#WrestleFaenza

Azerbaijan Reaches Top of European Podium Twice on Day 2

Tuesday, June 18, 2019 - 19:13 By Eric Olanowski

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FAENZA, Italy (June 18) – Azerbaijan, led by Malik ALIYEV (AZE) and Nihat MAMMADLI (AZE), won a pair of Day 2 gold medals and head into the final day of Greco-Roman wrestling trailing first-place Russia by 23 points. 

The first Azerbaijani wrestler to claim the 25 first-place points was Malik Aliyev, who won the 48kg title by scoring five unanswered points against Russia's Damir KALAKUTOK. In the finals, Aliyev surrendered an inactivity point and a gut wrench and trailed his Russian opponent, 3-0. 
The tides quickly turned when the Azeri compiled five quick points. Aliyev scored his first points with an arm drag takedown, then coupled that with a gut wrench to gain the 4-3 lead.  He then racked up another point from a quick stepout and transitioned into the second period with the 5-3 lead. A scoreless second period ended the match with the same score that started the second period, 5-3, giving Aliyev his first continental title. 

The second Azeri to win a gold medal on the second day of wrestling at the Cadet European Championships was 2017 world silver medalist Nihat Mammadli. 

Mammadli quickly ended Hleb MAKARANKA's (BLR) magical European run with an 8-0 victory in the 55kg gold-medal bout. The Belarusian was coming off an opening day performance where he stopped defending European champion Dimitri KHACHIDZE (GEO) from reaching the top of the podium in back-to-back years. 

In the short-lived 55kg finals, Mammadli struck first with a lightning-quick arm drag for the match's first takedown. The action was blown dead, and when the wrestlers got back to their feet, Mammadli secured double underhooks, and threw the Belarusian with a picturesque back arch and picked up four points. Now leading 6-0, Mammadli lifted Makaranka near the out of bounds lines and was awarded two points for the correct throw, and ultimately the gold medal with the 8-0 shutout victory. 

Azerbaijan also collected 15 third-place points after Khasay HASANLI (AZE) bulldozed Nikoloz MARGVELASHVILI (GEO), 9-0 in the 65kg bronze-medal bout. 

Russia entered three wrestlers into the Day 2 finals but Imran BABOCHIEV (RUS) was the only one to reach the top of the podium. He won the 65kg title with an 8-6 over Muslim BARGA (TUR). (Photo: Kadir Caliskan)

Although Azerbaijan had the most champions on Day 2, they still trail Russia by 23 points heading into the final day of Greco-Roman wrestling. 

Russia, who leads with 88 points, had three wrestlers vying for a gold medal on day two, but Imran BABOCHIEV (RUS) was the only one who came out on the winning end of things. Babochiev trailed Muslim BARGA (TUR) 6-0 before scoring eight unanswered points to take the 65kg title with an 8-6 victory. 

Damir Kalakutok and Said MUSAEV (RUS) fell short in the 48kg and 110kg finals respectively, but still collected 20 second-place points. Russia also received 15 third-place points from Artem KOLESNIK (RUS) after he crushed Varuzhan ANTONYAN (ARM), 9-0 in the 55kg bronze-medal match. 

Armenia rounds out the top-three in the Greco-Roman team race after the second day of wrestling.  Armenia and Azerbaijan both have 65 points, but the Azeris hold criteria because of their two champions. 

Wrestling resumes tomorrow in Faenz, Italy, at 11:30 (local time) and can be followed on www.unitedworldwrestling.org. 

RESULTS

48kg
GOLD - Malik ALIYEV (AZE) df. Damir KALAKUTOK (RUS), 5-3 
BRONZE - Karapet MANVELYAN (ARM) df. Anatoliy KOTYK (UKR), 6-2 
BRONZE - Maksim STUPAKEVICH (BLR) df. Melkamu FETENE (ISR), 3-1 

55kg 
GOLD - Nihat MAMMADLI (AZE) df. Hleb MAKARANKA (BLR), 8-0 
BRONZE - Dimitri KHACHIDZE (GEO) df. Eduard STRILCHUK (UKR), 5-1 
BRONZE - Artem KOLESNIK (RUS) df. Varuzhan ANTONYAN (ARM), 8-0 

