Weekly FIVE!

Weekly FIVE! March 26, 2019

By Eric Olanowski

Discussing Russia's European C'ship lineups and the 12 reigning world champions who will compete in Bucharest. Also looking at the U23 Asian C'ship results and this week's African C'ships and Hollywood Wrestles Bollywood. 

1. World Champs Sadulaev, Sidakov, and Uguev to Sit Out European C'ships
Registration for the 2019 European Championships has closed, and the Russian Federation has elected to sit out the majority of their No. 1 wrestlers. The reasoning behind the decision to sit their top wrestlers seems to be they'll be preparing for the European Games, which take place June 25-30 in Minsk, Belarus.

Most notably, reigning world champions Abdulrashid SADULAEV, Zaurbek SIDAKOV, and Zaur UGUEV will sit out of the European Championships. Muslim SADULAEV, Magomed KURBANALIEV, and Vladislav BAITCAEV will be replacing the defending world champions at 57kg, 74kg, and 97kg respectively. 

This will be Muslim Sadulaev's first trip to the European Championships, but Kurbanaliev and Baitcaev both represented Russia at last year’s European Championships, where they reached the top of the podium and claimed gold medals.

*The European Championships happen yearly, while the European Games only happen every four years.

Russia’s European Lineup
57kg - Muslim SADULAEV
61kg - Magomedrasul IDRISOV
65kg - Nachyn KUULAR
70kg - Magomedrasul GAZIMAGOMEDOV
74kg - Magomed KURBANALIEV
79kg - Akhmed GADZHIMAGOMEDOV
86kg - Dauren KURUGLIEV
92kg - Magomed KURBANOV
97kg - Vladislav BAITCAEV
125kg - Anzor KHIZRIEV

2. Iran and Mongolia Capture Titles at First U23 Asian Championships
The host country Mongolia captured the women’s wrestling title at the first edition of the U23 Asian Championships, while Iran shined, winning team titles in both freestyle and Greco-Roman.

In women’s wrestling, the host country Mongolia won four gold medals and captured the team title. India also won four gold medals, and the other two titles went to Kazakhstan and Chinese Taipei.

Iran claimed the freestyle and Greco-Roman team titles. 

In freestyle, Iran had seven finalists and ended up taking home four golds to win the team title with 200 points (4 gold, three silver, two bronze).

In Greco-Roman, Iran battled Kyrgyzstan but ultimately came out on top of the team race. 

Both countries had four golds and two bronze medal winners, but Iran grabbed one more silver medal and captured the title with 202 points (four gold, three silver, two bronze). Kyrgyzstan placed second with 182 points (four gold, two silver, two bronze), and Kazakhstan came third with 167 points (two gold, two silver, three bronze).

FULL RESULTS

3. African Championship Underway in Tunisia
The African Championships kicked off Monday in Hammamet, Tunisia, and will last until Sunday (March 31). 

The cadets and juniors wrestle until Thursday, and the senior-level competition begins on Friday. 

The African Championships will be the first senior-level continental championships where the revamped point system will be used. The winner of the continental championships will receive 12 Ranking Series points, with the second, third, fifth, seventh, and eighth-place finishers receiving 10, 8, 6, 4, and 2 points respectively. 

In addition to the placement points, wrestlers will also receive additional entry points based on the number of wrestlers in their brackets. 

For weight categories with 10 or fewer entries, an additional six (6) points will be added. For categories with 11-20 wrestlers entered an additional eight (8) points will be added. Ten (10) points will be added to any weight category with more than 20 entries.

SCHEDULE 

4. Hollywood Wrestles Bollywood This Sunday 
Women's Wrestling stars from the United States and India will battle each other on Sunday in the 'Hollywood Wrestles Bollywood' at Los Angles' historic Wiltern Theater.

According to www.beatthestreets-la.org, "The dual will be a part of Beat the Streets Los Angeles’ 5th Annual Benefit and International Competition, which is a yearly fundraising and awareness event for the LA-based wrestling non-profit."

