Weekly FIVE!

Weekly FIVE! January 14, 2019

By Eric Olanowski

Reviewing the Indian Pro League and Turkey's freestyle World and European Championships team. Also looking at Russia's upcoming Greco-Roman National Championships, the Ivan Yariguin and the passing of a Greco-Roman legend. 

1. Indian Pro Wrestling League Begins Monday  
The Mumbai Maharathis and NCR Punjab Royals kick off the opening night at one of the world’s most popular professional wrestling leagues, the Indian Pro League (PWL). The daily matches from India last three weeks and go from January 14-31. 

The PWL features six teams comprised of five men and four women. Each team will have five wrestlers from India and four international wrestlers.

Click here to watch the action from the PWL. 

ROSTERS

DELHI SULTANS
Women's Wrestling 
53kg - Pinki PINKI (IND) 
57kg - Katherina ZHYDACHIVSHA (ROM)
62kg - Sakshi MALIK (IND)
76kg - Shustova ANASTASIA (UKR)

Freestyle
57kg - Rahul AWARE (IND)
65kg - Andrey KVIATKOVSKI (UKR)
74kg - Khetik TSABOLOV (RUS) 
84kg - Praveen PRAVEEN (IND)
125kg - Sumit Malik (IND) 

HARYANA HAMMERS
Women's Wrestling 
53kg - Seema SEEMA (IND) 
57kg - Anastasia NICHITA (MDA) 
62kg - Tayana OMELCHENKO (AZE) 
76kg - Kiran KIRAN (IND) 

Freestyle
57kg - Ravi KUMAR (IND) 
65kg – Rajneesh RAJNEESH (IND) 
74kg - Parveen RANA (IND) 
86kg - Ali SHABANOV (BLR) 
125kg - Aleksander KHOTSIANIVSKI (UKR) 

MUMBAI MAHARATHI
Women's Wrestling 
53kg - Vinesh PHOGAT (IND)
57kg - Angelica BETZABETH (VEN)
62kg - Shilpi YADAV (IND)
76kg - Zsaneet NEMETH (HUN)

Freestyle
57kg - Ibragim ILYASOV (RUS)
65kg – Harphool HARPOOL (IND)
74kg - Sachin RATHI (IND)
86kg - Deepak PUNIA (IND)
125kg - Vladislav BAITSEEV (RUS) 

NCR PUNJAB ROYALS
Women's Wrestling 
53kg - Anju ANJU (IND)
57kg - Mimi HRISTOVA (BGR)
62kg - Anita ANITA (IND)
76kg -  Alina STADNIK(UKR)

Freestyle
57kg - Nitin RATHI (IND)
65kg - Bajrang PUNIA (IND)
74kg - Amit DHANKAR (IND)
86kg - Dato MARSAHISHVILI (GEO)
125kg - Korey JARVIS (CAN) 

UP DANGAL
Women's Wrestling 
53kg - Vanesa KALADZINSKAYA (BLR)
57kg – Sarita SARITA (IND)
62kg - Navjot Kaur (IND)
76kg - Epp MAE (EST)

Freestyle
57kg - NaveenNAVEEN (IND)
65kg - Pankaj RANA (IND)
74kg - Jitender JITENDER (IND)
86kg - Irakli Misituri (GEO)
125kg - Georgi SAKANDELIDZE (QAT)

MP YODHA
Women's Wrestling 
53kg - Ritu PHOGAT (IND) 
57kg - Pooja DHANDA (IND) 
62kg - Elise MANOLOVA (AZE) 
76kg- Andrea CAROLINA (COL) 

Freestyle
57kg - Sandeep TOMAR (IND) 
65kg - Haji ALIYEV (AZE) 
74kg - Vasil MIKHAILOV (URK) 
86kg - Deepak DEEPAK (IND) 
125kg - Akash ANTIL (IND)


Taha AKGUL (TUR), the two-time world and Olympic champion won the 125kg Turkish Freestyle National title this past weekend. He also confirmed that he'll compete at the first Ranking Series event of the year, the Ivan Yariguin. (Photo: Martin Gabor)

2. Turkey's Freestyle Team Set for World and European Championships
The Çorum Hittite University Sports Hall in Corum, Turkey welcomed over 450 of the best Turkish wrestlers for the 2019 Freestyle National Championships. Similar to last week’s Turkish Women’s Wrestling National Championships, the winners of the Freestyle National Championships cemented their spot on Turkey’s World and European Championship teams. 

