#WrestleTokyo

#WrestleTokyo Olympic Games Preview: 50kg

By Ken Marantz

TOKYO, Japan (July 21) – In one of those wild twists of fate that adds to the appeal of sports, Yanan SUN (CHN) and Mariya STADNIK (AZE) can be indirectly credited with helping Yui SUSAKI (JPN) get to the Tokyo Olympics. 

Now those two and the rest of the field in the women's 50kg division will have to contend with the unintended result of their largesse. Although unseeded, Susaki will be the prohibitive favorite when they all take to the mat at Makuhari Messe on Aug. 6-7.

The story of the emotional roller coaster that Susaki took en route to her Olympic berth is well documented. How Susaki, the two-time world champion, had lost out to rival Yuki IRIE (JPN) for a place on the team to the 2019 World Championships. How Irie, who seemed a shoo-in for a medal in Nur-Sultan that would have automatically clinched an Olympic place for her, was dealt a wild 13-12 loss by Sun in the quarterfinals. How Sun then lost to Stadnik, thus denying Irie a place in the repechange and leaving 50kg as the only weight class in which Japan did not qualify. 

Most significantly, those falling dominoes reopened the door to Tokyo 2020 for Susaki, who avenged the loss to Irie at the national championships, thus earning the chance to qualify Japan at the Asian Olympic qualifying tournament. After a year delay and with her fate back in her own hands, she tore apart her opponents in Almaty last April to earn her first trip to the Olympics.

"It was a long, tough road to get on the [Olympic] team," Susaki said in a recent online press conference. "I feel like I've finally reached the start line."

The 33-year-old Stadnik goes into the competition as the top seed, and her 2019 world gold--which came exactly a decade after winning her only other world title--certainly makes her a contender for a fourth Olympic medal. 

But Susaki, who was named one of host country's flag-bearers for the opening ceremony, will firmly be the one to beat at Makuhari Messe, which is located just outside Tokyo in neighboring Chiba Prefecture, about 20 kilometers from her hometown of Matsudo.

The 22-year-old Susaki has lost just three matches in her entire career dating back to junior high school---all to Irie. Globally, she has been untouchable. Among her many laurels were three straight world cadet titles from 2014 to 2016, then a jump straight to senior world champion on 2017, which she repeated in 2018. She added world junior golds in 2018 and 2019. 

Along the way, Susaki has faced and beaten four of the 15 others entered in the Olympic 50kg field. She has defeated Sun three times, most recently at the 2019 World Cup; Stadnik twice, including in the final at the 2018 World Championships; Emilia VUC (ROU) twice; and Oksana LIVACH (UKR) once. And for the record, Susaki is 2-for-2 in meetings with Rio 2016 Olympic champion Eri TOSAKA (JPN).

"After it was decided that Tokyo would host the Olympics, all I could think about was that I wanted to win the gold medal in Tokyo," Susaki said.

Who can stop her?

For Stadnik, Susaki could be the next in a line of Japanese to spoil her dream of an Olympic gold. In the final at London 2012, Stadnik lost to Hitomi OBARA (JPN); four years later in Rio, Tosaka denied her the gold. Stadnik also has a bronze at Beijing 2008. 

This year, Stadnik has prepped for Tokyo with victories at the European Championships and Poland Open. At the latter, her run to the gold included wins over Vuc and Livach. 

China's Sun, despite her fifth-place finish at the 2019 worlds, cannot be discounted. The veteran is a wily, opportunistic wrestler, as she showed in the win over Irie, in which she scored 9 points on a pair of back suplexes that would have seemed right at home in a Greco match. And she gave Stadnik a run for her money in the semifinals, losing a close 6-4 decision.

Sun, 28, won her lone world title at 51kg in 2013, and was a bronze medalist at the Rio Olympics. She also has a world silver from 2012 and a bronze from 2018. 

Vuc goes into Tokyo as the No. 2 seed, helped by her silver medal at the 2019 worlds that only showed she was the best in the weaker half of the draw. She barely got past Valentina ISLAMOVA-BRIK (KAZ), erasing an 0-6 deficit to win 6-6 in the semifinals. In the final, she got hammered 13-0 by Stadnik.

Vuc, the world silver medalist behind Susaki in 2017, has had mixed results leading up to the Olympics this year. 

She beat Islamova-Brik for a bronze medal at the Matteo Pellicone Tournament and placed second at last month's Yasar Dogu, losing in the final to Miglena SELISHKA (BUL), who will be in Tokyo as winner of the European Olympic qualifier. But she also lost to Livach in the quarterfinals at the European Championship, and to Stadnik by technical fall in the first round at the Poland Open. 

No. 3 seed Livach was the 2019 European champion, beating Selishka in the final, and a 2018 world bronze medalist. This year, she placed fifth at the European Championships and lost to Stadnik in the final at the Poland Open.