There will be eleven top-15 ranked wrestlers in action, with six of those being ranked in the top-5 of the latest world rankings. (The latest rankings can be found on www.unitedworldwrestling.org 's homepage) 

Of the ten star-studded bouts, the most intriguing matchup comes at 53kg, where returning world runner-up and top-ranked Sarah HILDEBRANDT (USA) will take on No. 11 Vinesh VINESH (IND). 

This will be a rematch of last month’s Dan Kolov semifinals, where Vinesh stuck Hildebrant to put herself in the Ranking Series tournament finals. She ultimately fell to China's PANG Qianyu in the finals. 

The dual starts at 15:00 on March 31. 

United States vs. India 
50kg: No. 15 Whitney CONDER vs. Sheetal TOMAR 
53kg: No. 1 Sarah HILDEBRANDT vs. No. 11 Vinesh VINESH
55kg: No. 6 Jacarra WINCHESTER vs. Pinki PINKI
57kg: Jenna BURKERT vs. No. 6 Pooja DHANDA
59kg: Alli RAGAN vs. No. 4 Sarita SARITA
62kg: No. 5 Mallory VELTE vs. Sakshi MALIK  
65kg: No. 2 Forrest MOLINARI vs. Navjot KAUR 
68kg: No. 2 Tamyra MENSAH vs. Divya KAKRAN 
72kg: Rachel WATTERS vs. No. 12 (at 76kg) Kiran KIRAN 
76kg: No. 1 Adeline GRAY vs. Sudesh SUDESH

Reigning world and European champion Petra Maarit OLLI (FIN) is set to compete at the 2019 European Championships. She'll wrestle her world championship weight of 65kg. 

5. European Championships Begin April 8 
The most dominant wrestling continent on the plant, Europe, begins its continental championships on April 8. The early registration closed and of last year's eighteen defending world champions who hailed from Europe, 12 are set to compete in Bucharest, Romania. 

The three women's wrestling European world champions will wrestle, but only two of the five freestyle world champions have entered their names into the field. As mentioned above, Russia's Abdulrashid Sadualev, Zaurbek Sidakov, and Zaur Uguev are the reigning freestyle world gold medalists who won't make the trip to Romania.

Of the ten European Greco-Roman world champions, seven will wrestle in Bucharest. The three who won't be in action will be Peter BACSI (HUN), Aleksander CHEKHIRKIN (RUS), and Frank STAEBLER (GER). 

Though Russia will be without 77kg Greco-Roman world champion Aleksander Chekhirkin, they've entered two-time Olympic champion Roman VLASOV (RUS), who will make his return after missing the 2018 world championships after having knee surgery. 

SCHEDULE

Returning World Champions Competing
55kg (GR) - Eldaniz AZIZLI(AZE)
60kg (GR) - Sergey EMELIN (RUS) 
62kg (WW) - Taybe Mustafa YUSEIN (BUL) 
63kg (GR) - Stepan MARYANYAN (RUS) 
65kg (WW) - Petra Maarit OLLI (FIN) 
67kg (GR) - Artem SURKOV (RUS) 
68kg (WW) - Alla CHERKASOVA (UKR) 
70kg (FS) - Magomedrasul GAZIMAGOMEDOV
82kg (GR) - Metehan BASAR (TUR) 
97kg (GR) - Musa EVLOEV (RUS)
125kg (FS) - Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO) 
130kg - (GR) - Sergey SEMENOV (RUS) 

Weekly FIVE! In Social Media

1. Big Move Monday -- Vladen KOZLIUK (UKR) -- U23 Europe
2. Highlights from the 2019 Freestyle World Cup #wrestleyakutsk #uww #wrestling
3. Freestyle wrestlers started competing today at #U23AsianChampionship in Mongolia.?61 kg - Ulukbek Zholdoshbekov?? ?92 kg - Arashk Mohammadkazem Mohebi??
4. Egypt's Yassar NASR punches his ticket to the 65KG final tonight with a powerful preformance in the Semifinal. #wrestling #uww#unitedworldwrestling#WrestleHammamet
5. Day 1 Wrestlers preparing to take to the mats at the 2019 African Championship.  #wrestling #uww#unitedworldwrestling#WrestleHammamet

Weekly FIVE!

