This week's Weekly FIVE is dedicated to the 2019 European Championships, which begin April 8-14 in Bucharest, Romania. 

1. 22 Returning European Champions Set to Compete in Bucharest 
There will be 22 returning European champions competing at next week's 2019 European Championships in Bucharest, Romania. 

Greco-Roman and women’s wrestling each return eight of the ten Kaspisk gold medalists. 

In Greco-Roman, Adam KURAK (RUS) and Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM) are two defending champions who’ll sit out in Bucharest, while the pair of women’s wrestling returning champions who won’t make the trip to Romania are reigning 50kg and 68kg gold medalists respectively, Mariya STADNIK (AZE) and Anastasia BRATCHIKOVA (RUS). 

The Freestyle competition is expected to feature six returning champions. The tournament will be without Russia’s Gadshimurad RASHIDOV, Artur NAIFONOV, Abdulrashid SADULAEV, and Turkey’s Soener DEMIRTAS.  

Returning European Champions 
Freestyle 
57kg - Giorgi EDISHERASHVILI (AZE)
65kg - Haji ALIYEV (AZE) 
74kg - Magomed KURBANALIEV (RUS) 
79kg - Akhmed GADZHIMAGOMEDOV (RUS)
97kg - Vladislav BAITSAEV (RUS)
125kg - Taha AKGUL (TUR) 

Greco-Roman 
55kg - Eldaniz AZIZLI (AZE)
60kg - Sergey EMELIN (RUS) 
63kg - Mihai MIHUT (ROU) 
67kg - Artem SURKOV (RUS) 
77kg - Roman VLASOV (RUS) 
87kg - Maksim MANUKYAN (ARM) 
87kg -  Roberti KOBLIASHVILI (GEO)
130kg - Riza KAYAALP (TUR) 

Women’s Wrestling 
53kg - Stalvira ORSHUSH (RUS) 
57kg - Iryna KURACHKINA (BLR) 
57kg -Bilyana DUDOVA (BUL)
59kg - Elif YESILIRMAK (TUR) 
62kg - Taybe YUSEIN (BUL) 
65kg - Petra OLLI (FIN) 
68kg - Anna FRANSSON (SWE) 
76kg - Yasemin ADAR (TUR) 

2. Olympic Champs Vlasov and Chakvetadze Added to Russia’s GR Lineup 
Just when the wrestling world thought the Russia Federation’s Greco-Roman lineup couldn’t get any better, they fill in their “holes” with the likes of Olympic champions Roman VLASOV and Davit CHAKVETADZE and four-time age-group world champion Aleksander KOMAROV. 

Vlasov, the two-time Olympic champion, pulled out of the World Championships two weeks prior after undergoing knee surgery. He gets reinserted into Russia’s lineup over his backup Aleksander CHERHIRKIN, who took advantage of Vlasov's absence by winning the 77kg world title in Budapest.

Olympic champion Chakvetadze takes the place of Bekkhan OZDOEV (RUS) at 87kg, and Komarov, takes over for Imil SHARAFETDINOV (RUS) at 82kg. 

With the additions of Vlasov, Chakvetadze, and Komarov, Russia’s lineup now features five returning world champions, two Olympic champions, a four-time age-group world champion, and a U23 world runner-up. The only wrestler without a world medal is Abuiazid MANTSIGOV, who fell in the 2018 bronze-medal bout at the 2018 World Championships. 

Russia’s Greco-Roman Lineup 
55kg - Vitalii KABALOEV - U23 world silver 
60kg - Sergey EMELIN - world champion
63kg - Stepan MARYANYAN - world champion
67kg - Artem SURKOV - world champion
72kg - Abuiazid MANTSIGOV
77kg - Roman VLASOV – two-time Olympic champion
82kg - Aleksandr KOMAROV – four-time world champion 
87kg - Davit CHAKVETADZE – Olympic champion 
97kg - Musa EVLOEV - world champion
130kg - Sergey SEMENOV – world champion 

3. Turkey Elects to go with Gor over Demirtas at 74kg 
Turkey elected to insert Yakup GOR into the European Championships at 74kg over three-time defending European champion Soener DEMIRTAS.

Gor, the two-time world bronze medalist, moved up to 74kg after finishing the 2017 Paris World Championships with a 70kg bronze medal but lost his starting spot to Demirtas in 2018. 

Gor comes into the European Championships ranked No. 6 in the world at 74. He has 28 Ranking Series points after his falling to defending world champion Zaurbek SIDAKOV (RUS) in the Ivan Yariguin finals, and a bronze-medal finish at the Dan Kolov. 

4. Poland Gives Zasina Nod Over Krawczyk at 53kg 
Poland made the difficult decision to roll with reigning 55kg European runner-up Roksana ZASINA (POL) over the world’s sixth-ranked 53kg wrestler, Katarzyna KRAWCZYK (POL). 

Zasina, the No. 16 ranked wrestler in the world and 2017 world bronze medalist, is dropping down from 55kg and takes the 53kg European spot from Krawczyk, who was a fifth-place finisher in Budapest and bronze medalist at the 2018 European Championships. 

The European Championships will be Zasina’s first appearance down at 53kg since her world podium run in Paris in 2017, where she finished with a bronze medal. 

5. World Champion Manukyan Moving up to 87kg 
Defending 82kg European champion Maksim MANUKYAN (ARM) will move up to 87kg for the European Championships. 

Manukyan, the 2017 80kg world champion, has bounced around over the past twelve months from 82kg to 87kg but has never competed above 82kg at a Continental or World Championships. Last season, Manukyan competed at 82kg in both Kasipiisk and Budapest. 

For Manukyan to win his second consecutive European title, he’ll have to upend reigning 87kg European champion, Roberti KOBLIASHVILI (GEO). 