Taha AKGUL, the two-time world and Olympic champion, was among the wrestlers who punched their ticket to the World and European Championships. Akgul, who missed out medaling at the World Championships for the first time since 2013, confirmed to United World Wrestling that he’ll be traveling to Krasnoyarsk, Russia to compete at the first Ranking Series event of the year, the Ivan Yariguin. He’ll compete at 125kg. 

The biggest surprise of the tournament came at 86kg where Osman GOCEN earned his World and European Championship trip by defeated reigning world silver medalist, Fatih ERDIN in the gold-medal bout. Gocen also finished ahead of Selim YASAR, the Rio Olympic silver medalist.  

Turkey is expected to bring their first team to the Ivan Yariguin, which begins on January 24. 

RESULTS

57kg
GOLD - Ahmet DUMAN  
SILVER - Ahmet PEKER 
BRONZE – Barıs KAYA 
BRONZE - Ali KARABOGA 

61kg 
GOLD - Recep TOPAL  
SILVER - Sedat OZDEMIR 
BRONZE -  Munir AKTAS  
BRONZE - Cabbar DUYUM 

65kg 
GOLD - Mehmet OGUT  
SILVER - Selahattin KILICSALLAYAN
BRONZE - Cengizhan ERDOGAN  
BRONZE - Ali PINE 

70kg 
GOLD - Mustafa KAYA 
SILVER - Serhat ARSLAN 
BRONZE - Mehmet KARACA  
BRONZE - Enes USLU  

74kg
GOLD - Yakup GOR
SILVER - Fazlı ERYILMAZ  
BRONZE - Muhammed AKDENİZ 
BRONZE - Nazım KARA  

79kg
GOLD - Muhammed KOTANOGLU  
SILVER -  Ender COSKUN 
BRONZE - Musa GURBUZ 
BRONZE - Abdulkadir OZMEN 

86kg
GOLD -  Osman GOCEN  
SILVER - Fatih ERDIN 
BRONZE - Selim YASAR  
BRONZE - Arif OZEN  

92kg 
GOLD - İbrahim BOLUKBASI  
SILVER -  Erhan YAYLACI  
BRONZE -  Samet OZARSLAN
BRONZE - Süleyman KARADENİZ 

97kg  
GOLD -  Fatih YAŞARLI  
SILVER -  Baki SAHIN 
BRONZE - Ali BONCEOGlU 
BRONZE -  Feyzullah AKTURK  

125kg  
GOLD -  Taha AKGUL  
SILVER -  Fatih CAKIROGLU 
BRONZE -  Huseyin CIVELEK
BRONZE - Abdullah OMAC


Roman VLASOV (RUS), the two-time Olympic champion will make his return to the mat after suffering a knee injury two weeks prior to the 2018 World Championships. (Photo: Tony Rotundo)

3. Russian Greco-Roman Nationals Set to Begin on January 18
The Russian Federation has moved the competition date for the 2019 Russian Greco-Roman National Championships. The Greco-Roman National Championships will now take place this weekend, from January 18-24 in Kaliningrad, Russia. 

Sergey EMELIN, Stepan MARYANIAN, Artem SURKOV, Alexander CHEKHIRKIN, Musa EVLOEV, and Sergey SEMENOV, the six current Greco-Roman world champions, are exempted from the Russian Greco-Roman National Championships. But this does not make the upcoming competition less interesting, largely due to the fact that Olympic champions, Roman VLASOV and Davit CHAKVETADZE, will strive to regain their former positions.

Here are seven storylines you need to follow at the Russian National Championships! 


Kyle SNYDER (USA), two-time world champion and Olympic champion is set to compete at the first Ranking Series event of the year, the Ivan Yariguin. (Photo: Max Rose-Fyne)

4. The Ivan Yariguin Just 10 Days Away  
United World Wrestling’s first Ranking Series event of the year, the Ivan Yariguin begins 10 days from today in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. 

Turkey's Taha AKGULl and America's Kyle SNYDER (USA) are two Olympic champions that have confirmed that they'll be competing in Krasnoyarsk.

Shortly after it was announced that London Olympic champion Jordan BURROUGHS will make his first career trip to the Ivan Yariguin, USA Wrestling confirmed that Burroughs would no longer be competing in Siberia. Burroughs was expected to take the place of America's reigning 79kg world champion Kyle DAKE (USA), who is expected to miss some time after the birth of his daughter, EllaJo Rose, on December 12. 

