#WrestleTokyo

#WrestleTokyo Olympic Games Preview: 65kg

Thursday, July 29, 2021 - 15:57 By Eric Olanowski

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TOKYO, Japan (July 21) – Top-seeded Gadzhimurad RASHIDOV (RUS) headlines the loaded 65kg bracket that'll feature fellow world champions Takuto OTOGURO (JPN) and Haji ALIYEV (AZE) and six other world-medal holders.

Rashidov, who captured a world title in '19 after falling in the gold-medal match in back-to-back years, is seeded No. 1. The other trio of seeded wrestlers included '19 world-medal winners Bajrang BAJRANG (IND), Daulet NIYAZBEKOV (KAZ) and Iszmail MUSZUKAJEV (HUN).

Punia, a three-time world medalist -- including an '18 world finalist -- is seeded No. 2 at 65kg. He heads into the Tokyo Olympic Games looking to become the fourth Indian freestyle wrestler to win an Olympic medal. He'd join Kha-Shaba JADAV (IND), Sushil KUMAR (IND) and Yogeshwar DUTT (IND). 

Following his 13th place at the '17 World Championships, Punia finished on the podium in 19 consecutive events. The high-paced Indian superstar won a pair of world medals during that span, a quartet of Asian championships medals -- including a gold in '19 -- and four Ranking Series titles.

Niyazbekov is seeded third at 65kg. The 32-year-old Zhanakorgan, Kazakhstan native, is a two-time world medalist. He claimed bronze at the '11 World Championships, then reached the world finals in '19 with a thrilling 9-9 criteria win over Bajrang. However, Niyazbekov ultimately fell to Rashidov in the gold-medal match and settled for a runner-up finish in his home country. 

But Niyazbekov will be on the same side of the bracket as second-seeded Punia. The pair have split their last two meetings. The Kazakh won in Nur-Sultan, but most recently, Punia evened up the rivalry with a 10-0 win at the Ali Aliev Tournament in Kaspiisk, Dagestan. 

Hungary's Muszukajev is seeded fourth at the weight. The former Russian-turned-Hungarian had a breakout performance at the '19 World Championships. The 28-year-old grabbed five victories -- including wins over world champion Takuto OTOGURO (JPN) and Olympic champion Vladimir KHINCHEGASHVILI (GEO) -- en route to winning a world bronze medal. He'll sit on the top side of the bracket with Rashidov, who beat him in the world semifinals, 3-2.

Other world-title holding threats outside of Rashidov to pay attention to are Ototguro and Aliyev. Fans should also keep an eye on multiple-time world medalists and outside threats Alejandro Enrique VALDES TOBIER (CUB) Magomedmurad GADZHIEV (POL).

A year after becoming Japan's youngest-ever freestyle world champion, Takuto Otoguro went 3-2 at the '19 World Championships and finished fifth. But since that upsetting finish in Nur-Sultan, the 22-year-old who hails from Fuefuki, Japan, has won three consecutive competitions. He won the '19 Japan Championships and downed Bajrang in the finals at back-to-back Asian Championships to claim gold.

Aliyev, Azerbaijan's first-ever three-time world champion, seems to be finding his stride up at 65kg. After winning a bronze medal in Rio at 57kg, the 30-year-old ascended from 61kg to 65kg. He succeeded early at 65kg on the European level -- winning golds at the '18 European Championships and '19 European Games -- but failed to finish inside the top-10 at the '18 and '19 World Championships. But since his 12th-place finish at the '19 World Championships, Aliyev strung together podium finished at the Individual World Cup, World Olympic Qualifier and the Poland Open.

Gadzhiev, the now two-time Olympian, is a 70kg silver and bronze-medal finisher, respectively, at the '17 and '19 World Championships. After winning '20 titles at the European Championships, Poland Open and Individual World Cup, the 33-year-old, originally from Gurubki, Karabudakhkentsky, Dagestan, appeared at 65kg for the European Olympic Qualifier. He reached the semifinals but lost to eventual champion Vazgen TEVANYAN (ARM) before injuring defaulting out to a fifth-place finish. 

Less than two months later, at the World Olympic Qualifier, Gadzhiev bounced back and scored five wins en route to earning a 65kg berth to Tokyo. 

Valdes Tobier will return to competition for the first time in 17 months. Due to the pandemic, the '17 and '18 world bronze medalist hasn't competed since punching his ticket to Tokyo with a first-place finish at the '19 Pan-American Olympic Qualifier. 

Tokyo will be the 32-year-old Cuban's second Olympic Games. He finished in seventh-place at the '16 Rio Olympic Games.

Meanwhile, despite being enrobed with world champs and medalists across the bracket, one of the biggest favorites to contend for 65kg gold is Armenia's red-hot Vazgen Tevanyan.

Since falling to Otoguro in the second round at the '19 World Championships, Tevanayan has transformed himself into a completely different wrestler -- and it all started with his magical Individual World Cup performance. In Belgrade, 21-year-old won five matches and capped off his run with a 9-1 thumping of then-reigning world bronze medalist Iszmail MUSZUKAJEV (HUN).  

