Weekly FIVE!

Weekly FIVE! Susaki, Zhou, Cox and More

By Eric Olanowski

Susaki Rules 2017, Remains Undefeated

If there were any questions whether or not eighteen-year-old Japanese phenom Yui SUSAKI (JPN) would continue where she left off after winning the 2017 World Championships, they’ve been answered.

Yui SUSAKI (JPN) reacts after being awarded two points as time expires to defeat China's SUN Yanan. 

Susaki was the spark who kicked off Japan’s run to last weekend’s 2017 Women’s World Cup title. She compiled an impressive 4-0 record, outscoring her opponents 35-2. In the finals, Susaki defeated 2016 Olympic bronze medalist, SUN Yanan (CHN), 4-2. 

Susaki finished 2017 with titles at the Ivan Yarygin, Klippin Lady Open, Asian Championship, and World Championship.

China’s World Class Duo of Big Zhou and Little Zhou

China proved that their upper weights are some of the best in the world.

This weekend, ZHOU Feng and ZHOU Qian went undefeated at the 2017 Women’s World Cup in Cheboksary, Russia. They outscore their opponents by a combined score of 42-6.

ZHOU Feng (CHN) defends a shot in the finals of the 2017 Women's World Cup finals. 

At 69kg, Zhou Feng was victorious in all four of her matches, scoring 30 offensive points and only giving up one.

At 75kgs, Zhou Qian split time with PALIHA Paliha (CHN). In the two matches that Zhou wrestled, she was 2-0, picking up victories of 10-4 and 2-1.

Adeline Gray Perfect in Return

Three-time world champion and former world No.1 Adeline GRAY (USA) returned to the mats for the first time since the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Gray went 4-0 on the weekend, including falls against Mongolia and Russia.

Rumor of the Week

Although official rosters have not been released, rumor has it that a potential super match may be brewing at the 2017 World Wrestling Clubs Cup, which take place December 7-8 in Tehran, Iran.

Olympic champion and multiple time world champion, Abdulrashid SADULAEV of Russia is rumored to be wrestling at 92kg. This weight is five kilos’ down from his 2017 World Championship weight of 97kg.  

J'den Cox (USA) celebrates after winning bronze at the 2016 Olympic Games. 

Also rumored to be competing at a different weight from his 2017 World Championship weight is USA’s J’den Cox. Cox, who wrestled at 86kg may also complete at 92kg in Tehran.

This wouldn’t be the first time these two have competed in the same weight class, but would be the first time that they’ve met. In Rio, both Sadulaev and Cox competed at 86kg, with Sadulaev winning gold and Cox winning bonze.

Photos of the Week

H. AUGELLO (USA) looks to finishes a double leg on A. GANBAATAR (MGL) GANBAATAR went on to defeat Augello, 11-6.

ALTANTSETSEG (MGL) flexes after df. K. MIRACLE (USA), 6-1 in the bronze medal match of the Women's World Cup. 

Tweets of the Week

Weekly FIVE!

Weekly FIVE! October 1, 2019

By Eric Olanowski

Discussing the #WrestleNurSultan World Championships and October's Veteran and U23 World Championships. 

1. Russia Wins Second Consecutive Freestyle World Title After Five Individuals Claim Gold
The Russian Federation strengthened its stronghold on the freestyle competition by winning its second consecutive team world title. Led by their four-time world and Olympic champion Abdulrashid SADULAEV (RUS), Russia finished 83 points ahead of second-place Kazakhstan. They medaled in nine of ten weights and capped off the World Championships with five freestyle gold medalists. They also had a silver-medal finisher and three wrestlers who won bronze medals. More importantly, five of Russia's nine medals came in Olympic weight classes -- which helped them qualify five of the six freestyle weights for the 2020 Olympic Games.

Zaur UGUEV (57kg), Gadzhimurad RASHIDOV (65kg), David BAEV (70kg), Zaurbek SIDAKOV (74kg) and Abdulrashid Sadulaev (97kg) were the five Russian champions.

Uguev, Sidakov and Sadulaev each repeated their title-winning performances from the 2018 Budapest World Championships, while Rashidov and Baev captured their first career world golds. 

Uguev, the 57kg champ, went 5-0 and rounded out his tournament with a 13-3 routing of European champion Suleyman ATLI (TUR) in the gold-medal match. He also scored a 4-3 win over European Games champion Mahir AMIRASLANOV (AZE) -- avenging his only loss of the season. 

Zaurbek SIDAKOV (RUS) scored a step out against four-time world and Olympic champion Jordan BURROUGHS (USA) en rout to winning his second consecutive 74kg title. (Photo: Kadir Caliskan)

At 74kg, for the second consecutive year, Zaurbek Sidakov forged back-to-back wins over four-time world and Olympic champion Jordan BURROUGHS (USA) and two-time world champion Frank CHAMIZO (ITA) on his road to claiming the 74kg world title. 