65kg
GOLD - Imran BABOCHIEV (RUS) df. Muslim BARGA (TUR), 8-6
BRONZE - Dzmitry BONKA (BLR) df. Arman KHACHIKYAN (ARM), 5-1
BRONZE - Nikoloz MARGVELASHVILI (GEO) df. Khasay HASANLI (AZE), 9-0 

80kg
GOLD – Vasile Daniel COJOC (ROU) df. Vigen NAZARYAN (ARM), 
BRONZE - Alexander JOHANSSON (SWE) df. Gabriel LUPASCO (MDA), 9-7 
BRONZE - Jonas Kjeldgaard MOELLER (DEN) df. Umut CELEM (TUR), 10-3 

110kg
GOLD - Mate GOKADZE (GEO) df. Said MUSAEV (RUS), 8-0 
BRONZE - Mykhailo VYSHNYVETSKYI (UKR) df. Razmik KURDYAN (ARM), via fall 
BRONZE - Omer AYGUL (TUR) df. Adolf BAZSO (HUN), 6-1 

#WrestleTirana

Defending champ Azizli among 3 Azerbaijan wrestlers to make finals

Monday, October 28, 2024 - 20:45 By Ken Marantz

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TIRANA, Albania (October 28) -- Olympics or not, the intensity is still the same as Eldaniz AZIZLI (AZE) drives for a third consecutive world title and fourth overall.

Azizli advanced to the final at Greco 55kg, one of three Azerbaijani wrestlers to make it to the four gold-medal matches on the opening day of the Non-Olympic Weight Categories World Championships on Monday in Tirana.

Joining Azizli in Tuesday's Greco finals will be Nihat MAMMADLI (AZE) at 63kg and Ulvi GANIZADE (AZE) at 72kg, the latter of whom will be facing defending champion Ibrahim GHANEM (FRA).

At 82kg, Mohammadali GERAEI (IRI) earned a shot at winning his first world gold to go with three bronzes he previously won at 71kg or 77kg. But younger brother and Tokyo Olympic champion Mohammadreza GERAEI (IRI) was dealt a stunning loss at 72kg, while reigning 63kg champion Leri ABULADZE (GEO) was knocked out in the quarterfinals. Neither one was pulled into the repechage and will leave Tirana empty-handed.

Azizli was virtually untouchable in storming into the 55kg final, easily putting away two-time European bronze medalist Denis MIHAI (ROU) 9-0 in the semifinals for his third technical fall of the day without conceding a point.

Azizli started with a front headlock for 2. Put on top in par terre, he executed a gut wrench, then ended the proceedings in 1:47 with a nifty 4-point throw for his third win in three career meetings with Mihai -- all by technical fall.

In the final, Azizli will face another familiar foe in Asian silver medalist Poya DAD MARZ (IRI), a bronze medalist in Budapest who advanced by defeating Emin SEFERSHAEV (AIN) with his second straight 1-1 victory.

Azizli, a two-time European champion and six-time medalist, is 3-0 in career clashes with Dad Marz, most recently beating him at the Budapest Ranking Series in June and including a 3-2 win in the semifinals at the 2023 worlds.

Mammadli, this year's European champion at 60kg, earned his first-ever berth in a world final when he powered to a 6-1 semifinal victory at 63kg over Tokyo Olympian Karen ASLANYAN (ARM), who knocked off Abuladze 5-2 in the second round.

Mammadli trailed 1-0 on a passivity point going into the second period when he came alive, using the aggressive Aslanyan's momentum to score 4 with a counter pancake, then used underhooks to drop him for 2 more.

Next up for the gold will be Asian champion Yerzhet ZHARLYKASSYN (KAZ), who made short work of Sadyk LALAEV (AIN), scoring a 4-point throw in the first 10 seconds of their semifinal and adding another with an arm throw to finish up an 8-0 win in exactly a minute.

Lalaev had won the final world qualifier for the Paris Olympics at 60kg, but was among those from Russia or Belarus who were either declared ineligible or decided not to participate.

