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African Championships: Battle for continental supremacy heats up

Wednesday, May 17, 2023 - 12:14 By Vinay Siwach

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HAMMAMET, Tunisia (May 15) -- With fresh memories from last year's African Championships, Tunisia will hope to win the women's wrestling team title, this year at home.

The African Championships got underway in Hammamet on Monday but the senior competition will be held on Friday and Saturday with Greco-Roman and women's wrestling on the first day and freestyle on the second.

Tunisia will have a chance to claim a team title in front of the home if it can repeat the performance from El Jadida. They won the title with 179 points over Nigeria which finished with 170 points.

Rio Olympics bronze medalist Marwa AMRI (TUN) will lead the charge with youngsters Zaineb SGHAIER (TUN) at 72kg and Khadija JLASSI (TUN) at 65kg. Siwar BOUSETA (TUN) at 59kg will also be a big medal hope. The absence of defending champ at 50kg Sarra HAMDI (TUN) may hurt the hosts but they will back the younger wrestlers in the squad.

Nigeria will be led by Blessing OBORUDUDU (NGR) who is going for a record 13th African title. She won unstoppable last year but has not competed since the 2022 World Championships in which she failed to win a medal.

Defending champion at 55kg Jumoke ADEKOYE (NGR) is back in the competition but 59kg champ and three-time world medalist Odunayo ADEKUOROYE (NGR) is missing from the list as she continues to sit off the competition since winning the Islamic Solidarity Games in August 2022.

Jumping up to 57kg Mercy ADEKUOROYE (NGR) would be hoping for back-to-back gold medals as she won the 53kg weight class last year. Esther KOLAWOLE (NGR) at 62kg, Ebipatei MUGHENBOFA (NGR) at 65kg and Hannah RUEBEN (NGR) at 72kg will try to be among the medals to push Nigeria to the top.

At 76kg, world silver medalist Samar HAMZA (EGY) will be eyeing another African title and she is the favorite in the weight class which has seen only four entries. Arianna XAVIER (CPV), Anta SAMBOU (SEN) and Ranim SAIDI (TUN) will be the challengers for Hamza.

Egypt pipped Algeria for both freestyle and Greco-Roman team titles despite the latter's spirited performances to win four golds in freestyle and five in Greco-Roman. In women's wrestling, Tunisia scored past Nigeria to win the team title.

But with the entry list finalized for the senior competition for the African Championships, it is clear that the contest will once again be between Egypt and Algeria.

Mohamed ELSAYED (EGY)Mohamed ELSAYED (EGY) is a bronze medalist from Tokyo Olympics. (Photo: UWW / Kadir Caliskan)

Egypt, Algeria favorites

In Greco-Roman, Egypt can take confidence from the fact that Olympic bronze medalist Mohamed ELSAYED (EGY) is back in the line-up as he prepares for the 2024 Paris Olympics. He will be competing at 67kg with the hope of leading his country to the team title.

Others on the team include 130kg defending champion Abdellatif MOHAMED (EGY), Haithem MAHMOUD (EGY) at 60kg, Yehia ABDELKADER (EGY) at 72kg and Mohamed KHALIL (EGY) at 77kg among others.

These wrestlers will be challenged by Mohamed DRIDI (ALG) at 55kg, 60kg champion Abdeldjebar DJEBBARI (ALG) who has moved to 63kg, silver medalist from 2022 Ishak GHAIOU (ALG) at 67kg and three other defending champs -- Abd OUAKALI (ALG) at 82kg, Bachir SID AZARA (ALG) at 87kg and Adem BOUDJEMLINE (ALG) at 97kg.

Freestyle followed a similar script in El Jadida as Algeria scripted a late comeback to give Egypt a score for the title but fell short.

But with gold medalists returning it will be interesting to see if Egypt can keep it at bay as it did with two points last year.

#WrestleBudapest

Budapest Ranking Series: Day 3, GR and WW Live Blog

Saturday, July 19, 2025 - 08:43 By Vinay Siwach

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BUDAPEST, Hungary (July 19) -- The Budapest Ranking Series enters day three with five Women's Wrestling weight classes and three Greco-Roman weight classes.

Till the World Championships, every competition will follow this rule for Greco-Roman

WATCH LIVE | LIVE MATCH ORDER | DAY 2 RESULTS

15:00: Another Hungarian Greco wrestler in the final as Darius Attila VITEK (HUN) pins Sarkhan MAMMADOV (AZE) in the semifinal. Marat KAMPAROV (UWW) beats Elias KUOSMANEN (FIN), 3-1 to book a place in the final against Vitek

14:45: It's Turpal BISULTANOV (DEN) vs David LOSONCZI (HUN) final at 87kg. Bisultanov beats Tamas LEVAI (HUN), 7-2, in the semifinal while Losonczi blanks Islam ABBASOV (AZE), 4-0.