He extended his win streak to nine consecutive matches after punching his ticket to his first Olympic Games with wins over Olympic champion Vladimir KHINCHEGASHVILI (GEO), three-time world champ Aliyev and two-time world medalist Magomedmurad GADZHIEV (POL) at the European Olympic Qualifier. 

Wrestling at the Tokyo Olympic Games kicks off August 1-7 at the Makuhari Messe with 65kg action beginning on August 6.

65kg
No. 1 Gadzhimurad RASHIDOV (RUS)
No. 2 Bajrang BAJRANG (IND)
No. 3 Daulet NIYAZBEKOV (KAZ)
No. 4 Iszmail MUSZUKAJEV (HUN)
Takuto OTOGURO (JPN)
Tulga TUMUR OCHIR (MGL)
Adama DIATTA (SEN)
Haithem DAKHLAOUI (TUN)
Alejandro Enrique VALDES TOBIER (CUB)
Agustin Alejandro DESTRIBATS (ARG)
Vazgen TEVANYAN (ARM)
Haji ALIYEV (AZE)
Ernazar AKMATALIEV (KGZ)
Morteza Hassanali GHIASI CHEKA (IRI)
Magomedmurad GADZHIEV (POL)
Georgios PILIDIS (GRE)

marketing, #development

Wiebe inspires next gen at UWW-IIS camp in India

Saturday, February 15, 2025 - 08:21 By Vinay Siwach

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KARNATAKA, India (February 15) -- Erica WIEBE (CAN), the 2016 Rio Olympic champion, usually doesn't take it around but for her India trip, she made sure to pack her gold medal from Rio.

Call it luck, the gold medal turned out to be the highlight of her trip.

In India for a masterclass at the international women's wrestling camp organized by the Inspire Institute of Sport and United World Wrestling, Wiebe got mobbed by 50 young wrestlers as she showed them her medal. Wrestlers from Jordan, Estonia, South Africa, Mauritius, Mongolia, Kazakhstan and hosts India, all part of the camp, wanted to touch it, feel it and may be keep it.

"To see the looks on their faces and in their bodies responding to what it felt like to hold the kind of weight of your dream in your hand, I got emotional with them," Wiebe says. "It was so surreal for me to share the medal with the athletes because it brought me back to where I was at that time, and how it felt like winning an Olympic gold medal was just like this impossible dream that would never happen. It's really important for me to come here and do things like this to remind these women that, these crazy, unimaginable things are real. They can happen and to encourage them to continue to dream big."

No wrestler could walk away without a photo. A few even got emotional as they took the medal in their hands.

"God, I don't know how many times I have dreamt about that in the night," U17 world bronze medalist Lisette BOTTKER (EST) says. "When I got the medal on my hands, I was also trying not to cry but the feeling is awesome."

Maya QUTAISHAT (JOR) adds, "It seemed like the dreams of most of us wrestlers in front of us. Like getting the Olympic gold medal."

UWW and IIS organized the camp for wrestlers from around the world from January 15 to 31. It was hosted by IIS at it's world class facility in Vijayanagar, a township in Ballari district of north Karnataka, India.

Wiebe held a masterclass for the wrestlers along with training sessions with IIS head coach Amir TAVOKKALIAN, a former world silver medalist and Asian champion.

"It's a really amazing development opportunity for a young wrestlers from all around the world," Wiebe said. "There's several nations here, and it's so incredible to see the level of talent and passion of these young athletes. At the camp this week, we've had a number of sessions kind of leveraging different unique styles, having the different countries lead different warmups. We're here at the Inspire Institute of Sport which is a phenomenal world class facility. We don't have anything like this in Canada, there's very few facilities like this in the world. It's really exciting to see that India has this.

"Not only that, they have this for their athletes training, but they've invited many countries around the world to share in this moment and to leverage the resources that are available here on this site."

IIS President Manisha MALHOTRA also visited the camp and threw some light on the partnership with UWW to grow the sport.

"We're very passionate about the sport from an Indian ecosystem point of view," Malhotra said. "But what we realized is that, we need to start looking outside India to bring in expertise, look in partnerships. With that in mind, I think there was no better partner than UWW.

"They’ve done a phenomenal job with wrestling worldwide and growing the sport very well. The idea was to have a very good mix of people, whether they are from a very developed wrestling nation or from an underdeveloped wrestling nation, it needs to be a common platform where people can extract some sort of benefit for everybody. That was the main premise with what we worked with."

Apart from the training, wrestlers at the camp used the high performance center at IIS and indulged in sightseeing.

"Training here is very strong. We come out of the mat sweating a lot, and it's very tough," Qutaishat said, "The girls here are very high level. When I wrestle them, I learn a lot of techniques and so many things that I usually don't see back in my country. But I get to explore more as I go out to the camps."

Wiebe had an advice for all wrestlers, especially coming from smaller countries to the development camps.

"I told the athletes the goals are: to have fun, and to get better," Wiebe said. "And how do you do that? You find strength on the edge of failure. You have to put yourself on the line. Wrestling is not easy. You see it on the athletes bodies. They're pushing themselves to their limits, physically and mentally. They are tired. I remember being that way as an athlete. You always have to find another level to yourself."