European Games

Aleksanyan Looks to Add European Games Gold to Resume

Saturday, June 29, 2019 - 18:06 By United World Wrestling Press

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MINSK, Belarus (June 29) - Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM) has won gold medals at the Olympic Games, World Championships and European Games. Now the 27-year-old Armenian stands one win away from winning a gold medal at the European Games.

Competing in his first European Games, Aleksanyan won three matches on Saturday to earn a spot in the 97kg finals. He trailed in his first two matches before battling back to win. In his semifinal match, Aleksanyan faced two-time U23 world champion Aleksandr GOLOVIN (RUS). 

This time Aleksanyan led the entire time, jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the opening period, scoring off a passivity and then a gut wrench. He held on to win 3-1. Aleksanyan will face Aliaksandr HRABOVIK (BLR) in the gold-medal match at 97kg. Hrabovik shut out Olympic bronze medalist Cenk ILDEM (TUR) 2-0 in the semifinals.

Two world No.1's competed in Saturday's semifinals, with one winning and the other losing. 

World No. 1's Zhan BELENIUK (UKR), a 2015 world champion and 2016 Olympic silver medalist, came back to defeat Radzik KULIYEU (BLR) 3-1 in the semifinals at 87kg. Kuliyeu led 1-0 at the break after scoring with a passivity point, but Beleniuk battled back in the second period to win, scoring off a passivity point and then with a gut wrench. He will meet Islam ABBASOV in the 87kg finals. Abbasov, a two-time U23 world medalist, shut out Ivan HUKLEK (CRO) 5-0 in the semifinals. 

At 130kg, Kiryl HRYSHCHANKA (BLR) stunned world No.1 Sergey SEMENOV (RUS) 3-1 in the semifinals. The Russian Olympic medalist scored first off a passivity and held a 1-0 lead at the break. But with the home crowd cheering on Hryshchanka, the Belarusian Greco-Roman heavyweight scored three points in the final period to secure a spot in Sunday's gold-medal. He will face Iakobi KAJAIA (GEO) in the finals. Kajaia, a European silver medalist, advanced to the finals with a fall over world No.7 Oskar MARVIK (NOR).

RESULTS

Greco-Roman

87kg
GOLD - Islam ABBASOV (AZE) vs. Zhan BELENIUK (UKR)
SEMIFINAL - Islam ABBASOV (AZE) df. Ivan HUKLEK (CRO), 5-0
SEMIFINAL - Zhan BELENIUK (UKR) df. Radzik KULIYEU (BLR), 3-1

97kg
GOLD - Aliaksandr HRABOVIK (BLR) vs. Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM)
SEMIFINAL - Aliaksandr HRABOVIK (BLR) df. Cenk ILDEM (TUR), 2-0
SEMIFINAL - Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM) df. Aleksandr GOLOVIN (RUS), 3-1

130kg
GOLD - Kiryl HRYSHCHANKA (BLR) vs. Iakobi KAJAIA (GEO)
SEMIFINAL - Kiryl HRYSHCHANKA (BLR) df. Sergey SEMENOV (RUS), 3-1
SEMIFINAL - Iakobi KAJAIA (GEO) df. Oskar MARVIK (NOR), Fall (1:02)
 

#WrestleTirana

Breaking down freestyle battles at World Championships for Non-Olympic weights

Wednesday, October 16, 2024 - 09:44 By Vinay Siwach

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TIRANA, Albania (October 15) -- Six months ago, no one had the Sadulaev-Taylor-Ghasempour three-way battle for world title on their bingo card. But it is about to go down in Tirana.

The World Championships in non-Olympic weight classes is returning after eight years. Despite the fact that none of the Paris Olympic participants were allowed in the tournament, it still has a host of stars hoping to become world champions.

Abdulrashid SADULAEV (AIN), a two-time Olympic and five-time world champion, did not participate in the Paris Olympics and is going down a weight class to 92kg in a bid to earn his sixth world title. Three-time world champion David TAYLOR (USA) jumped from 86kg to 92kg in a bid to compete at the World Championships. He now gets a shot at Sadulaev. Two-time world champion at 92kg Kamran GHASEMPOUR (IRI), who has been moving up and down in weight classes, has somehow been made the challenger.