14:35: Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE) drops his 72kg semifinal to Abdullo ALIEV (UZB), 5-3, and the Uzbekistan wrestler makes his way to the final. He will face Iuri LOMADZE (GEO) who beats Giorgi CHKHIKVADZE (GEO).

14:25: Aiperi MEDET KYZY (KGZ) suffers a upset loss to Thamires MARTINS (BRA) who beat the Kyrgyz 10-5 and enter the final. Martins will have PRIYA (IND) for the gold-medal bout.

14:15: Noemi SZABADOS (HUN) gives the local fans a huge moment to cheer by beating Brooklyn HAYS (USA) 10-0 in the 68kg semifinal. She will face Kennedy BLADES (USA) in the final after Blades beat Yuliana YANEVA (BUL) 6-2.

14:00: Irina RINGACI (MDA) takes less than a minute to gut-wrench Eniko ELEKES (HUN) and storm into the 65kg final. She will face Grace BULLEN (NOR) in the final after the Norwegian secured a come-from-behind fall over Macey KILTY (USA). Bullen was leading 6-5 before she tried a throw from bad position and conceded four points. Kilty had her in fall position but did not finish. Both tried a headlock in the second period and while Kilty scored four, Bullen scored reversal and kept the headlock to pin Kilty just in time.

Last time Ringaci and Bullen met, Bullen defeated the Moldovan.

13:50: Amina TANDELOVA (UWW) rolls to an 11-0 win over Krystsina SAZYKINA (UWW) in the first semifinal at 62kg. She will face Alina KASABIEVA (UWW) in the final after she defeated Ana GODINEZ (CAN) 12-9 in the other semifinal.

Semifinals will begin shortly

13:25: David LOSONCZI (HUN) uses all his strength to get past world U20 champion Islam YEVLOYEV (KAZ) and reach the 87kg semifinals. Yevloyev scored a suplex from par terre to lead 5-0 before Losonczi rallied back.

He scored a stepout and then from par terre, he scored a correct throw for two points. Yevloyev committed a foul and was docked two points. Losonczi ultimately won 9-5.

13:10: Hasrat JAFAROV (AZE) gets a correct challenge with 3 seconds left in the bout to win his 72kg quarterfinal against Merey MAULITKANOV (KAZ). Jafarov was down 3-3 on criteria but scored exposure points with 3 second left which were not awarded and Azerbaijan challenged.

12:55: Turpal BISULTANOV (DEN) with a first-period victory over Alan OSTAEV (UWW) to make it to the 87kg semifinal. A big four-pointer at the start and then scoring from par terre for the win for Bisultanov.

12:50: Ana GODINEZ (CAN) with a reversal takedown on Bilyana DUDOVA (BUL) after a scramble and Godinez scores a fall! What an incredible victory for Godinez after Dudova had taken a 4-4 criteria lead.

12:45: A fall for Aiperi MEDET KYZY (KGZ) over Dymond GUILFORD (USA) at 76kg with six seconds left. Guilford was leading 4-0 and but Medet Kyzy scores a takedown to cut it to 4-2 before getting Guilford on the mat and securing the fall

12:35: Grace BULLEN (NOR) survives a pin against Kadriy AKSOY (TUR) to recover and win 12-2 in her 65kg bout. That was really close for Bullen there.

12:20: Macey KILTY (USA) takes up all six minutes of her bout but manages to beat Aleah NICKEL (CAN) 10-0 at 65kg.

11:45: Marcel STERKENBURG (NED) got the first point against Islam ABBASOV (AZE) but then told the referee that he is unable to continue. He had suffered a rib injury at the Thor Masters.

11:40: Kennedy BLADES (USA) can't stop doing the suplex! She opens her Budapest campaign with a suplex, this time over Alina SHEVCHENKO (UWW) and then laces her for a 10-0 win in just over a minute at 68kg.

11:30: Turpal BISULTANOV (USA) with a correct throw from par terre and he easily manages to beat Bachir SID AZARA (ALG), 4-1, at 87kg.

11:20: Brooklyn HAYS (USA) with a takedown in the final 10 seconds to beat world champion Buse TOSUN (TUR) at 68kg, 6-5. Tosun really disappointed with that and takes her time to return to center

11:10: Ana GODINEZ (CAN), who will be in Zagreb for the World Championships, pulls off a 6-5 win over Adaugo NWACHUKWU (USA) at 62kg. Big win for Godinez over U.S. representative for the World Championships.

10:55: Aleksandr KOMAROV (SRB) and David LOSONCZI (HUN) are paired in the opening round at Greco-Roman 87kg. Losonczi gets the first par terre advantage but fails to turn. However, he had criteria having the first point. Losonczi scored a stepout to take a clear 2-1 lead and won.

10:40: Former world U23 champion Exauce MUKUBU (NOR) gets a turn from par terre and beats Payton JACOBSON (USA) 4-1 at 87kg to get things going.

10:30: Women's Wrestling in 55kg, 62kg, 65kg, 68kg, and 76kg and Greco-Roman 72kg, 87kg and 130kg in action in Budapest on Saturday.