Abdulrashid Sadulaev reached the top of the world podium for the fourth time in his career with a 4-0 shutout win over fellow Olympic champion Sharif SHARIFOV (AZE) in the 97kg finals. Sadulaev's win over Sharifov came after the Azeri halted #SnyderLaev3 by stopping the two-time world and Olympic champion Kyle SNYDER (USA) in the semifinals. 

Gadzhimurad Rashidov and David Baev also claimed freestyle world titles in Nur-Sultan. 

After a pair of deflating losses in the previous two world finals (Paris and Budapest), Rashidov finally captured his long-awaited world title. Two of Rashidov's wins came against former world champions. In the opening round, Rashidov edged three-time world champion Haji ALIYEV (AZE), 4-2. Then, he stopped 2018 world champion Takuto OTOGURO (JPN), 8-1, in the third round. Finally, Rashidov carried the Russian flag around the mat after thumping Daulet NIYAZBEKOV (KAZ), 11-0, in the 65kg finals. 

Baev won the 70kg title with a 14-2 routing of Nurkozha KAIPANOV (KAZ) in the 70kg gold-medal match. 

The lone weight Russia failed to medal at was 125kg. Their expected world representative was Anzor KHIZRIEV (RUS). But the European Games champion was injured two weeks before the first whistle in Nur-Sultan and forced to pull out of the World Championships. 

J'den COX (USA) defeated Alireza KARIMIMACHIANI (IRI), 4-0, in the 92kg and claimed his second world title. (Photo: Tony Rotundo)

The host nation of Kazakhstan finished in second place with 103 points -- which came from a pair of second-place finishes and a bronze medalist.  

The United States ended the team race in third place with 94 points. America's Kyle DAKE (79kg) and J'den COX (92kg) won gold for the second consecutive year and are now expected to drop down to Olympic weight classes. 

Though it's not official, but Dake is expected to drop down to 74kg to challenge Jordan Burroughs, and Cox is expected to move to 86kg to square off with David TAYLOR (USA) for the Tokyo Olympic spot. 

Iran's Olympic champion Hassan Yazdani came into the World Championships heavily favored and won his second world title and first since 2017. In addition to scoring an injury default win in the finals over India's Deepak PUNIA, Yazdani scored two wins via fall and a pair of technical superiority victories. 

At 125kg, Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO) defeated Olympic champion Taha AKGUL (TUR) in an epic heavyweight battle for the second time in the last three years. Petriashvili took down Akgul with under 20 seconds left to grab the 6-6 lead on criteria. The Georgian ultimatly held on to win his third consecutive world title. 

RESULTS (Click link to watch gold-medal matches)
57kg - Zavur UGUEV (RUS) df. Suleyman ATLI (TUR), 13-3 
61kg - Beka LOMTADZE (GEO) df. Magomedrasul IDRISOV (RUS), 12-2 
65kg - Gadzhimurad RASHIDOV (RUS) df. Daulet NIYAZBEKOV (KAZ), 11-0 
70kg - David BAEV (RUS) df. Nurkozha KAIPANOV (KAZ), 14-2 
74kg - Zaurbek SIDAKOV (RUS) df. Frank CHAMIZO MARQUEZ (ITA), 5-2 
79kg - Kyle DAKE (USA) df. Jabrayil HASANOV (AZE), 10-4 
86kg - Hassan YAZDANICHARATI (IRI) df. Deepak PUNIA (IND), via injury default 
92kg - J'den COX (USA) df. Alireza KARIMIMACHIANI (IRI), 4-0 
97kg - Abdulrashid SADULAEV (RUS) df. Sharif SHARIFOV (AZE), 4-0 
125kg - Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO) df. Taha AKGUL (TUR), 6-6 

Musa EVLOEV (RUS) (Photo: Tony Rotundo)

2. Evloev's Second World Title Helps Russia Claim Team Gold  
Though the Russian Federation failed to match their six gold-medal performance from last year’s Budapest World Championships, they did win two titles and had three wrestlers fall in gold-medal matches. Russia won the team title with 132 points -- which was 52 points ahead of second-place Uzbekistan. Russia's two Greco-Roman champions were Abuiazid MANTSIGOV (72kg) and Musa EVLOEV (97kg).

Of the five returning world champions that graced Russia’s Nur-Sultan lineup, Evloev was the only wrestler to win back-to-back world titles. He was handed the gold medal after three-time world and Olympic champion Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM) injury defaulted out of the finals due to an apparent rib injury he suffered during his semifinals match. 

Mantsigov took down Aram VARDANYAN (UZB), 9-0, in the gold-medal match in the non-Olympic weight of 72kg.  

Uzbekistan had a silver medalist, a pair of bronzes and two fifth-place finishers and wrapped up their tournament in second place with 80 points.