Islamova-Brik, the No. 4 seed in Tokyo, earned her Olympic ticket by taking a bronze at the 2019 worlds. The Russian-born 29-year-old, who began competing for Kazakhstan in 2018, won the Asian title this year, albeit in the absence of Japanese and Chinese wrestlers, and placed third at the Poland Open. 

The two wild cards in the deck are Sarah HILDEBRANDT (USA) and Stalvira ORSHUSH (RUS), both of whom dropped down from higher weight classes and have had little or no past meetings with the others. 

Hildebrandt was the 2018 world silver medalist at 53kg, but missed out on qualifying in that weight class at the 2019 worlds after losing to Mayu MUKAIDA (JPN) in the quarterfinals and Vinesh PHOGAT (IND) in the repechage.

The 27-year-old dropped down to 50kg and, at the 2020 Matteo Pellicone, won the gold with a 4-2 victory over Vuc in the final. She then earned the Olympic spot for the U.S. at the Pan American Olympic qualifying tournament, which was held in early 2020 just as the coronavirus was beginning to surge. At the U.S. trials, she defeated Victoria ANTHONY (USA) to fill the spot herself.

Orshush replaced Ekaterina POLESHCHUK (RUS), who had secured Russia's Olympic place by winning a bronze medal at the 2019 worlds. Like Hildebrandt, she competed at 53kg in Nur-Sultan, but was dealt an early exit by Luisa VALVERDE (ECU). Orshush had defeated Poleshchuk for the Russian national title at 53kg earlier that year. 

The 29-year-old Orshush was a European bronze medalist at 53kg in 2020 and the European champion at 55kg this year. She was Russia's entry at 53kg at the European Olympic qualifying tournament, but lost in the semifinals.

The last major tournament in which she competed at a weight lower than 53kg was the 2013 World Junior Championships, where she won the 51kg silver medal.

When Susaki thought her Olympic dream had ended and had little motivation to practice, her coach encouraged her by saying that as long as there was "a 0.01 percent chance," she should never give up. 

She may be close to a 100-percent thing when it comes to winning the Olympic gold, but she knows as well as anyone that there is always someone out there ready to beat the odds.

Wrestling at the Tokyo Olympic Games kicks off August 1-7 at the Makuhari Messe with 50kg action beginning on August 6.

50kg
No. 1 Mariya STADNIK (AZE)
No. 2 Emilia Alina VUC (ROU)
No. 3 Oksana LIVACH (UKR)
No. 4 Valentina Ivanovna ISLAMOVA BRIK (KAZ)
Stalvira ORSHUSH (RUS)
Yanan SUN (CHN)
Sarra HAMDI (TUN)
Adijat Avorshai IDRIS (NGR)
Yusneylis GUZMAN LOPEZ (CUB)
Sarah Ann HILDEBRANDT (USA)
Miglena Georgieva SELISHKA (BUL)
Evin DEMIRHAN (TUR)
Yui SUSAKI (JPN)
Namuuntsetseg TSOGT OCHIR (MGL)
Seema SEEMA (IND)
Lucia Yamileth YEPEZ GUZMAN (ECU)

#WrestleTokyo

#WrestleTokyo Olympic Games Preview: 74kg

By Eric Olanowski

TOKYO, Japan (July 20) --- Despite donning a trio of multiple-time world champions, Zaurbek SIDAKOV (RUS) heads into the Tokyo Olympic Games as the front-runner to win 74kg Olympic gold after he stole the show at the '18 and '19 World Championships. He’s seeded No. 3 behind Frank CHAMIZO MARQUEZ (ITA) and Daniyar KAISANOV (KAZ), respectively.

He'd Join Buvaisar SAITIEV (RUS) as the only Russian wrestler to win 74kg Olympic gold.

Sidakov made his world-level debut for Russia's freestyle squad at the '18 World Championships and has reigned supreme over the field since then. The 26-year-old Beslan, North Ossetia-Alania native, entered the World Championships in Budapest relatively unknown but upset Olympic champion Jordan BURROUGHS (USA) and fellow two-time world champions Chamizo before ultimately winning gold. He repeated the feat a year later in Nur-Sultan. Sidakov stole the match from Burroughs for a second consecutive year after he scored a stepout with less than two seconds left. He followed that up with a second win over Chamizo and reached the top of the podium for a second consecutive year. He's yet to drop a match to a non-Russian opponent, all while claiming gold medals at the World Championships in '18 and '19, and '19 gold at the European Games and Ivan Yariguin Ranking Series event. 

