Weekly FIVE!

Weekly FIVE! July 23, 2018

Monday, July 23, 2018 - 15:05 By Eric Olanowski

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Taking a look at Japan's seven Asian Junior gold medal performance and India's strong finish. Also looking at the pair of Olympic silver medalists who won the final Greco-Roman Ranking Series event of the year and this weeks freestyle Ranking Series event, the Yasar Dogu. 

1.Japanese Women One-Up Iran, Win Seven Asian Junior Golds 
Japan closed out women’s wrestling at the 2018 Asian Junior Championships with eight finalists, winning seven gold medals and one-upping Iran’s Greco-Roman squad who won six gold medals earlier in the week. 

With their seven gold medals, Japan one-upped the Greco-Roman team champions, Iran. During the Greco-Roam portion of the tournament, nine Iranian wrestlers qualified for the gold-medal bout, but “only” six clutched a gold medal after it was all said and done.

Women's Wrestling Results
Team Scores 
GOLD – Japan (213 points)
SILVER – China (168 points)
BRONZE – India (135 points)
Fourth – Kazakhstan (123 points)
Fifth – Mongolia (113 points) 

The six-time world and Olympic finalist, Riza KAYAALP (TUR). (Photo by Martin Gabor) 

2. Olympic Finalists Show Out at Vehbi Emre & Hamit Kaplan
The fourth and final Ranking Series event of the year, the Vehbi Emre & Hamit Kaplan took place last weekend in Istanbul, Turkey and two Olympic finalists bounced the competition and won gold medals. 

The host nation, Turkey won the team title with four individual champions, which included six-time world and Olympic finalist, Riza KAYAALP (TUR). 

Kayaalp, who coming off winning his eighth European championship outscored his first two opponents 11-0 but was tested in his semifinal and finals match-ups, winning both by a single point. 

In the finals, the three-time world champion outlasted Kiryl HRYSHCHANKA (BLR), 2-1 to win his seventh Vehbi Emre & Hamit Kaplan gold medal. 

Zhan BELENYUK (UKR), the 2015 world champion and Rio Olympic silver medalist, competing in his second tournament of the year also won a gold medal. 

Belenyuk defeated two-time age-level world champion Islam ABBASOV (AZE), 3-1 in the 87kg finals. These two also met in the International Ukrainian Tournament finals, where Belenyuk was also the victor.

Vehbi Emre & Hamit Kaplan Results

Team Scores 
GOLD - Turkey (191 points)
SILVER - Belarus (121 points)
BRONZE - Azerbaijan (121 points)
Fourth - Japan (104 points)
Fifth - Kazahkstan (102 points)

Amin Yavar KAVIYANINEJAD (IRI), 72kg Asian Junior champion. (Photo by Sachiko Hotaka)

3. Iran Finishes Asian Juniors with Eleven Overall Gold Medals 
Iran wrapped up freestyle action at the Asian Junior Championships by winning five gold medals, bringing their overall tournament total to eleven championship performances. 

After the first day of freestyle wrestling, their squad was on par to match their Greco-Roman countryman’s six gold medal performances from earlier this week but only grabbed two golds on the final day to fall one short in the friendly race with their Greco-Roman team. 

Freestyle Results
Freestyle Team Scores 
GOLD - Iran (189 points)
SILVER - India (173 points)
BRONZE - Uzbekistan (128 points)
Fourth - Japan (126 points)
Fifth - Kazahkstan (125 points)

Sachin RATHI (IND) gave India one of their three Asian Junior gold medals. (Photo by Sachiko Hotaka)

4. India Closes Out Asian Junior C'Ships with Pair of Gold Medals After Seven Straight Runner-Up Finishes
India had to wait until the final day of the 2018 Asian Junior Championships to add to Sajan SAJAN's (IND) gold medal, but they finally got the gold medals they were hoping for. In total, ten Indian wrestlers made the championship finals but seven straight wrestlers failed to come out on top. It all came down to Deepak PUNIA (IND) and Sachin RATHI (IND) to carry the country’s flag one more time, and they did so in significant fashion.

RESULTS 

Olympic champion, Taha AKGUL (TUR). (Photo by Martin Gabor) 

5. Yasar Dogu, the Third Freestyle Ranking Series Event Begins This Weekend 
Istanbul, Turkey is set to host the 46th Annual Yasar Dogu International on July 27-29. 

On June 8, United World Wrestling announced that the tournament has been named a Ranking Series event in men’s freestyle wrestling after the South African Open was canceled due to a lack of early sign-ups. 

Weekly FIVE! In Social Media 

1. Big Move Monday!
2. “Taha Akgul will be back to train for 20 days in August. The #1heavyweight in the world. Thankful we can prepare for the World Championships together ????” @snyderman45
3. @frankchamizo92 practising. Отработки Чамизо. ? @nycrtc
4. We’re 92 days away from the #Budapest2018 World Championships which means we get to highlight three-time world and Olympic champion @sadulaev_abdulrashid (RUS). Sadulaev won the 92kg gold medal at the European Championships in Dagestan, Russia earlier this year. #92on92 ‬
5. Olympic?@zhanbeleniuk playing with ?! ?