Georgia rounded out the top three in the Greco-Roman team standings. Though they were at non-Olympic weights, Georgia’s Nugzari TSURTSUMIA (GEO) and Lasha GOBADZE (GEO) claimed titles -- catapulting their nation to the third spot in the final standings with 79 points.

In the 55kg finals, Tsurtsumia dominated Khorlan ZHAKANSHA (KAZ), 9-0, and won his first career world title at the senior level after winning the U23 world title a year ago. Gobadze, the winner of the 82kg gold medal, edged Rafig HUSEYNOV (AZE), 5-3, and won his first career world title in any division after medaling four times at age-group World Championships.

Kenichiro FUMITA (JPN) will represent Japan at 60kg at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo: Tony Rotundo)

Japan matched Russia's Greco-Roman gold-medal output by winning a pair of titles over reigning world champions.

Kenichiro FUMITA (JPN) locked up his spot on Japan's Olympic team after upsetting the reigning world champion Sergey EMELIN (RUS) ,10-5, in the 60kg finals. Shinobu OTA (JPN) gave Japan their second upset win over a reigning world champion when he defeated Stepan MARYANYAN (RUS), 10-4, in the 63kg finals. 

With Fumita locking up his spot on Japan's Olympic team at 60kg, Ota will be forced to move up to the Olympic weight of 67kg if he has hopes of bettering his Olympic silver medal from the Rio Olympic Games. 

In arguably the most impressive run to a world title, Olympic champion Ismael BORRERO MOLINA (CUB) knocked off four world champions to establish himself as the best in the world at 67kg. The Cuban's Nur-Sultan gold-medal run went through three-time world champion Frank STAEBLER (GER), two-time world champion RYU Hansu (KOR), U23 world champion Mohamed ELSAYED (EGY), and finally, reigning world champion Artem SURKOV (RUS). 

Borrero is now a two-time world and Olympic champion. 

Turkey’s Riza KAYAALP won his fourth world title. The Turkish superstar improved on his 15th-place finish from last year’s World Championships where he was fell in the opening round. On his way to a fourth world title, Kayaalp navigated a road that went through three world medalists, Yasmani ACOSTA FERNANDEZ (CHI), Iakobi KAJAIA (GEO) and Oscar PINO HINDS (CUB). Kayaalp topped off the finals with a 3-1 win over Cuba’s now-two-time world medalist Oscar Pino Hinds. 

RESULTS (Click link to watch gold-medal matches)
55kg - 
Nugzari TSURTSUMIA (GEO) df. Khorlan ZHAKANSHA (KAZ), 9-0 
60kg - Kenichiro FUMITA (JPN) df. Sergey EMELIN (RUS), 10-5 
63kg - Shinobu OTA (JPN) df. Stepan MARYANYAN (RUS), 10-4
67kg - Ismael BORRERO MOLINA (CUB) df. Artem SURKOV (RUS)  , 3-1 
72kg - Abuiazid MANTSIGOV (RUS) df. Aram VARDANYAN (UZB), 9-0 
77kg - Tamas LORINCZ (HUN) df. Alex KESSIDIS (SWE), 8-0 
82kg Lasha GOBADZE (GEO) df. Rafig HUSEYNOV (AZE), 5-3 
87kg  Zhan BELENIUK (UKR) df. Viktor LORINCZ (HUN), 2-1 
97kg Musa EVLOEV (RUS) df. Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM), via injury default 
130kg Riza KAYAALP (TUR) df. Oscar PINO HINDS (CUB), 3-1 

Rio Olympic champion Risako KAWAI (JPN) celebrates winning her third world title. (Photo: Kadir Caliskan)

3. Kawai's Third World Title Pushes Japan Past Russia in Women's Wrestling Team Race 
Per usual, Japan won the women’s wrestling team title. But it wasn’t in normal Japanese fashion. Usually, the most dominant women’s wrestling nation walks away with the team title, but they had to fight and claw their way to the team title in Nur-Sultan. Last year in Budapest, Japan had four champs and cruised to a 37 points advantage over second-place China. But this year, the margin of victory narrowed to only 29 points ahead of second-place Russia. 

Risako KAWAI (JPN) was the lone Japanese woman to win a world title in Nur-Sultan. She furthered her case to be included in the discussion as the pound-for-pound top-ranked wrestler in the world. Since dropping the 2015 world finals, Kawai has won three world titles and a gold medal at the Rio Olympic Games. This is in addition to defeating four-time Olympic champion and arguably the greatest women’s wrestler ever, Kaori ICHO (JPN), to secure her spot on Japan’s Nur-Sultan world team. 

