Award Season

2017 Women's Freestyle Matches of the Year

Sunday, December 31, 2017 - 19:29 By Eric Olanowski

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The best women’s wrestling matches of the year included two match-ups that pegged previous age-level and senior world champions against each other. The third match featured an ending with quite the proposal.

53kg World Championships GOLD: Vanesa KALADZINSKAYA (BLR) v. Mayu MUKAIDA (JPN)
Vanesa Kaldzinskaya showed no sign of panicking in the 53kg world finals, even while trailing 6-0. The 2012 world champion used a step out late in the first period to narrow Mukaida’s lead to five points. Her resilience was apparent throughout the match and eventually paid off with 10 seconds remaining as Kaldzinskaya’s four-point move gave her the 8-6 win.

75kg World Championships GOLD: Yasemin ADAR (TUR) v. Vasilisa MARZALIUK (BLR)
After picking up the first takedown, five-time world team member Yasemin Adar trailed on criteria heading into the second period. With under a minute to go, Adar used a late takedown to take the 4-4 lead on criteria. Adar tacked on one more point and won 5-4.

After Adar’s gold medal celebration, her boyfriend came on the mat, dropped to one knee and proposed to Yasemin.

63kg World Championships GOLD: Orkhon PUREVDORJ (MGL) v. Yuliia TKACH OSTAPCHUK (UKR)
In a battle of junior world champions, Orkhon Purevdorj needed three takedowns to defeat Yuliia Tkach Ostapchuk. Purevdorj picked up an early takedown in the first and led 2-1 after three minutes of action. Tkach Ostapchuk answered in the second period with a takedown of her own, but it was Purevdorj’s two second-period takedowns that gave her the 6-3 victory.

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UWW to continue tests for Greco-Roman tie-breaker rule

Thursday, June 19, 2025 - 11:18 By United World Wrestling Press

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (June 19) — The Technical Commission of United World Wrestling has decided to further test the tie-breaking rule for Greco-Roman bouts that end with a 1-1 score.

UWW had announced in March that it would test a new Greco-Roman rule at the European Championships in April. This rule awarded victory in a 1-1 Greco-Roman bout to the wrestler who scored the first technical point.

Testing at the European Championships in Bratislava, Slovakia yielded positive results. However, to fully evaluate the rule, the Commission agreed to conduct further tests at more events.

Beginning with the U15 European Championships in Caorle, Italy from June 25, all future events till the 2025 World Championships in Zagreb, Croatia will be conducted under the new rule which awards the victory to the wrestler who scored the first technical point if the match ends 1-1. This means that the 2025 World Championships in Zagreb will be part of the testing.

The change comes after it was unanimously acknowledged that the existing rule, which awards victory to the athlete who scores the last point, may unintentionally encourage passivity at the start of the bout. Wrestlers could strategically aim to secure a passivity point in the second period, ultimately winning the match without demonstrating consistent engagement throughout.

UWW once again stresses that the modification will be implemented exclusively for Greco-Roman and will apply only to matches that end with a 1-1 score. For all other score scenarios, the existing wrestling rules will remain in effect.