#BeachWrestlingWorldSeries

Beach Wrestlers Inam, Marsigashvilli on Golden Collision Course

Friday, May 10, 2019 - 21:23 By Tim Foley

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RIO DE JANEIRO (May 10) – With 6000 miles of travel logged in the past 48 hours, Muhammed INAM (PAK) should have limped onto the Rio sand and groggy and bleary eyed. But on Friday afternoon, the two-time defending Beach Wrestling World Champion showed no signs of fatigue, winning his opening two matches.

Inam, who cruised 3-0 in the opening round, ran up against experienced wrestler Kanan ALIYEV (AZE) in the second round. The match started slow, but Inam exploded with a flurry of action at the edge of the circle to earn a one-point step out on a three-point takedown attempt that was deemed out of bounds. Inam would control the center for the remainder of the

“I’m feeling very good in my matches,” said Inam. “Tonight, I will watch videos and prepare strategies for tomorrow’s opponents, especially the Georgian. I will prepare techniques to try and beat him … because he is amazing.”

On the other side of the 90kg bracket “The Georgian” Dato MARSIGASHVILLI – who won the BWWS stop in Chaves -- had a tough first-round battle ceding two points to Grigorios KRIARIDIS (GRE) before scoring back-back-back takedowns to win 3-2. In the second round, Marsigashvilli quickly disposed of Brazil’s Andre Luiz RAMOS PINTO (BRA).

With one pool match to complete in the morning Inam and Marsigashvilli are headed for a gold medal showdown in the evening finals.

In women’s beach wrestling, Aline De SILVA FERREIRA proved to be golden winning her first beach wrestling series event. She Brazilian, who won a world silver medal on the mats in 2014 was all smiles after learning she was taking home 1000 CHF for her efforts.

“For me beach wrestling is good because I like to shoot high crotches,” said Silva. “The girls here are a little slower than me and I can use my strength.”

Silva also gushed about the new wrestling style and her hopes for its future in Brazil. “I like the way beach wrestling is organized – and it’s beautiful. I brought friends and they like its short time and rules are simple. It’s a great part for people in Brazil to learn wrestling. We have a lot of beaches.”

Wrestling continues tomorrow morning at 10am local time, following by the finals of the Beach Wrestling World Series are set to start at 2pm local.  

Full results from day one can be found, here: https://unitedworldwrestling.org/event/rio-de-janeiro-beach-wrestling-world-series?tab=results

#WrestleAthens

Iran survives Uzbekistan scare to win Greco title at U17 Worlds

Wednesday, July 30, 2025 - 16:59 By Vinay Siwach

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ATHENS, Greece (July 30) -- Four gold medals were not enough for Uzbekistan as they fell short in what could have been a generational team title in Greco-Roman at the World U17 Championships.

Iran, which won one gold medal out of 10, was crowned team champions as it performed well in placing their wrestlers in the weight classes. It finished with 125 points while Uzbekistan finished seven short at 118 points. Kazakhstan finished third with 113 points.

Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan were not far behind and finished fourth and fifth respectively, tied on 100 points. Both countries had one gold medal each but Kyrgyzstan had two silver medals to Azerbaijan's one to finish ahead of them.

Read More: Uzbekistan closer to Women's Wrestling history in Athens

Iran had eight wrestlers in the medal-bouts and six of them returned with one. Iran finished with one gold, one silver and four bronze medals. Uzbekistan, on the other side, had only those four golds to show. Four of its wrestlers did not contribute points to the team race.

In one head-to-head bout on Wednesday, Abolfazl ZARE (IRI) secured a 7-5 win over Humoyun ERKINOV (UZB) in 60kg bronze-medal bout which proved crucial. A win for Erkinov would have seen Uzbekistan win the title.

Then it was the gold medal of Amirsam MOHAMMADI (IRI) at 92kg which helped Iran jump from fourth place to first. He wrestled Kanstantsin KASYAN (UWW) for the gold medal and began with three stepouts. Kasyan was called passive and put in par terre. Mohammadi turned him twice and won the final 8-0 in 1 minute and 12 seconds.

Uzbekistan's two gold medals came at 51kg and 71kg.

Otabek TURSUNOV (UZB)Otabek TURSUNOV (UZB) won the gold medal at 51kg in Athens. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kostadin Andonov)

Asian U17 bronze medalist Otabek TURSUNOV (UZB) added a third Greco gold of the World U17 Championships for Uzbekistan after he defeated Hikmat HAGVERDIYEV (AZE), 4-1, in the 51kg.

