#WrestleRome

Colossal Rematch of Olympic Champs Brewing at 76kg

Tuesday, March 2, 2021 - 14:04 By Eric Olanowski

Share this article

Natalia VOROBEVA (RUS) will make her ascent back up to 76kg at the Matteo Pellicone (March 4-7), which could set up a colossal Ranking Series rematch with fellow Olympic champion Erica WIEBE (CAN).

Vorobeva, the reigning world and European champion at the non-Olympic weight of 72kg, is moving up to 76kg with hopes of becoming the first non-Japanese woman ever to win a pair of Olympic gold medals. She won the London Olympic Games and settled for a Rio Olympic silver medal.

But before she tries to win a second Olympic gold, she has her eyes set on avenging her loss to Wiebe from the ’19 City of Sassari finals, where her Canadian foe grabbed a massive fall in just over two minutes.

When the pair of Olympic champs met at the ’19 City of Sassari finals, the match was pegged as arguably the most anticipated women’s wrestling match in Ranking Series herstory -- but the match was short-lived.

Wiebe ducked a front headlock attempt from Vorobieva and used an unorthodox inside leg hook to throw the Russian to her back for the fall. “The secret to my success is I’m pretty dangerous from every position,” Wiebe said when asked out the unconventional maneuver she used to pick up the fall. The Budapest world bronze medalist went on to say, “I wanted to go out there and compete. I wanted to make (Vorobeva) uncomfortable. I knew if I got her on her back, I wanted to stick her.”

The women's wrestling draws comes out Friday (March 5) morning at 8:00 (local time). For now, we'll have to patiently wait to see if the colossal matchup is going to happen!

The Matteo Pellicone kicks off on Thursday (March 4), with women’s wrestling action getting underway on Friday. You can follow all the action live on www.unitedworldwrestling.org.

SCHEDULE
Wednesday
18:00: Technical conference – all teams

Thursday
8:00: Medical Examination, Weigh-in & Draw GR 55-60-63-67-87-97-130kg
10:30 :Qualification rounds & repechage GR – 55-60-63-67-87-97-130kg
17:00: Opening Ceremony
18:00: Finals GR – 55-60-63-67-87-97-130kg

Friday
8:00: Medical Examination, Weigh-in and Draw GR – 72-77-82kg & WW – 57-62-68-76kg
10:30 : Qualification rounds & repechage GR – 72-77-82kg & WW – 57-62-68-76kg
18:00: Finals GR – 72-77-82kg & WW – 57-62-68-76kg

Saturday
8:00: Medical Examination, Weigh-in and Draw WW – 50-53-55-59-65-72kg & FS – 97-125kg
10:30: Qualification rounds & repechage WW – 50-53-55-59-65-72kg & FS – 97-125kg
18:00: Finals WW – 50-53-55-59-65-72kg & FS – 97-125kg

Sunday
8:00: Medical Examination, Weigh-in and Draw FS – 57-61-65-70-74-79-86-92kg
10:30: Qualification rounds & repechage FS – 57-61-65-70-74-79-86-92kg
18:00: Finals FS – 57-61-65-70-74-79-86-92kg

#WrestleBudapest

Budapest Ranking Series Live: Tazhudinov untroubled; Aoyagi, Suda win

Thursday, July 17, 2025 - 08:07 By Vinay Siwach

Share this article

BUDAPEST, Hungary (July 17) -- The final Ranking Series of the season begins Thursday in Budapest with seven Freestyle weight classes -- 57kg, 61kg, 65kg, 70kg, 79kg, 97kg and 125kg.

WATCH LIVE | LIVE MATCH ORDER | FREESTYLE PREVIEW

Budapest Ranking Series 2025 Day 1 Live Report

97kg: Olympic champion Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN), who wrestled for the first time since Paris last week with a gold medal in Grand Prix of Spain, continues his return at the Budapest Ranking Series at 97kg.

In his first bout, Tazhudinov was up against Adlan VISKHANOV (FRA) and rolled to a 12-2 technical superiority win, making Viskhanov pay for his half-hearted attacks.

Tazhudinov began slow but hit a double-leg for four points and Viskhanov scored exposure for two points. But Tazhudinov scored a takedown and two turns from par terre to make it 10-2.

The bout went into the second period and Tazhudinov locked a cradle but Viskhanov avoided the fall, but failed to stop a Tazhudinov win.

His next bout was even shorter as he defeated Aliaksandr HUSHTYN (UWW) 10-0, thanks to a series of takedowns, and book  a spot in the semifinals.

65kg: Another Paris Olympic medalist, Islam DUDAEV (ALB), suffered an 11-0 loss to Asian U23 champion SUJEET (IND). After a slow start, Sujeet had a scoring spree in the second period and broke Dudaev down to post a win.

Vazgen TEVANYAN (ARM) has no trouble taking out Krzysztof BIENKOWSKI (POL), 6-0, in the bout which included a huge suplex from quad-pod.

79kg: Georgios KOUGIOUMTSIDIS (GRE), wrestling for the first time since the Paris Games, opens with a 12-1 win over European silver medalist Zelimkhan KHADJIEV (FRA) in a very aggressive match. Kougioumtsidis just too much for an aging Khadjiev.

70kg: Austin GOMEZ (MEX) gets the better of a very sluggish Iszmail MUSZUKAJEV (HUN) 10-0. Muszukajev has not looked the same ever since the 2024 Olympic Games.

Arman ANDREASYAN (ARM) hands Sina KHALILI (IRI) a defeated at 70kg. That means that Khalili may be out of the contention for the World Championships now.

57kg: World U20 champion Luke LILLEDAHL (USA) pulls of a last-second win over Niklas STECHELE (GER), 4-2 at 57kg. Lilledahl was down 2-2 on criteria but attacked a single-leg and both wrestlers went out-of-bounds. Lilledahl was given a point as Stechele's hand touched first.

Germany challenged the call but it was upheld and Lilledahl was awarded another point for lost challenge. He will take on RAHUL (IND) in the semifinals.