Even though he's fallen to Sidakov in their previous two meetings, it's Chamizo, who just turns 29 on July 10, that's seeded first at the weight. The two-time world champion and Rio Olympic bronze medalist reached the top of the seeds at 74kg after winning gold at the '20 European Championships and silver medals at the '19 World Championships and '21 Poland Open Ranking Series event.

Kaisanov and Mostafa HOSSEINKHANI (IRI) are the other two seeded wrestlers at 74kg. 

Kaisanov, the 28-year-old Semey-born wrestler, is seeded second and sits on the same side of the bracket Sidakov. He originally placed fifth '19 World Championships to secure Kazakhstan's place at Tokyo Olympics but was upgraded to bronze in February 2020 after Zelimkhan KHADJIEV (FRA) tested positive for doping. 

Hosseinkhani is the fourth-seeded and will share the top side of the bracket with Frank Chamizo. Iran elected to roll with the 32-year-old over Younes EMAMI, who qualified the weight for Iran through his gold-medal performance at the Asian Olympic Qualifier. 

Meanwhile, Kyle 'Kid Dynamite' DAKE (USA) is the third two-time world champion on everyone's radar.

Dake strolls into Tokyo riding a 48 match win streak that dates back to mid-2018. During that run, the 30-years-old struck 79kg gold in back-to-back years while outsourcing his opponents 64-6.

After the '19 World Championships, Dake descended from the non-Olympic weight of 79kg to 74kg to make an Olympic run. The father-of-two punched his ticket to the Olympic Games on USA's freestyle squad with a pair of convincing wins over four-time world champion Burroughs at the United States Olympic Trials and earned his spot in Tokyo.

Other past world finalists include Jeandry GARZON CABALLERO (CUB), Franklin GOMEZ MATOS (PUR) and Avtandil KENTCHADZE (GEO).

Kenchadze was the most recent of the three to reach a finals match. The 25-year-old from Ambrolauri, Georgia, grabbed four wins at the '18 World Championships -- highlighted by victories over Rio Olympic bronze medalist Soner DEMIRTAS (TUR) and world bronze medalist Bekzod ABDURAKHMONOV (UZB) -- and reached the gold-medal match. However, he dropped a close 2-2 match against Sidakov and finished in second place.

When Gomez takes the mat in Tokyo, he'll be the first Puerto Rican to wrestle in three Olympic Games. The soon-to-be 35-year-old fell to his '11 world finalist opponent and eventual silver medalist Besik KUDUKHOV (RUS) in the first round of the London Olympic Games and finished in 15th-place. In Rio, he fell to eventual bronze medalist Ikhtiyor NAVRUZOV (UZB) and finished in 9th place.

At 37-years-old, Garzon Caballero will be wrestling in his second Olympic Games. The four-time world medalist and '07 finalist will compete in his first Games since the '08 Beijing Olympic Games, where he finished in fifth place. 

Outside of the heavy hitters at 74kg, a pair outside dark horses that could shake up the bracket are Bekzod ABDURAKHMONOV (UZB) and Mahamedkhabib KADZIMAHAMEDAU (BLR). 

Abdurakhmonov, known for his 11-1 thumping of Burroughs at the Rio Olympic Games, will look to improve on his fifth-place finish from Brazil. This year, the two-time world bronze medalist finished on the podium at the two events he's entered. He won a bronze meal at the International Ukrainian Tournament and a silver medal at the Asian Olympic Qualifier.

Kadimahamedau is another guy who can end the title hopes for a lot of guys. Since transferring to Belarus in '20, the 27-year-old Khushtada, Tsumadinsky, Dagestan-born wrestler, won gold at the European Championships and World Olympic Qualifier and finished in third place at the Individual World Cup. 

It’s also worth noting, on July 20, Azerbaijan replaced Khadzhimurad GADZHIYEV (AZE) with Turan BAYRAMOV (AZE).

Wrestling at the Tokyo Olympic Games kicks off August 1-7 at the Makuhari Messe with 74kg action beginning on August 5.

74kg
No. 1 Frank CHAMIZO MARQUEZ (ITA)
No. 2 Daniyar KAISANOV (KAZ)
No. 3 Zaurbek SIDAKOV (RUS)
No. 4 Mostafa Mohabbali HOSSEINKHANI (IRI)
Kyle Douglas DAKE (USA)
Keisuke OTOGURO (JPN)
Kamil RYBICKI (POL)
Amr Reda Ramadan HUSSEN (EGY)
Augusto MIDANA (GBS)
Jeandry GARZON CABALLERO (CUB)
Franklin GOMEZ MATOS (PUR)
Avtandil KENTCHADZE (GEO)
Turan BAYRAMOV (AZE)
Bekzod ABDURAKHMONOV (UZB)

Mahamedkhabib KADZIMAHAMEDAU (BLR)
Vasyl MYKHAILOV (UKR)