On the women's wrestling side of the first Ranking Series event of the year, Norway's reigning U23 world champion Grace BULLEN has confirmed that she'll be in attendance in Krasnoyarsk. To win her 2018 U23 world title, Bullen knocked off China's reigning senior-level world champion and reigning Yariguin champion, RONG Ningning. 

SCHEDULE (Local time) 

January 23 (Wednesday)
08.00 - Arrival of delegations
15.30 - Referees clinic
15.30 - Press conference with the Organizing Committee representatives, main referees body, team leaders and coaches
16.30 - Draw: Women: cat: 50,55,59,65 kg Men: cat: 57,61,70 kg

January 24 (Thursday)
08:30 - Medical examination and weigh-in cat: Women: 50,55,59,65 kg Men: 57,61,70 kg
11.00 - Elimination rounds cat: Women: 50,55,59,65 kg Men: 57,61,70 kg
16.00 - Draw cat: Women: 53,57,62,68 kg Men: 65,79,125kg
17.00 -1⁄2 finale cat: Women: 50,55,59,65 kg Men: 57,61,70 kg

January 25 (Friday)
08:15 - Weigh-in cat: Women: 50,55,59,65 kg Men: 57,61,70 kg
08:30 - Medical examination and weigh-in cat: Women: 53,57,62,68 kg Men: 65,79,125kg
11.00 - Elimination rounds and 1⁄2 finale cat: Women: 53,57,62,68 kg Men: 65,79,125kg  - Repechage cat: Women: 50,55,59,65 kg Men: 57,61,70 kg
16.30 - Draw cat: Women: 72,76 kg Men: 74,86,92,97 kg
16.00 - Opening ceremony
17.00 - Finals cat: Women: 50,55,59,65 kg Men: 57,61,70 kg

January 26 (Saturday)
08:15 - Weigh-in cat: Women: 53,57,62,68 kg Men: 65,79,125kg
08:30 - Medical examination and weigh-in cat: Women: 72,76 kg Men: 74,86,92,97 kg
11.00 - Elimination rounds and 1⁄2 finale cat: Women: 72,76 kg Men: 74,86,92,97 kg - Repechage cat: Women: 53,57,62,68 kg Men: 65,79,125kg
18.00 - Finals cat: Women: 53,57,62,68 kg Men: 65,79,125kg

January 27 (Sunday)
09:00 - Weigh-in cat: Women: 72,76 kg Men: 74,86,92,97 kg
11.00 - Repechage cat: Women: 72,76 kg Men: 74,86,92,97 kg
13.00 - Finals cat: Women: 72,76 kg Men: 74,86,92,97 kg

January 28 (Monday)
Until 12.00 - Departure of delegations 

5. Vadim Psarev, Hall of Fame Greco-Roman Coach, Dies at 86
Legendary Greco-roman wrestling coach Vadim PSAREV passed away Saturday, January 12 in Almaty, Kazakhstan. He was 86.

During his long career, Psarev coached five Olympic medalists, including three Olympic gold champions. The native Russian also coached 12 gold medalists at World Championships and World Cups. 

Psarev was recognized by United World Wrestling in 2014 with his selection to the organization's Hall of Fame. He was also awarded as an "Honored Coach of USSR" (1969) for his work with the USSR in the 40's, 50's and 60's. 

Psarev later became the head Greco-Roman coach for the Kazakhstan national team and was later given the title of "Honored Coach of Kazakhstan."

Click here to read more about Vadim Psarev. 

Weekly FIVE! In Social Media 

1 . #mondaymotivation#wrestling #wrestler #suplex #grecoroman@musaevloev1
2. @tahakgul, the two-time world and Olympic champion will wrestle at the first Ranking Series event of the year, the Ivan Yariguin. He’s entered at 125kg.
3. Sunday smiles ?!
4. “The 2019 season has started. It’s time to make history!” ?: @swedewrestling .#teamSweden #swedewrestling #sweden#worldchampionship #2019 #wrestling
5. Happy Friday, wrestling fans.

#WrestleZagreb

Zagreb Open 2025 Day 1 Semifinals Set

By Vinay Siwach

ZAGREB, Croatia (February 5) -- The first Ranking Series of 2025 is here. The Zagreb Open will see wrestling over four days with Freestyle starting things in 57kg, 61kg, 65kg, 70kg, 74kg and 86kg weight classes.

WATCH LIVE | LIVE MATCH ORDER | 2025 SEASON PREVIEW

13:35: The final semifinals of the session at 86kg. Zahid VALENCIA (USA) gets the better of Nathan JACKSON (USA) 12-2 and advance to the final. He will face Arsenii DZHIOEV (AZE) who blanked Trent HIDLAY (USA) 5-0.