Weekly FIVE! June 18, 2018

By Eric Olanowski

Discussing Yui SUSAKI(JPN) avenging her loss against Yuki IRIE (JPN) and Rio WATARI (JPN) winning her battle against cancer. Also taking a look at USA's 2018 world team, along with two rankings series events that kick off this weekend. 

1. Susaki Strikes Back, Avenges Loss to Irie to Grab 50kg Title at Meiji Cup
Yui SUSAKI(JPN), 2017 world champion avenged her devastating December technical fall loss to Yuki IRIE (JPN) in the Emperor’s Cup by claiming the 50kg Meiji Cup title this past weekend. 

Susaki got the revenge she sought and the second chance she needs in her continued quest to defend her world title as the two will now face each other again in a winner-take-all playoff for the berth on the Japanese team in Budapest.


Rio WATARI (JPN) gets emotional after defeating cancer and making Japan's 2018 world team. (Photo by Sachiko Hotaka)

2. Watari Wins Meiji Cup after Defeating Cancer 
Rio WATARI (JPN) capped her remarkable recovery from Hodgkin lymphoma, winning the women’s 68kg title with a 3-2 victory over Chiaki SEKI (JPN) at the All-Japan Invitational Championships in Tokyo,  earning a place on Japan’s team at the world championships in Budapest.

3. Adeline Gray Set to Make World Championship Return After Winning Final X
Adeline GRAY (USA), the three-time world champion made her seventh world team after taking the best-of-three series in two matches against Korinahe BULLOCK (USA). Gray will make her world championship return for the first time since 2015 when she won the gold medal. 

Logan STIEBER (USA),the  2016 world champion locked up his third world team spot, while Kyle DAKE (USA) and David TAYLOR (USA) each made their first world team. 

Freestyle
65kg - Logan STIEBER (USA)  
79 kg - Kyle DAKE (USA)
86 kg - David TAYLOR (USA)

Women's Wrestling 
62 kg - Mallory VELTE (USA)  
72 kg - Erin CLODGO (USA) 
76 kg - Adeline GRAY (USA) 

FINAL X - STATE COLLEGE RESULTS

4. China Open Begins Friday 
The China Open, United World Wrestling's third women's wrestling ranking series event of the year kicks off June 22-23 in Taiyuan, China. 

RANKING SERIES EVENTS
Klippan Lady Open (SWE), February             
Mongolia Open (MGL), June           
China Open (CHN), June                  
Poland Open (POL), September    

5. Hungarian Grand Prix, the Third Greco-Roman Ranking Series Event Starts This Weekend 

The third Greco-Roman ranking series event of the year, the Hungarian Grand Prix kicks off June 23-24 in Gyor, Hungary. 

RANKING SERIES EVENTS
Takhti Cup (IRI), January                             
Granma y Cerro Pelado (CUB), February        
Hungarian GP (HUN), June                    
Vehbi Emre (TUR), July            

Weekly FIVE! In Social Media 

1. Big Move Monday ! FIJLKAM // Jacopo SANDRON, #italia#lotta @fijlkam_official @jacopo_sandron

2. Have a good day! Всем хорошего дня! ??
#wrestling#sport#saturday#uww#arturaleksanyan#olympics#суббота#артуралексанян#олимпиада#спорт#борьба

3. Happy Friday, wrestling fans!  Всем хорошей пятницы! #wrestling#friday#happiness#olympics#олимпиада#пятница#радость#борьба

4. This is historic photo. Guess when and where it was taken? Это историческое фото! Угадате где и когда оно было сделано. #guess#historicphoto#wrestling#womenswrestling#борьба#историческоефото#борьба#женскаяборьба

5. ?? #wrestlingairlines ? @geoffriccio