#WrestleBucharest

Bulgaria's Reigning World and Euro Champ Yusein Headlines Friday Night's Finals

Thursday, April 11, 2019 - 20:08 By Eric Olanowski

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BUCHAREST, Romania (April 10) - Taybe YUSEIN (BUL) was one of two reigning world and European champion that competed on the fourth day of wrestling at the European Championships, but the Bulgarian was the only double defending champion who made it to Friday night’s finals. The second, Petra OLLI (FIN), was upset in the semifinals and will compete for a bronze medal on Friday night. 

In the 62kg semifinals, top-ranked returning world and European champion Yusein stuck two-time European bronze medalist Tetiana OMELCHENKO (AZE) in just 43 seconds, locking up her second consecutive trip to the European finals. 

Yusein will wrestle Aurora CAMPAGNA (ITA), who's finals birth is a vast improvement on her ninth-place finish from a year ago. In her semifinals match, Campagna outlasted Sweden’s 2017 U23 world bronze medalist Moa NYGREN (SWE) in a nail biter, reaching the gold-medal bout with a 4-3 victory.


Tetyana KIT was one of three Ukrainian wrestlers who will compete on Friday night for a gold medal. (Photo: Gabro Martin)

Meanwhile, Ukraine, who sits in the lead after claiming three gold medals on Day 4 added three more finalists to their overall total, bringing the gold-medal participant total to six. 

Their three potential champions are Lilya HORISHNA, Tetyana KIT and Alina BEREZHNA STADNIK MAKHYNIA (UKR), who’ll wrestle for the gold medals at 53kg,  57kg, and 72kg respectively.

At 53kg, two-time U23 European champion Lilya Horshna halted Jessica BLASZKA (NED) from the becoming first-ever women’s wrestling European finalist from the Netherlands with a 6-1 victory. 

Horshna will wrestle Russia’s returning European champion Stalvira ORSHUSH (RUS), who defeated 2017 world champion and No. 17-ranked Vanesa KALADZINSKAYA (BLR) at the European championships. Last year, Orshush beat Valadzinskaya in the finals, and this year, it was in the semifinals, where she picked up the 2-2 criteria win. 

In the semifinals at 57kg, Kit was down 6-4 as time expired against Anastasia NICHITA (MDA), but a late successful Ukrainian challenge gave Kit the 6-6 win on criteria. 

She’ll wrestle Hungary’s fifth-ranked Emese BARKA (HUN). Barka came out on top of her semifinals match against reigning European silver medalist Mimi Nikolova HRISTOVA (BUL), 11-3.  The Holland wrestler ended the opening three minutes with a 5-0 lead, and tacked on six additional points, inserting herself into the continental finals with the eight-point win. 


Alina BEREZHNA STADNIK MAKHYNIA (UKR) will wrestle for a European gold medal for the fourth time in her career. She's walked away with a gold medal twice. (Photo: Martin Gabor) 

In the 72kg semifinals, two-time champion Alina Berezhna Stadnik glued returning European bronze medalist Alexandra Nicoleta ANGHEL (ROU) back to the mat for the fall and will wrestle for a gold medal in the European Championships for the fifth time in her career. 

The Ukranian wrestler will take on Anna Carmen SCHELL (GER), who was up 7-4 on No. 15 Tatiana KOLESNIKOVA MOROZOVA (RUS) when she picked up the fall. 

Elis MANOLOVA (AZE) pinned defending world and European champion Petra Maarit OLLI (FIN) to reach the finals. (Photo: Gabor Martin)

The last finals match up that was settled was at 65kg.

Romania’s Kriszta INCZE outlasted reigning two-time U23 European champion Mariia KUZNETSOVA (RUS), 3-2, and will take on Azerbaijan’s Elis MANOLOVA for the 65kg gold medal. Manolova stuck returning world and European champion Petra Maarit OLLI (FIN) in the semifinals and earned her second consecutive trip to the European finals. 

The Day 5 finals begin on Friday at 18:00 (local time) and can be followed at www.unitedworldwrestling.org.

RESULTS
53kg
GOLD -Stalvira ORSHUSH (RUS) vs. Lilya HORISHNA (UKR)
SEMIFINAL - Stalvira ORSHUSH (RUS) df. Vanesa KALADZINSKAYA (BLR), 2-2 
SEMIFINAL - Lilya HORISHNA (UKR) df. Jessica Cornelia Francisca BLASZKA (NED), 6-1

57kg 
GOLD - Tetyana KIT (UKR) vs. Emese BARKA (HUN)
SEMIFINAL - Tetyana KIT (UKR) df. Anastasia NICHITA (MDA), 6-6
SEMIFINAL - Emese BARKA (HUN) df. Mimi Nikolova HRISTOVA (BUL), 11-3 

62kg
GOLD - Aurora CAMPAGNA (ITA) vs. Taybe Mustafa YUSEIN (BUL)
SEMIFINAL - Aurora CAMPAGNA (ITA) df. Moa Lena Maria NYGREN (SWE) 
SEMIFINAL - Taybe Mustafa YUSEIN (BUL) df. Tetiana OMELCHENKO (AZE), via fall 