13:25: David CARR (USA) rolls to a 12-2 win over Murad KURAMAGOMEDOV (HUN) 12-2 and will face Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK) who got the better of Giorgi ELBAKIDZE (GEO).

13:15: Sina KHALILI (IRI) into the Zagreb Open final at 70kg as James GREEN (USA) pulls out of the semifinals citing an injury. He will face Kanan HEYBATOV (AZE) who defeated Ebrahim ELAHI (IRI) 10-5.

13:05: Abbas EBRAHIM (IRI) gets his gut wrench going against Erik ARUSHANIAN (UKR) to win 14-4 at 65kg. He will face Joseph MC KENNA (USA) who defeated Goga OTINASHVILI (GEO)

13:00: We just published a tribute to Mariya STADNIK (AZE) who retired on Monday after 22 years! Legend. Read it here.

12:50: The 61kg final is set and it's all-Iranian. Ahmad JAVAN (IRI) and Ibrahim KHARI (IRI) won their respective semifinals to advance. The third Iranian in the weight class, Reza MOMENI (IRI) also has a chance to win a bronze medal as he lost the semifinals to Khari.

12:40: Spencer LEE (USA) with a 6-4 win over Roman BRAVO YOUNG (MEX). He led 6-0 before allowing Young to score a stepout and a takedown but that was all. He will wrestle Bazarganov in the 57kg final.

12:35: Islam BAZARGANOV (AZE) gives a reality check of senior level wrestling to Ahora KHATERI (IRI). The Azerbaijan wrestlers rolls to a 10-0 technical superiority win over the Iranian to move to the 57kg final. 

12:30: Semifinals of the day begin now. We have 57kg wrestlers coming on the mat now.

12:22: European champion and world medalist Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK) hangs on a for a 5-0 win over Aghanazar NOVRUZOV (AZE). He will wrestle in the semifinals at 74kg. 

12:12: Murad KURAMAGOMEDOV (HUN), who recently defeated Paris medalist Chermen VALIEV (ALB) in the Bundesliga, beats U20 world champion Ali REZAEI (IRI) 6-1 at 74kg. Kuramagomedov was on point in that bout.

12:00: Zahid VALENCIA (USA) gave up a couple of step outs against Abolfazl RAHMANI (IRI) but got the job done with a 5-2 win at 86kg to move into the semifinals.

11:45: Two solid bouts on Mat C. Joseph MC KENNA (USA) used a good four-pointer throw and completed a 7-4 win over Ali RAHIMZADA (AZE). In the next bout, Ali KHORRAMDEL (IRI) was leading Goga OTINASHVILI (GEO) 7-0 in the first period but struggled with the pace in the second as Otinashvili came back and made the score 13-9. As Khorramdel tried a desperate four-pointer, Otinashvili pinned him

11:35: James GREEN (USA), who is back after a year and a half of retirement, wins a close one over compatriot Alec PANTELO (USA) 4-3 at 70kg. He marked his international return at the 2024 World Championships at 70kg and finished 11th.

11:25: Paris silver medalist Spencer LEE (USA) comes out and gets a 10-0 win over Luka GVINJILIA (GEO) in two minutes. He moves into the semifinals at 

11:10: Former U17 world champion and Iran's big bet at 57kg Ahora KHATERI (IRI) comes out off a hole! He was trailing 7-2 against Brandon COURTNEY (USA) with less than 30 seconds remaining but mounts a comeback and wins 7-7

11:05: Two-time Olympian and world champion Iszmail MUSZUKAJEV (HUN) with a little awkward start to the season. Up against Jarrett JACQUES (USA) in the opening round at 70kg, Muszukajev drops the bout 3-2. He lacked his speed and the conditioning is missing as well. Great win for Jacques.

10:55: Kamil KERYMOV (UKR) gave a tough fight to Paris Olympian Roman BRAVO YOUNG (MEX) at 57kg but RBY, popularly known as in the USA circuit, wins 9-6. He is on a potential clash with Spencer LEE (USA) in the semifinals

10:45: Azamat TUSKAEV (SRB) gets his typical defensive style out and hangs on for a controlled 4-0 win over Roberti DINGASHVILI (GEO) at 57kg.

10:30: Welcome to day one of the Zagreb Open! This is the first of the four Ranking Series events which will award points to the wrestlers and help in the seeding for the World Championships in September which incidentally will be held in the same Arena Zagreb.