At 72kg, 2022 world silver medalist Ganizade and the Egyptian-born Ghanem set up a rematch of the 2023 European final, which the Azeri won 7-7 in a nail-biter.

Ganizade, this year's European silver medalist, earned a shot at a world gold with a 6-0 victory over Asian bronze medalist Ji LENG (CHN), who had ousted two-time world bronze medalist Selcuk CAN (TUR) 3-1 in the quarterfinals.

After scoring a stepout, Ganizade gained a passivity point and, from par terre, hit a throw that didn't turn Leng but became 4 points when he kept driving and exposed the Chinese's back.

Ghanem came out on top 6-1 of an at-times-tempetous tussle with Iranian-born former world champion Ali ARSALAN (SRB), an opponent with whom he had split two previous encounters.

A pair of stepouts and a passivity point gave Ghanem a 3-0 lead going into the second period. An unsuccessful Serbian challenge when Arsalan was on top of par terre made it 4-1, then Ghanem put the bout on ice by spinning behind for a takedown.

Mohammadali GERAEI (IRI)Mohammadali GERAEI (IRI) made it to his World Championships final. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

At 82kg, the elder Geraei was on the receiving end of a passivity point in each period for a 2-0 win over European bronze medalist Gela BOLKVADZE (GEO). It was a far cry from his previous two matches when he had a 4-point throw in 7-2 and 14-6 victories.

Geraei, who took home world bronzes in 2017, 2019 and 2021 and finished fifth at the Tokyo Olympics, will face an impressive Erik SZILVASSY (HUN) in his first global final.

Szilvassy, already assured of his first major medal, scored 2 with an arm throw in the first period and held on for a 3-2 victory over Ahmet YILMAZ (TUR). Earlier, he defeated two-time world medalist Jalgasbay BERDIMURATOV (UZB) 6-1 in the quarterfinals.

The biggest shock of the day came three matches into the competition when the younger Geraei was knocked off 11-3 in the qualification round at 72kg by unheralded Benjamin PEAK (USA).

Geraei looked like it would be just another day at the office when the former world champion scored an early takedown. But Peak, whose lone major medal is a bronze from the 2019 Pan Am U20 Championships, came back with a takedown and throw that, with a 2-point leg penalty tacked on, gave him a 6-2 lead. Geraei cut the gap with a stepout just before the break.

Peak kept the pressure on and countered for another takedown, then caught Geraei in a lapse and bulled him backward for a 2-point exposure that ended the match with 30 seconds left.

When Peak fell in the next round to Dominik ETLINGER (CRO), it ended Geraei's hopes of adding to his full collection of world medals -- the 2021 champion also has a silver from 2022 and bronze from 2023, all at 67kg.

Geraei missed out on a chance to defend his Olympic title in Paris when he lost a playoff for Iran's spot at 67kg to Saeid ESMAELI (IRI), who kept the title in Iranian hands.

The tournament continues Monday with the women's competition through the semifinals at 55kg, 59kg, 65kg and 72kg before the Greco finals at night. Among those in action will be two-time Olympic champion Risako KINJO (JPN).

Day 1 Results

Greco-Roman

55kg (16 entries)
SF: Eldaniz AZIZLI (AZE) df. Denis MIHAI (ROU) by TF, 9-0, 1:47
SF: Poya DAD MARZ (IRI) df. Emin SEFERSHAEV (AIN), 1-1

63kg (21 entries)
SF: Nihat MAMMADLI (AZE) df. Karen ASLANYAN (ARM), 6-1
SF: Yerzhet ZHARLYKASSYN (KAZ) df. Sadyk LALAEV (AIN) by TF, 8-0, 1:00

72kg (28 entries)
SF: Ibrahim GHANEM (FRA) df. Ali ARSALAN (SRB), 6-1
SF: Ulvi GANIZADE (AZE) df. Ji LENG (CHN), 6-0

82kg (28 entries)
SF: Erik SZILVASSY (HUN) df. Ahmet YILMAZ (TUR), 3-2
SF: Mohammadali GERAEI (IRI) df. Gela BOLKVADZE (GEO), 2-0