Ghasempour participated in the 97kg weight class in the Zagreb Open but lost to Kyle SNYDER (USA). He was in line for Iran's 86kg spot for Paris but later opted out of a trial against Hassan YAZDANI (IRI).

Sadulaev lost a bout for the second time in his career and first in six years when he lost to Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN) at the 2023 World Championships. Taylor lost to Aaron BROOKS (USA) in the U.S. Olympic trials and Ghasempour barely scraped through in the trials for the world team in Iran.

Yet, the three will be the favorite for the gold medal and it will only be a surprise if any of them miss out on the podium in Tirana.

Jordan BURROUGHS (USA)Jordan BURROUGHS (USA) is eyeing his seventh world title. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Six-time world champion Jordan BURROUGHS (USA) is also chasing history. If he wins, he will win his seventh world title, making him the most successful American wrestler at the World Championships. He missed out on competing at the 2023 World Championships but stormed back in 2024, winning the trial in the United States.

But his path to gold won't be an easy one. Two-time U23 world champion Magomed MAGOMAEV (AIN), former world silver medalist Avtandil KENTCHADZE (GEO), three-time world medalist Mohammad NOKHODI (IRI) and Asian champion Kota TAKAHASHI (JPN) are also in the fray.

Nokhodi and Burroughs have wrestled in two back-to-back World Championships finals with the latter winning both. But Burroughs suffered his first loss to an Iranian in 2022 when Ali SAVADKOUHI (IRI) defeated him at the World Cup and Nokhodi will draw confidence from there.

All the big names will be looking to hand Burroughs his first World Championships loss since 2019.

Vitali ARUJAU (USA)Vitali ARUJAU (USA) is the defending world champion at 61kg. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Another Olympic champion eyeing a world title will be Zavur UGUEV (AIN) as he last won the second of two titles in 2019. Uguev won gold at the Tokyo Olympics at 57kg but finished fifth at the 2023 World Championships. He will be at 61kg in Tirana hoping to deny defending world champion Vitali ARUJAU (USA) a second world title.

Arujau won his first world gold medal in 2023 by beating Abasgadzhi MAGOMEDOV (AIN) in a tense final. He won the team trials in the U.S. to confirm his name for the World Championships in Tirana.

An interesting name entered is Azamat TUSKAEV (SRB). The former European champion will turn out for Serbia at 61kg but it is unlikely that he will be challenging for gold.

Masanosuke ONO (JPN), however, can be a big threat for the gold medal given his style and pace of wrestling. He rocked the competition at the U20 World Championships last month and won gold at 61kg. It will be interesting to see how he fares at his first senior World Championships.

Asian Championships silver medalist UDIT (IND) and Taiyrbek ZHUMASHBEK UULU (KGZ) have some good wins under their belts over the past two years and they would like to make a mark in Tirana.

Inalbek SHERIEV (AIN)Inalbek SHERIEV (AIN) and Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN) wrestled in the U23 World Championships final last year. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

U23 world and European champion Inalbek SHERIEV (AIN) will be making his senior international debut at 70kg in Tirana and will be the favorite to win the gold medal. However, the field has other top contenders like Amirmohammad YAZDANI (IRI), Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN) and James GREEN (USA) among others.

Yazdani lost the final at 70kg last year to Zain RETHERFORD (USA) but will look to make amends this year. He won the Asian Championships over Aoyagi in a high-scoring final. Yazdani's 13-9 win over Aoyagi was not convincing and the Japanese will look to change the result if the two meet in Tirana. Aoyagi was in the final against Sheriev but dropped the final 9-3. He finished eighth at the World Championships in 2023.

Former U20 world champion for Iran, Peiman BIABANI (CAN) will be turning out for Canada. He finished second at the Pan-Am Championships and the World Championships will be a big test for him. 2023 bronze medalist Ramazan RAMAZANOV (BUL) will look to change the color of his medal this year.