Weekly FIVE! March 12, 2018

Monday, March 12, 2018 - 12:47 By Eric Olanowski

Reviewing the March installment of United World Wrestling’s world rankings, this week's Women's World Cup and the President Cup of Buryatia Republic .

1. This Week's Women’s World Cup
United World Wrestling has released the schedule for Women’s Wrestling World Cup which kicks off March 17-18. The dual-meet based events is an annual highlight of the international wrestling calendar, being held in Takasaki, Japan.

The eight participating teams have been separated into two pools with Japan and Belarus leading groups A and B. After tying for second place at the 2017 World Championships with the United States, Belarus has been awarded the Group B tiebreaker. Pool A will consist of Canada, Japan, Sweden and the United States and Pool B will consist of Belarus, China, Mongolia, and Romania.

Japan, who won last year’s World Cup in Russia, will be without 2017 World Champion Yui SUSAKI (48kg) who lost in a recent wrestle-off against rival Yuki IRIE (JPN). Otherwise, the Japanese side is scheduled to start a number of world and Olympic champions in Takasaki, including RIO 2016 titlist Risako KAWAI (63kg) and Sara DOSHO (69kg).

Saturday, March 17 (Local Time)
9:00 am: Canada v. United States (Mat A) // Mongolia v. China (Mat B)
10:15 am: Japan v. Sweden (Mat A) // Belarus v. Romania (Mat B)
11:30 am: Sweden v. United States (Mat A) // Romania v. China (Mat B)
12:45 pm: Japan v. Canada (Mat A) // Belarus v. Mongolia (Mat B)
4:30 pm: Opening Ceremonies
5:00 pm: Sweden v. Canada (Mat A) // Romania v. Belarus (Mat B)
6:15 pm: Japan v. United States (Mat A) // Belarus v. China (Mat B)

Sunday, March 18 (Local Time)
9:00 am: Seventh Place Match
10:30 am: Fifth Place Match
1:00 pm: Bronze Medal Match
2:30 pm: Gold Medal Match

2. Russians Nearly Sweep President Cup of Buryatia Republic 
Headed by six-time President Cup of Buryatia Republic champion, Aleksander BOGOMOEV (RUS) and Ivan Yarygin silver medalist Anzor URISHEV (RUS), Russians wrestlers captured nine out of ten gold medals at the President Cup of Buryatia Republic.

Photo: BEKHBAYAR Erdenebat (MGL)

Takhti Cup champion BEKHBAYAR Erdenebat (MGL) was the lone non-Russian wrestler to seize a gold medal when he defeated Khuresh-Ool DONDUK (RUS), 2-1 for the 57kg crown.

Also of note, 2016 Olympic silver medalist A. GEDUEV (RUS) pulled out of the tournament after winning his first bout, 10-0. Geduev has yet to finish a full individual competition since being upended in the finals of the 2016 Olympic Games by Hassan YAZDANI (IRI), 6-6 on criteria.

Since the Olympics, Geduev’s last full tournament was the 2017 Clubs World Cup where he suffered a 10-7 loss to Omid HASSANTABAR (Setaregan Sari) while competing for Bimeh Razi.

FINAL RESUTLS:
57kg: BEKHBAYAR Erdenebat (MGL) df. Khuresh-Ool DONDUK (RUS), 2-1
61kg: Aleksander BOGOMOEV (RUS) df. Zelimkhan ABAKAROV (RUS), 3-1
65kg: Bayar TSYENOV (RUS) df. Eduard GRIGORIEV (RUS), 11-0
70kg: Evgeni ZHERBAEV (RUS) df. Alibek AKBAEV( (RUS), 5-1
74kg: Arslan BUDOZHAPOV (RUS) df. GANZORIG Mandakhnaran (MGL), 10-0
79kg: Radik VALIEV (RUS) df. Khusey SUYUNCHEV (RUS) via forfeit
86kg: Dauren KURUGLIEV (RUS) df. PUREJAV Unurbat (MGL), 3-0
92kg: Anzor URISHEV (RUS) df. Timur BATOROV (RUS), 10-0
97kg: Igor ОVSIANNIKOV (RUS) df. ULZISAIKHAN Batsul (MGL), 2-0 
125kg: Tsibik MAKSAKOV (RUS) df. Alan HUGAEV (RUS) via forfeit

3. Freestyle Rankings
The March installment of United World Wrestling’s freestyle world rankings were released and are based on results from the Ivan Yarygin and the African and Asian Championships. The next ranking series events are the European and Pan-American Championships which will both be held in the first week of May.

Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, and Iran each have at least one wrestler ranked atop of March’s rankings.

The Mongolian quartet of top-ranked wrestlers are Asian and President Cup of Buryatia Republic medalist GANZORIG Mandakhnaran and NATSAGSUREN Zolboo, Ivan Yarygin bronze medalist LUVSANDORJ Turtogtokh and TSEVEENSUREN Tsogbadrakh.

Uzbekistan’s threesome of wrestlers receiving the top-ranking is Asian champion Magomed IBRAGIMOV and Asian medalists Abbos RAKHMONOV and Rashid KURBANOV.

After outscoring the competition 32-2 on his way to winning his first Asian Championships, Hassan Aliazam YAZDANICHARATI (IRI) gets the nod as the first ranked wrestler at 86kg.

The remaining first ranked wrestlers are Asian champion Daulet NIYAZBEKOV (KAZ), and Nigeria’s African Champion Ogbonna Emmanuel JOHN (NGR).

FULL RANKINGS

4. Greco-Roman Rankings
In the March edition of United World Wrestling’s Greco-Roman rankings, four front-runners held onto their previous rankings after the Takhti Cup (IRI), Granma y Cerro Pelado (CUB) and the African and Asian Championships.

The four wrestlers holding onto their No. 1 rankings were Asian champion Almat KEBISPAYEV (KAZ) and Asian medalists Demeu ZHADRAYEV (KAZ), Mohammadali GERAEI (IRI) and K. ZHOLCHUBEKOV (KGZ).

New to the No. 1 spot was the pair of Asian champions in Askhat DILMUKHAMEDOV (KAZ) and Seyedmostafa SALEHIZADEH (IRI). Also new to the top-spot was Takhti medalists Khussein MUTSOLGOV (KAZ), Reza KHEDRI (IRI) and U. AMATOV (KGZ).

The next ranking series events will be the European and Pan-American Championships which will both be held the first week of May.

FULL RANKINGS

5. Women’s Wrestling Rankings
After an impressive showing at the Klippan Lady Open and Asian Championships, China dominates the latest edition of United World Wrestling’s women's rankings with six top-ranked wrestlers.

Three of the four remaining leading ranked wrestlers in PAK Yongmi (PRK), Saki IGARASHI (JPN) and 2018 Yarygin champion PUREVDORJ Orkhon (MGL) are all coming off Asian gold medal performances.

Coming off her fifth Klippan Lady Open championship, Petra OLLI (FIN) claims the last top-spot.

The next two ranking series events are the European and Pan-American Championships which will be held the first week of May.

FULL RANKINGS

Weekly FIVE In Social Media
1. #LunesDeMotivacion the last promise. Here is the story of the Stig-Andre Berge fighter from #Noruega ?? in those @JuegosOlimpicos of @Rio2016. #idrett #wrestling #lucha
2. @Ivan_FSWrestling reacts to Geduev dropping out of the President Cup of Buryatia Republic 
3. Big Move Monday!
4. Flag Friday
5. Score That Saturday: Who scored on this exchange?

#WrestleSamokov

Stanich proves doubters wrong, wins U20 world title

Wednesday, August 20, 2025 - 13:58 By Vinay Siwach

SAMOKOV, Bulgaria (August 18) -- Luke STANICH (USA) is aware that many did not back him to make the U.S. team, forget about winning a medal in international tournament.

"I love it," Stanich said. "If you have to prove everyone wrong, I feel great. I've always been doubted at tournaments. Even after I won the tournament, the U.S. Open, people still didn't have me making the team. I've been dealing with this forever, but just motivation, just to prove people wrong."

Stanich proved many doubters wrong by winning the gold medal at 65kg at the U20 World Championships in Samokov, Bulgaria on Tuesday. In the final, Stanich kept an inspired Reiji UCHIDA (JPN) under control and won 4-3 to claim the world title.

