#WrestleTokyo

#WrestleTokyo Olympic Games Preview: 86kg

Thursday, July 29, 2021 - 19:15 By Eric Olanowski

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TOKYO, Japan (July 20) – Returning world and Olympic champion Hassan YAZDANICHARATI (IRI) is on the verge of becoming Iran’s first-ever two-time Olympic gold medalist, but his path to that historic feat will likely go through his biggest rival, David TAYLOR (USA).

The duo of headlining superstars are on a collision course for a third career meeting. Taylor earned hand-raining performances in each of their two colossal matchups.

Their first meeting took place at the ‘17 World Cup in front of an Iranian-friendly crowd in Kermanshah. The then-relatively unknown American gassed Yazdani in the second period and scored a stunning fall over the Iranian -- sparking one of the sport’s biggest rivalries. A year later, Taylor proved the Kermanshah match wasn't a fluke. After trailing by four points after the first period, Taylor outscored Yazdani 9-0 in the second period of their opening-round clash at the ‘18 World Championships en route to winning his world title.

But Yazdani, known as “The Greatest,'' reclaimed 86kg supremacy at the ‘19 World Championships after Taylor underwent season-ending surgery after tearing his ACL in an exhibition bout.

He easily blew through the 86kg bracket at the ‘19 World Championships. The 27-year-old picked up a pair of falls and technical superiority wins before earning an injury default in the gold-medal final against Deepak PUNIA (IND). It was Yazdani’s second world gold and fourth overall world medal. He won a silver medal in ‘15 and a bronze medal in ‘18. He backed that up with a 30-0 thumping of his three opponents at the Asian Championships. 

Tailing Yazdani in the other seeded positions will be Deepak PUNIA (IND), Myles AMINE (SMR) and Artur NAIFONOV (RUS). 

India’s 22-year-old phenom Punia is seeded second. A month after winning a junior world title, Punia shockingly reached the world finals with four wins before injury defaulting out of the gold medal match. 

When third-seeded Amine takes the mat, it’ll be the first time a wrestler from San Mario has competed at the Olympic Games. 

Naifonov rounds out the top four seeds at 86kg. The Ossetian-born 24-year-old has finished with a medal in his last ten competitions -- eight of which were golds -- and only dropped two matches during those ten tournaments. He fell to Yazdani en route to his world bronze medal finish and dropped his Russian National finals match against Dauren KURUGLIEV (RUS). Outsides of those losses, he’s won a pair of European and Russian National titles.

Outside of Taylor and the top-four seeded wrestlers, two guys to keep an eye on are Ali SHABANAU (BLR) and Boris MAKOEV (SVK). 

Shabanau, the 31-year-old Kizilyurt, Dagestan native, will return to the Olympic Games for the first time since the London Olympic Games. He’s a four-time world bronze medalist. His most recent medal finish was at the ‘18 World Championships.

Makoev is another guy with high-level experience that could cause an unexpected shakeup. He fell to Yazdani in the ‘17 world finals.

Wrestling at the Tokyo Olympic Games kicks off August 1-7 at the Makuhari Messe with 86kg action beginning on August 4.

86kg
No. 1 Hassan AliazamYAZDANICHARATI (IRI)
No. 2 Deepak PUNIA (IND)
No. 3 Myles Nazem AMINE (SMR)
No. 4 Artur NAIFONOV (RUS)
Stefan REICHMUTH (SUI)
Carlos Arturo IZQUIERDO MENDEZ (COL)
Ekerekeme AGIOMOR (NGR)
Fateh BENFERDJALLAH (ALG)
David Morris TAYLOR III (USA)
Pool Edinson AMBROCIO GREIFO (PER)
Ali SHABANAU (BLR)
Osman GOCEN (TUR)
Javrail SHAPIEV (UZB)
Zushen LIN (CHN)
Sohsuke TAKATANI (JPN)
Boris MAKOEV (SVK)

#WrestleAmman

Coles, Canada's first U17 world champ, wants to be an inspiration

Tuesday, December 17, 2024 - 15:38 By Vinay Siwach

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CANADA (December 16) -- "I am not a natural athlete." That's how Kaura COLES (CAN) describes herself. 