Weekly FIVE!

Weekly FIVE! May 7, 2018

Monday, May 7, 2018 - 20:51 By

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Discussing new potential weight changes and Russian lead slips. Also taking a look at Stadnik and Aleksanyan's dominating Euro performances along with the Burroughs and Chamizo super match-up on Mat 17.   

1. Weight Changes on the Horizon 
Newly minted European champions Jenny FRANSSON (SWE) and Abdulrashid SADULAEV (RUS) announced that they would be moving weight classes in preparation for October's 2018 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary.

The chants of “Rashid” pour throughout the Palace of Sport and Youth as Abdulrashid Sadulaev won the colossal match-up between Olympic champions, holding off Sharif SHARIFOV (AZE), 2-1 to win the 92kg European title. 

In a post-match interview, Sadulaev, the four-time European champion announced that he would be moving up to 97kg for Russian Nationals. 

If this is true, we could potentially see the 2017 World Championship rematch between the reigning world and Olympic champion, Kyle SNYDER (USA) and Abdulrashid Sadulaev. Snyder won that 2017 match-up, 6-5.  #SnyderLaev2018/ #SnyderLaev2 

Jenny Fransson, the 2016 Olympic bronze medalist closed out her European Championship gold medal performance with a fall over Anastasiya ZIMIANKOVA (BLR) in the 72kg finals. 

After the match, Fransson, the 2018 Klippan Lady Open champion said “The goal now moves to the World Championships where I’ll be moving weight classes. I’ll be moving down to the Olympic weight of 68kg. 

2. Stadnik Wins Eighth 
Mariya STADNIK (AZE) captured her eighth European title by demolishing 2017 world finalist, Emilia VUC (ROU), 10-0. 

When asked what’s the difference between this win and her first seven, Stadnik said “When I won the first few European Championships, I would get really stressed out prior to the tournament. Now, I remain pretty calm. That’s the difference.”

With Mother’s Day last this week, Stadnik, a mother of two said “I dedicate this win to my children. I have to leave them so often to go train, and the compensation for me being gone so much is this gold medal.”

3. Russians Fail Late 
Azerbaijani’s Giorgi EDISHERASHVILI (AZE) and Haji ALIYEV (AZE) stunned the sold-out Palace of Sport and Youth after picking up buzzer beater takedowns on Russian opponents to win European gold medals. 

Giorgi Edisherashvili stole his second 57kg European title by picking up a four-point throw with three seconds left to defeat last year’s European bronze medalist, Zavur UGUEV (RUS), 4-3.

Haji ALIYEV (AZE), the reigning 61kg world champion gave Azerbaijan another gold medal with a last-second takedown to defeat reigning 65kg European champion, Ilias BEKBULATOV (RUS), 8-7.

Four-time European champion, Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM). (Photo by Max Rose-Fyne) 

4.“The White Bear” Reclaims Continental Gold 
Armenia’s Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM) the four-time world and Olympic champion reclaimed European gold for the first time since 2014 by routing Mikheil KAJAIA (SRB), 7-0 in the 97kg gold-medal match. 

The Armenian, who outscored his opponents 34-0 on his way to his fourth title has only lost twice in the past five seasons, with both of those losses coming at European Championships. 

“I feel very proud that I could become a European champion for the fourth time, and that I could bring one more gold medal to our country,” said Aleksanyan. 

5. Burroughs and Chamizo Clash Next Week 

Jordan BURROUGHS (USA), the five-time world and Olympic champion is set to take on the two-time world champion, Frank CHAMIZO (ITA) at Beat the Streets in New York City in just over a week. 

Burroughs is coming off an undefeated World Cup, and Chamizo is coming off a third-place finished at the 2018 European Championships where he defeated 2017 world silver medalist, Khetig TSABOLOV (RUS) in the quarterfinals.

Chamizo bounced back to in the bronze-medal bout, picking up a 10-0 technical superiority victory over Akhsarbek GULAEV (SVK) after falling to eventual champion, Soner DEMIRTAS (TUR), 2-1 in the semifinals. 

Weekly FIVE! In Social Media 

1. ALIYEV (AZE) comes back big in the last 15 seconds after spending the majority of the match behind to get Azerbaijan another Gold! -

2. Always wrestle till the final whistle!!! KURACHKINA (BLR) wins gold but only just. The referee awarded ZASINA (POL) 2 points with one second remaining on the clock to tie the score 4-4. KURACHKINA wins as she had more high scoring moves. -

3. CUERO MUNOZ (COL) df. BEY (USA) 10-7 in a back and fourth match ? Bay suffered rib injury. #uww #wrestling #panams2018

4. Thankfully for Rashidov (RUS) he didn't have the long walk home ?

5. 57kg BRONZE - Stevan MICIC (SRB) df. Levan VARTANOV (ESP), 10-0 giving Serbia their first freestyle European Championship medal ever!