65kg
GOLD - Kriszta Tunde INCZE (ROU) vs. Elis MANOLOVA (AZE)
SEMIFINAL - Kriszta Tunde INCZE (ROU) df. Mariia KUZNETSOVA (RUS), 4-3 
SEMIFINAL - Elis MANOLOVA (AZE) df. Petra Maarit OLLI (FIN), via fall 

72kg
GOLD - Anna Carmen SCHELL (GER) vs. Alina BEREZHNA STADNIK MAKHYNIA (UKR)
SEMIFINAL - Anna Carmen SCHELL (GER) df. Tatiana KOLESNIKOVA MOROZOVA (RUS) 
SEMIFINAL - Alina BEREZHNA STADNIK MAKHYNIA (UKR) df. Alexandra Nicoleta ANGHEL (ROU)

#development

Development in 2024: UWW's rapid strides off and on mat activities

Wednesday, December 11, 2024 - 12:16 By United World Wrestling Press

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (December 10) -- Launching education programs that laid the foundation for future generations of sports administrators, a historic step taken towards gender parity, adding the first online beach wrestling course, providing unfettered access to coaches, wrestlers and spectators to an interactive site that analyses data from all major United World Wrestling tournaments and conducting workshops on the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in coaching.

The year 2024 will go down as a watershed year in wrestling not just because of the spectacular action on the biggest stage of all, the Olympics. The year will also be seen as critical because, through various developmental initiatives, the UWW did important groundwork to support the future generations of wrestlers.

One of the landmark moments of the year was the election of seven women to the UWW Bureau, the sport’s supreme body, during the Congress in Tirana, Albania, on October 27. This marked a big step in women’s wrestling leadership and made it the highest registered female candidate for the Bureau in UWW’s history.

“From Tokyo to Paris, we made great strides to promote gender equality within our wrestling community. We have to pave the way for our future generations for equal opportunities, no matter the gender, the religious beliefs, ethnicity, etc.,” UWW President Nenad LALOVIC said.

This was also the year when wrestling took another step in opening its platforms to wrestlers, coaches and fans from the world over. By making the site accessible to all, the data and metrics for each style at every major competition from 2020 to the present can be on the UWW Academy page under the ‘Analytics’ tab. This is a great way to see how points are being scored for each style, weight category, medal matches, teams, among other things.

One of the benefits of making all the data available is it could help improve training decisions (technical and tactical) and overall general knowledge of the sport.

Another great addition to the UWW Academy portal was the first-ever online beach wrestling course. This course is designed to provide an overview of beach wrestling, the fastest-growing style. Topics include the benefits of beach wrestling, basic rules and scoring, differences between beach wrestling and the Olympic styles, how competitions are organized, how bouts are organized and conducted, and the Beach Wrestling World Series.

Soon, there will be new referee and rules courses coming to the UWW Academy.

Apart from the wide array of online courses, the UWW also held on-ground sessions in different parts of the world.T

he More than Medals camps grew stronger this year, with sessions in Jordan, the Dominican Republic and for U17 wrestlers in Serbia.

A significant milestone was achieved by conducting the South-East Asia & Oceania Education Week in Perth from September 30 to October 4.

Representatives from seven Oceania nations — Australia, New Zealand, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Nauru, Tahiti, and the Marshall Islands — and a participant from Singapore gathered with the hope of enhancing wrestling expertise across the region. For many, the session was their first UWW certification in years, adding even more impact to the event and underlining the UWW’s efforts to grow the sport.

Argentina became the first country in the Americas to host a Level 3 Coaches Course. This was also the first-ever Level 3 course conducted in Spanish globally. Bulgaria successfully hosted a Level 2 Coaches Course while India was the destination for the Level 1 course.

A total of approximately 150 coaches benefitted from these sessions, marking a significant step in their education.

Tunisia, Senegal, Guatemala, Croatia, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia are some other countries where crucial UWW developmental programs were hosted.

Cambodia marked a significant milestone in terms of growth of wrestling in the country by conducting the Development of the National Sports System from July 18 to November 30, 2024.

Another important program was on using AI and other new technologies in coaching during the ASOIF Sports Development and Education Group (ASDEG) Workshop in Lausanne.

UWW Development Director and ASDEG Chair Deqa NIAMKEY, who was also elected as a Board Member of the International Council for Coaching Excellence (ICCE) in February 2024, underlined the transformative potential of AI.

The annual meeting, which attracted 60 experts representing over 30 International Federations (IFs), agreed to implement a range of initiatives over the next 12 months. It included supporting the IFs in increasing the representation of Women Technical Officials and Coaches to meet International Olympic Committee targets, establishing regular communication to facilitate cross-sport collaboration and knowledge-sharing and equipping IFs with incorporating technology in development programs and resources for education.