The 17-year-old seems to have as much clarity describing herself as she does wrestling on the mat.

She may not be the be a "natural", but she is the best in the world. At the U17 World Championships in Amman, Jordan, Coles became the first Canadian wrestler to win a gold medal. She won gold in the 53kg women's wrestling weight class.

But the odds did not favor Coles. No Canadian wrestler had reached the final at the U17 Worlds, forget winning gold. The last time Canada had a U20 or U17 world champ was in 2013. Coming into the tournament, Coles had a silver medal from the 2022 U17 Pan-Am Championships and a fifth-place finish at the Spain Grand Prix. 

So Coles wasn't favored to win a medal. Nor were the other seven Canadians entered. However, Coles did it. She was so precise in her wrestling, that her opponents were shocked to see her counter from negative positions.

Coles' win was one of the highlights of international wrestling in 2024 and a big boost for Canada and its wrestling after its medalless Olympics in Paris.

"I did not expect to do as well as I did,” she said later. “I can't predict the outcome of the match. The only thing I know for sure is that I'm going to work as hard as I possibly can every match."

In Amman, Coles began with two pins over Madkhiya USMANOV (KAZ) and Chloe BREWIS (RSA). She then went on to upset MUSKAN (IND) 12-3 in the quarterfinals, Isabelle GONZALES (USA) 8-3 in the semifinals and securing a fall in the finals against Nana KOZUKA (JPN), undeterred by names or a Japanese opponent.

Coles began wrestling when she was 11 years old when her father, Cory, took her to the gym because he did not want her to just sit around all day. Kaura is one of the 11 Coles siblings from Winnipeg. She is number six with five younger siblings and she coaches them as well.

"If you had watched me wrestling four years ago, you would have never thought I could have achieved anything. Worst wrestler by far," Coles told FloWrestling. "But I knew how to do a 2-on-1. So every match, every practice, I would be grabbing a 2-on-1. For six years I have been doing that and just developed and became very good from that position. [I do well] Tying up with people. I don't do well from space since I am a slow wrestler. I want to get an underhook or a 2-on-1."

She worked hard. Having wrestler siblings around her improved her as she had to keep up with the sibling rivalries growing in the house.

"I have to be a tough wrestler just to survive every day [with my brother]," she said. "But they all wrestled, my sisters wrestle too. Everyone works hard and it makes it a lot easier"

But in the beginning, Coles did not like the sport or working hard to be better at it.

“I did not like it at first because it’s a very hard sport," Coles told The Free Press. "Back then, I didn’t really like hard work because it’s hard to like that. But over time, I saw the benefits of putting in the hard work and seeing where it can get you."

Kaura COLES (CAN)Kaura COLES (CAN) defeated Nana KOZUKA (JPN) in the final. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kostadin Andonov)

So far, wrestling has made Coles a three-time national wrestling champion, U17 Pan-American silver medalist, North American Indigenous Games (NAIG) champion and of course, world champion.

But Coles wants to do more. As a Métis herself, she wants to inspire, coach, and promote Indigenous groups.

"I want to be an inspiration for the other Indigenous and Métis warriors in Canada," Coles said after winning the gold. "I don't wrestle for myself."

Coles' mother Michelle is a Métis, an Indigenous group in Canada, and has kept their culture in the house including learning French. Coles wore her Métis sash after the medal ceremony at the U17 Worlds.

"I wear my Métis sash whenever I can," she said. "I have other Indigenous people come up to me and tell me how I have inspired them. I'm so glad that I was able to represent."

Another one of Coles' is to be at the Olympics. Canada has won six medals at the Olympics in Women's Wrestling. But the last came in the 2016 Rio Olympics.

"My goal is to go to the next Olympics when I'm 21 years old and then I want to go to the Olympics after that," she said. "Then I will retire."