Uchida brought the Japanese style of wrestling with constant leg attacks but Stanich had all the answered and scored two takedowns to remain in control of the final

"I knew it was my match to wrestle," he said. "He was strong and quick, but I knew what kind of attacks he was looking for. I had confidence in my offense and my defense."

Perhaps it was his confidence that helped him recover from an 8-0 deficit in his first bout against Abdullah TOPRAK (TUR) and make a run to win the gold medal. Toprak scored a takedown and gut-wrenched Stanich three times to lead 8-0 and put all his effort into a fourth turn. However, Stanich defend that and rallied to beat a tired Toprak 18-8.

In his next match, Stanich managed to hold off 2024 world U17 champion Omurbek ASAN UULU (KGZ), 9-3, and then had a close 3-3 win over Alessandro NINI (ITA) in the quarterfinals. He had European U20 and U23 champion Amal DZHANDUBAEV (UWW) in the semifinals but a solid defense helped him win 3-1 and enter the final.

"I said that right after the first match ended," he said. "I was like, 'wow! Once I go on this run and win this tournament, it can be pretty crazy story to tell that I was down 8-0 in the very first match, the tournament. I came back to win it.

"Super proud of my effort and able to storm back like that and get on the top podium."

Stanich said that standing on top of the podium was one of the most memorable moments of his career and called his run as 'gritty'.

"Gritty, being tough and breaking people."

Another U.S. wrestler in the final, William HENCKEL (USA), was not able to complete his campaign with a gold medal after dropping the final 8-6 against returning bronze medalist and senior Asian champion Mahdi YOUSEFI (IRI).

Henckel was leading the final bout but Yousefi scored a stepout to make a 4-3 lead. Yousefi scored two stepouts and a takedown while Henckel scored three stepouts and a caution against Yousefi who defended his lead in the last 30 seconds.

This was the first gold medal for Iran in this World Championships.

At 57kg, Magomed OZDAMIROV (UWW) survived a strong Sumit MALIK (IND) and won the gold medal 8-5. Ozdamirov needed a few medical timeouts to regain his breath against Malik, who could not finish even one of his attempted takedowns.

Uzbekistan won gold medal at the World U20 Championships after three years as Asian U20 champion Sherzod POYONOV (UZB) scored a takedown during his activity time to beat returning bronze medalist Kamil KURUGLIYEV (KAZ), 3-2, in the 92kg final.

Incidentally, the last time an Uzbekistan wrestler won gold at World U20s was also in Bulgaria when Umidon JALOLOV (UZB) won 65kg gold medal in 2022.

RESULTS

57kg
GOLD: Magomed OZDAMIROV (UWW) df. Sumit MALIK (IND), 8-5

BRONZE: Vasif BAGHIROV (AZE) df. Ion BULGARU (MDA), 8-2
BRONZE: Nurdanat AITANOV (KAZ) df. Baiaman KERIMBEKOV (KGZ), 11-0

65kg
GOLD: Luke STANICH (USA) df. Reiji UCHIDA (JPN), 4-3

BRONZE: Arman MUSIKYAN (ARM) df. Viktor BOROHAN (UKR), 4-0
BRONZE: Abdullah TOPRAK (TUR) df. Amal DZHANDUBAEV (UWW), 14-10

79kg
GOLD: Mahdi YOUSEFI (IRI) df. William HENCKEL (USA), 8-6

BRONZE: Said SAIDULOV (UWW) df. Ion MARCU (MDA), 11-0
BRONZE: Davit TCHETCHELASHVILI (GEO) df. AMIT (IND), 9-6

92kg
GOLD: Sherzod POYONOV (UZB) df. Kamil KURUGLIYEV (KAZ), 3-2

BRONZE: Connor MIRASOLA (USA) df. Anar JAFARLI (AZE), 10-0
BRONZE: Gadzhimurad GADZHIBATYROV (UWW) df. Sorato KANAZAWA (JPN), 15-5

Weekly FIVE! March 12, 2018

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Stanich proves doubters wrong, wins U20 world title