Weekly FIVE! In Social Media 

1. #WrestleBucharest European C'ships, One Week To Go!
2. #OnThisDayHaji ALIYEV (AZE), the reigning 61kg world champion gave Azerbaijan their second straight gold medal of the night with a last-second takedown to defeat reigning 65kg European champion, Ilias BEKBULATOV (RUS), 8-7. 
#WrestleBucharest , 6 Days To Go ! 
3. Reigning 77kg European champion, @vlasovroma90. Does he repeat next week at the #WrestleBucharestEuropean Championships?
4. 300k!! A huge thank you to all our wrestling fans across the world ? ?‍♂️
5. Big Move Monday -- ALACA (TUR) -- 2018 Cadet Worlds

Weekly FIVE!

Weekly FIVE! April 10, 2018

Tuesday, April 10, 2018 - 17:31 By Eric Olanowski

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Reviewing the #WorldCupIowaCity and Aliyev's adjustment to 65kgs. Also taking a look at the upcoming Commonwealth Games and the European Championships.

1. USA Strikes Gold in Iowa City 
The United States of America capped off a historic weekend at the 2018 Freestyle World Cup winning four duals and bringing home their first title since 2003. The Americans wrapped up group action with wins over India (10-0), Japan (6-4) and Georgia (7-3). Their 3-0 record in the group stage locked up a spot in the finals with the winners of Group B, Azerbaijan. 

As they did all tournament, the red, white and blue rode on the coattail of the breakout performer of the World Cup, Kyle DAKE (USA) to in the gold-medal bout. To finish off his undefeated weekend, Dake used his lone takedown of the second period to knock off 2016 Rio bronze medalist, Jabril HASANOV (AZE), 5-3.

James GREEN (70kg), Jordan BURROUGHS (74kg), David TAYLOR (86kg) and Kyle SNYDER (97kg) also finished the weekend with undefeated 4-0 records. 

2018 #WorldCupIowaCity Medal Match Results: 
1st place: USA df. Azerbaijan, 6-4. 
3rdplace Japan df. Cuba, 6-4.
5th place: Georgia df. Mongolia, 6-4. 
7th place: Kazakhstan df. India, 10-0.

FULL RESULTS

2. Japan Grabs Bronze. Highest Finish Since 1985 
Sparked by their trio of defensive wizard lightweights, Japan captured their first World Cup trophy since 1985. 

In group action, Japanese lightweights went an impressive 9-0 and catapulted Japan to their first medal match in 33 years. 

Ignited by 2017 world champion Yuki TAKAHASHI (57kg), the first three weights continued their winnings ways and remained undefeated in the bronze-medal bout against Cuba. After Cuba stormed back to win four of the last six bouts, Japan’s hopes of winning the bronze was placed on the back of their final wrestler, Taiki YAMAMOTO (JPN). 

Yamamoto trailed 5-4 heading into the final 30 seconds of the match before getting to a high crotch on the right side. He took the lead on criteria after driving Y. ALPAJON ESTE (CUB) out of bounds to pick up the step out point. After Cuba’s failed challenge and a late flurry from Alpajon Este, Yamamoto hung on to win the match, 6-5. 

FULL RESULTS

3. Haji ALIYEV's (AZE) Adjusting to 65kg 
Three-time world champion Haji ALIYEV (AZE) won the 2017 world championship at 61kg. Around three months ago, the decision was made by Aliyev and the Azerbaijani coaching staff to bump up four kilograms and compete at 65kg. 

This weekend at the 2018 Freestyle World Cup, Aliyev went 2-2. In his first bout of the weekend, Aliyev was on the wrong side of a pin after trailing 8-2 to Cuban A. VALDES TOBIER. He then came back and picked up two straight wins, only to close out his weekend by falling 6-3 to 2016 world champion Logan STIEBER (USA). 

In speaking with Aliyev regarding the recent move up, he said “I changed weight categories and moved up to 65kg. It’s different, it’s difficult. I need to focus, but I think I’ll be fine…I changed to 65kg three months ago and just need to train more."

This was Haji's final competition before heading to Kaspiisk, Russia where he will be the 65kg representative for Azerbaijan at the European Championships. 

4. Commonwealth Games Kick Off This Week 
Canada, Nigeria, and India highlight the 2018 Commonwealth Games which begin April 12-14 in Gold Coast, Australia. 

At the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, Canada and Nigeria dominated the field in women’s wrestling, winning five of the six gold medals. India's Vinesh VINESH snagged the last gold medal of the competition. Of those six gold medalist, five will make their return to the Commonwealth Games with hopes of repeating as Commonwealth Games champions. 

In freestyle, it was Canada winning four gold medals while India captured the remaining three. Although only one champion in Korey JARVIS (CAN) returns, three other finalists return with hopes of bettering their performance from 2014. 

5. Europeans Championships Are Three Weeks Away 
The European Championships, United World Wrestling’s third continental (African and Asian) championship of the 2018 calendars begins April 30 at the Palace of Sport and Youth named after Ali Aliev.

The winners of the European Championships will be awarded 12 rankings points, second place will be given eight points and third place will be six points. 

Greco-Roman action begins Monday, April 30, women's wrestling takes over on Thursday, May 3, and the tournament will be wrapped up with freestyle beginning on Friday, May 5. 

FULL SCHEDULE

Weekly FIVE! in Social Media

1. Kyle Dake back at it again! @kyledake444 

2. A. VALDES (CUB) With a huge 5 point throw!! ?? ? 

3. Georgia comes out on top after a crazy match against Mongolia ending 22-17!!! ? ? ?? ?? 

4. @alliseeisgold getting hyped after his big win in the final dual at the World Cup this weekend! ? ? 

5. Team Cuba got some serious skills on the court ? ?? ?? -