Meanwhile, the United States had a trio of champions in Jacarra WINCHESTER (USA), Tamyra MENSAH (USA) and Adeline GRAY (USA). For Winchester (55kg) and Mensah (68kg), it was their first time winning a world title. But for Gray, this was the fifth time that she cemented herself as the top wrestler in the world at her respective weight class. 

Mariya STADNIK (AZE), one of the most credentialed women’s wrestlers ever, finally won her second world title. Her win in Nur-Sultan came one decade after winning her first world title. The three-time Olympic medalist and six-time world medalist tallied a 13-0 win over Emilia VUC (ROU) in the 50kg finals. 

RESULTS (Click link to watch gold-medal matches)
50kg - 
Mariya STADNIK (AZE) df. Emilia Alina VUC (ROU), 13-0 
53kg - Yong Mi PAK (PRK) df. Mayu MUKAIDA (JPN), 12-1 
55kg - Jacarra Gwenisha WINCHESTER (USA) df. Nanami IRIE (JPN), 5-3 
57kg - Risako KAWAI (JPN) df. Ningning RONG (CHN), 9-6 
59kg - Linda MORAIS (CAN) df. Liubov OVCHAROVA (RUS), via fall
62kg - Aisuluu TYNYBEKOVA (KGZ) df. Taybe Mustafa YUSEIN (BUL), 5-3 
65kg - Inna TRAZHUKOVA (RUS) df. Iryna KOLIADENKO (UKR), 13-0 
68kg - Tamyra MENSAH (USA) df. Jenny FRANSSON (SWE), 8-2
72kg - Natalia VOROBEVA (RUS) df. Alina BEREZHNA STADNIK MAKHYNIA (UKR), 4-2 
76kg - Adeline Maria GRAY (USA) df. Hiroe MINAGAWA SUZUKI (JPN) , 4-2 

4. Five History-Making Performances From Nur-Sultan
The World Championships were filled with countless memorable moments, but there were five that top all others -- mainly because they were history-making performances.

In women’s wrestling, Aisuluu TYNYBEKOVA (KGZ) and Yong Mi PAK (PRK) defeated reigning world champions and became their nation’s first-ever women’s wrestling world champions. Pak reached the top of the podium at 53kg and Tynybekova won the 62kg gold medal.

Aisuluu TYNYBEKOVA (KGZ) defeated reigning world champion Taybe YUSEIN (BUL) and became Kyrgyzstan’s first-ever women's wrestling world champion. (Photo: Kadir Caliskan)

Tynybekova became Kyrgyzstan’s first medalist in Paris when she finished with a bronze medal. In Nur-Sultan, Tynybekova upset reigning world champion Taybe YUSEIN (BUL) with a late takedown and became Kyrgyzstan’s first world champion. 

Yong Mi Pak also picked up an upset win over a reigning world champion to win her country’s first world title. Pak scored the stunning 12-1 win over two-time world champion Mayu MUKAIDA (JPN) in the 53kg finals and handed the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s their first women’s wrestling world title.

Myles AMINE (SMR) finished in fifth place at 86kg and locked up San Marino's first freestyle trip to the Olympic Games. (Photo: Tony Rotunod)

In freestyle, the duo of best friends who attend the University of Michigan, Stevan MICIC (SRB) and Myles AMINE (SMR), sealed up their nation’s first-ever freestyle Olympic Games berths after finishing in fifth place at 57kg and 86kg, respectively. Micic locked up Serbia's spot at the Olympic Games with an 8-0 win over Givi DAVIDOVI (ITA) in the repechage round. He ultimately fell short in the bronze-medal bout against reigning world runner-up Nurislam SANAYEV (KAZ). Amine handed San Marino their first trip to the Olympic Games with a 4-2 quarterfinals win over Germany's Ahmed DUDAROV.

Also in freestyle, Stefan REICHMUTH (SUI) made history for Switzerland after defeating Carlos IZQUIERDO (COL), 3-0, in the bronze-medal bout at 86kg. With his win over the Colombian wrestler, Reichmuth became the first Swiss wrestler to ever medal at a World Championships. 

5. October to Feature Veteran and U23 World Championships  
The Cadet, Junior and Senior World Championships are well behind us, but October is set to feature the Veteran and U23 World Championships. The Veteran World Championships will be up first. The six-day freestyle and Greco-Roman tournament will start on October 8 in Tbilisi, Georgia. The fifth and final World Championships, the U23 World Championships, will begin on October 23 in Budapest, Hungary. 

As always, the final two World Championships can be followed live on www.unitedworldwrestling.org. 

Weekly FIVE! In Social Media

1. Freestyle Olympic qualifiers 
2. Women's Wrestling Olympic qualifiers 
3. Greco-Roman Olympic qualifiers 
4. Big Move Monday -- @melonin_97 (FRA) -- Senior Worlds 2019
5. #TBT - Olympic Champs SHARIFOV (AZE) and SNYDER (USA) Battle