Hagverdiyev was about to be called passive and put in par terre but he scored a stepout to avoid that call and lead 1-0. Tursunov answered with a stepout of his own and made 1-1. However, the criteria remained with Hagverdiyev as United World Wrestling is testing a new rule, where in Greco-Roman, if the score is 1-1, the criteria will be with the wrestler who got the first point.

Tursunov, however, got the par terre position in the second period and a 2-1 lead over Hagverdiyev. He defended his lead for the final minute and as the Azerbaijan wrestler tried a throw, he blocked him and landed on top, earning two more points.

Behruzbek VALIEV (UZB)Behruzbek VALIEV (UZB) upgraded his bronze from 2024 to gold in 2025. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

At 71kg, Asian U17 champion Behruzbek VALIEV (UZB) denied the hosts a gold after he defeated Dimitrios SOULIS (GRE), 3-1, in the final.

Valiev seemed to have taken the burnt from a few tough bouts from Tuesday as he struggled with his attacks against Soulis, who was egged on by vocal home fans.

However, he found enough inside him to turn from par terre and defend from that position in the second period to win the fourth gold medal of the tournament for Uzbekistan.

Ali NAZAROV (AZE)Ali NAZAROV (AZE) scored a 6-1 victory over Amangeldi YSAKBAEV (KGZ) in the 60kg final. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kostadin Andonov)

Ali NAZAROV (AZE) showed why gut-wrench is still one of the best techniques to score points in wrestling as he rolled Amangeldi YSAKBAEV (KGZ) two times from par terre using gut wrench and win the world title at 60kg.

He later defended his par terre position, winning the final 6-1 and handing Azerbaijan the first gold medal for the World U17 Championships in Athens.

An action-packed match kicked off the medal bouts with Kuanyshbek ZHANGAZHOL (KAZ) and Nurkerim KUMARBEKOV (KGZ) did not hold back their attacks as soon as the final began.

Zhangazhol did not waste much time to get going in the final against Kumarbekov as he used an arm throw to score the first four points but it was removed after he was warned for using his leg.

But he scored a takedown for a 2-0 and then hit a front headlock throw to make it 6-0. Kumarbekov answered with a four-pointer as well and both wrestlers used arm-rolls in the same sequence to score points. When they broke off at the break, Zhangazhol led 8-6.

After the blazing first half, both wrestlers had a subdued second and no more points were scored despite desperate attempts from Kumarbekov. Zhangazhol celebrated his win a split-second early but there was no harm done.

Kyrgyzstan challenged for fleeing in the final five seconds and on review, Zhangazhol was it with a caution for defensive foul, it only got Kumarbekov a point, making Zhangazhol's winning score 8-7.

RESULTS

45kg
GOLD: Kuanyshbek ZHANGAZHOL (KAZ) df. Nurkerim KUMARBEKOV (KGZ), 9-6

BRONZE: Abdurrahman HUSEYNLI (AZE) df. Tymur MAHARRAMOV (UKR), 9-0
BRONZE: Vadim TARELUNGA (MDA) vs. Benyamin KHEZLI (IRI), 8-3

51kg
GOLD: Otabek TURSUNOV (UZB) df. Hikmat HAGVERDIYEV (AZE), 4-1

BRONZE: Marat ATSHEMYAN (ARM) df. Polat KARADENIZ (TUR), 11-0
BRONZE: Abu Bakar SAGA (NOR) df. Islam KURBANOV (KGZ), 5-3

60kg
GOLD: Ali NAZAROV (AZE) df. Amangeldi YSAKBAEV (KGZ), 6-1

BRONZE: Abolfazl ZARE (IRI) df. Humoyun ERKINOV (UZB), 7-5
BRONZE: Zaven MEZHLUMYAN (ARM) df. Denys SEREDIN (UKR), 5-2

71kg
GOLD: Behruzbek VALIEV (UZB) df. Dimitrios SOULIS (GRE), 3-1

BRONZE: Hossein KAZEMI (IRI) df. Yusif AHMADLI (AZE), 4-3
BRONZE: Marlen MEIRBEKULY (KAZ) df. Imre KOLOMPAR (HUN), 7-1

92kg
GOLD: Amirsam MOHAMMADI (IRI) df. Kanstantsin KASYAN (UWW), 8-0

BRONZE: Ahmet UZUN (TUR) df. Said PASHAYEV (AZE), 5-0
BRONZE: David CALKINS (USA) df. Ionut PATRU (ROU), 4-0