European Games

Belarus Captures 2 Golds on Final Day of Women's Wrestling at European Games

Friday, June 28, 2019 - 19:26 By United World Wrestling Press

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MINSK, Belarus (June 28) - Belarusian wrestlers Iryna KURACHKINA (57kg) and Vasilisa MARZALIUK (76kg) gave the home crowd something to celebrate on the final day of the women's wrestling competition at the European Games in Minsk, Belarus. 

Kurachkina and Marzaliuk captured gold medals in dominant fashion on Friday at the Minsk Sports Palace. Neither wrestler surrendered a point in the finals.

Kurachkina, a 2017 world bronze medalist, rolled to a 10-0 technical superiority over Mimi HRISTOVA (BUL) in the gold-medal match at 57kg. She used three takedowns in the first period to build a 6-0 lead. Kurachkina closed out the match early in the second period, scoring a fourth takedown, which she followed up with a gut wrench to close her spectacular finals performance.

Marzaliuk, a four-time world medalist, won her second straight European Games gold medal, beating Francy RAEDELT (GER) 9-0 in the finals at 76kg. She controlled the match from start to finish, using a step out and takedown in the first period to go up 3-0 at the break. Marzaliuk pulled away in the third period with three more takedowns.  

Joining Marzaliuk as a repeat winner at the European Games was Mariya STADNIK (AZE) at 50kg. Stadnik, a three-time Olympic medalist and five-time world medalist, handled returning world bronze medalist Oksana LIVACH (UKR) 7-1 in the gold-medal match at 50kg. 

After scoring with a step out, Stadnik scored a takedown on the world No. 2 Livach, which she followed up with a gut wrench to grab a 5-0 lead. She added another takedown in the final period, while giving up just a point off a step out. Stadnik outscored her opponents 23-2 at the European Games.

Yuliia TKACH (UKR), a four-time world medalist, won a gold medal at 62kg, improving on her silver-medal performance at the 2015 European Games. She topped Elmira GAMBAROVA (AZE) 4-0 in the finals. 

Tkach, ranked No.4 in the world, scored a takedown in the first period off a single leg attack to take a 2-0 lead. In the second period, Gambarova attempted an arm throw, which Tkach countered for another takedown, which closed out the scoring. 

Alyona KOLESNIK (AZE) and Anastasia NICHITA (MDA) earned the bronze medals at 50kg.

Mariia KUZNETSOVA (RUS) knocked off world No.1 Taybe YUSEIN (BUL) 7-4 in a bronze-medal match at 62kg. The other bronze at 62kg was won by Kriszta INCZE (ROU).

Epp MAE (EST), a 2015 world bronze medalist, defeated Olympic champion Natalia VOROBEVA (RUS) in dramatic fashion to win a bronze medal at 76kg. Vorobeva led most of the match before Mae scored the go-ahead points as time expired to steal the victory, 5-3. Iselin SOLHEIM (NOR) won by fall over Sabira ALIYEVA (AZE) to claim a bronze medal at 76kg. 

RESULTS

Women's Wrestling 

50kg
GOLD - Mariya STADNIK (AZE) df. Oksana LIVACH (UKR), 7-1
BRONZE - Evin DEMIRHAN (TUR) df. Anna LUKASIAK (POL), 6-2
BRONZE - Miglena SELISHKA (BUL) df. Viyaleta CHYRYK (BLR), 6-0 

57kg
GOLD - Iryna KURACHKINA (BLR) df. Mimi HRISTOVA (BUL), 10-0
BRONZE - Alyona KOLESNIK (AZE) df. Bediha GUN (TUR), 9-4
BRONZE - Anastasia NICHITA (MDA) df. Grace BULLEN (NOR), 11-4

62kg
GOLD - Yuliia TKACH (UKR) df. Elmira GAMBAROVA (AZE), 4-0
BRONZE - Mariia KUZNETSOVA (RUS) df. Taybe YUSEIN (BUL), 7-4
BRONZE - Kriszta INCZE (ROU) df. Katarzyna MADROWSKA (POL), 8-2

76kg
GOLD - Vasilisa MARZALIUK (BLR) df. Francy RAEDELT (GER), 9-0
BRONZE - Iselin SOLHEIM (NOR) df. Sabira ALIYEVA (AZE), Fall (1:13)
BRONZE - Epp MAE (EST) df. Natalia VOROBEVA (RUS), 5-3

#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.