#WrestleIstanbul

Friday's U17 World Championships semifinals set

Friday, August 4, 2023 - 07:27 By Eric Olanowski

Share this article

ISTANBUL, Turkiye (August 4) --- The fifth day of wrestling at the 2023 U17 World Championships welcomes freestyle action at 48kg, 55kg, 65kg, 80kg and 110kg.

The morning session, which starts at 11:00 (local time), will run through the quarterfinals before taking our mid-day break. We'll return at 17:00 for the semifinals, then roll directly into the first set of women's wrestling medal bouts at 18:00.

Friday's opening session will feature 30 medalists from this year's continental champions, including 11 wrestlers who reached the top of the podium at the 2023 Asian, European, African or Pan-American Championships.

Everything you need to know:
📍Istanbul, Turkiye 🇹🇷
🗓️: July 31-August 6
Qualification: 11:00
🥇🥈🥉= 18:00
#️⃣: #WrestleIstanbul
🖥️: uww.org 
📱: UWW App

Here's a list of the reigning continental champs in action on Friday:
48kg - Sam Reza SAYAR (IRI)
55kg - Haji KARIMOV (AZE)
55kg - Ankush ANKUSH (IND)
55kg - Abdelghani AID (ALG)
65kg - Sina Mahdi KHALILI (IRI)
65kg - Manuel WAGIN (GER)
65kg - Fares Diaa Attia Hassan ELSAWY (EGY)
80kg - Abolfazl Yaser RAHMANI FIROUZJAEI (IRI)
110kg - Yedige KASSIMBEK (KAZ)
110kg - Yusif DURSUNOV (AZE)
110kg - Marwan Ehab Thabit MOHAMED (EGY)

Friday's semifinal matches:
45kg
Paul Joseph KENNY (USA) vs. Sam Reza SAYAR (IRI) 
Yamato FURUSAWA (JPN) vs. Joseph Ivan BACHMANN (PUR) 

55kg
Marcus Glenn BLAZE (USA) vs. Samvel GEVORGYAN (ARM) 
Ankush ANKUSH (IND) vs. Arshak LULUKYAN (GEO) 

65kg
Manuel WAGIN (GER) vs. Sina Mahdi KHALILI (IRI) 
Magomed ALIBAKHARCHIEV (AIN) vs. Brock Ace MANTANONA (USA) 

80kg
Magomed Akhmedovitch IDRISOV (AIN) vs. Konstantine PETRIASHVILI (GEO) 
Zackary D RYDER (USA) vs. Alexandru BORS (MDA) 

110kg
Henrik HAYKYAN (ARM) vs. Yusif DURSUNOV (AZE) 
Yedige KASSIMBEK (KAZ) vs. Rakhman MALAKHMEDOV (AIN) ​​​​​​​

15:00: That does it for the morning session. We'll see you back at 17:00 for the semifinals, followed by the closing session of women's wrestling at the U17 World Championships.

14:43: Reigning U17 European champion Manuel WAGIN (GER) beat Zurab ABALAKI (GEO), 6-4, and moved to 8-0 on the season. He'll wrestle the winner of Sina Mahdi KHALILI (IRI) and Mirzaagha AKHUNDOV (AZE) in tonight's 65kg semifinals.

14:28: Brock Ace MANTANONA (USA) defeated Zafarbek KAMOLOV (UZB), 13-2, and locked up a spot in tonight's 65kg semifinals. He's scored 43 points in his first three matches.

14:20: Joseph Ivan BACHMANN (PUR)  just scored a takedown with 1.7 second left against Gegi ONIANI (GEO) to punch his ticket to the 48kg quarterfinals. He'll wrestle the winner of Mihran SLOYAN (ARM) and Ali SULTANOV (AIN).

13:54: I'm going to run and grab a bite to each before the quarterfinals get underway. Let's see if I can eat my lunch in under two matches.

13:46: We have four 1/8-final bouts left on each match before we head into the 1/4 finals. 

13:38: Byambadorj ENKHBAT (MGL), who is wrestling now on Mat C, has some impressive cauliflower ear. He had it wrapped, but the tape came off and he waved off the doctors from coming on the mat to retape it.

13:33:  Saurabh YADAV (IND) is someone to keep an eye on. He just blew through Vladislav RJABTSEV (EST), 10-0, in 60 seconds. He'll wrestle the winner of the match taking place on Mat C between Askhab KHAJIYEV (KAZ) and Zackary D RYDER (USA).

13:24: I've just confirmed that South Africa's Roehan DU PLESSIS (RSA), who is wrestling now on Mat C against Ali Tural ALIYEV (AZE), has no relation to UFC title-contender Dricus DU PLESSIS (RSA). His coach said, "He has the same surname and is from the same country, but there is no relation

13:07: What an impressive performance from Henrik HAYKYAN (ARM). His 13-3 win over Sampson Frank STILLWELL (USA) included a four and five point throw.

12:28: Konstantine PETRIASHVILI (GEO), who is wrestling now on Mat A against Bartlomiej NOWAKOWSKI (POL), is the younger brother of three-time world champion Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO).

12:21: Reigning U17 Asian champion Abolfazl Yaser RAHMANI FIROUZJAEI (IRI) is making his world championship debut over on Mat B. He's wrestling U17 European fifth-place finisher Grigor Dianov CHERNAKOV (BUL).

12:04: Early upset of the morning alert: Kazarian of Greece just upset U17 African champion Aid, 4-0, in the opening round. He'll wrestle U17 European bronze medalist  Arshak LULUKYAN (GEO) next.

12:01: There's a clash of continental champions--Marwan Ehab Thabit MOHAMED (EGY) and Yedige KASSIMBEK (KAZ)--coming up four match. They'll wrestle on Mat C.

11:34: The first of today's 11 continental champions--Aik KAZARIAN (GRE)--is coming up in three matches. The reigning U17 African champion will wrestle Abdelghani AID (ALG) on Mat A.

11:26: That does it for our women's wrestling repechage matches. Welcome to the Big Show, freestyle.

11:24: What a match to close out the repechage session. Beyza Nur AKKUS (TUR) was down by six points when she pinned Sofya ZMAZNEVA (KAZ) to punch her ticket to the bronze-medal bout at 61kg.

10:34: We're just under 30 minutes from the opening whistles of the day. We'll have three women's wrestling repechage matches before the start of freestyle action.

#WrestleZagreb

Tazhudinov in search for answers despite bronze medal

Thursday, September 18, 2025 - 08:45 By Vinay Siwach

Share this article

ZAGREB, Croatia (September 16) -- A World Championships medal might be a career milestone for most wrestlers, but for Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN), the bronze he won in Zagreb is a prize he hopes to forget.

Coming into the tournament in Zagreb, Tazhudinov was considered as the best wrestler in the world and the favorite to win the gold medal at the 97kg. He had built a reputation of a wrestler who bulldozes anyone who stands in his path, as he did to win the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

But Tazhudinov was anything but an Olympic and world champion in Zagreb.

He almost dropped his quarterfinal match with Mogomed KURBANOV (UWW), needing a front headlock roll to survive. The thrill of victory was short lived, as Amirali AZARPIRA (IRI) showed that Tazhudinov is indeed human, winning their semifinal 5-2 to end Tazhudinov's golden run.

"My initial goal was the gold medal," Tazhudinov said. "I wanted to become a two-time world champion. Unfortunately, it didn't happen -- maybe it was meant to be this way. It's very painful to lose."

As he searched for answers for his performance, Tazhudinov said that recent shoulder surgery may have affected his wrestling at the World Championships.

"I was coming back after surgery, after a serious injury," Tazhudinov said. "Maybe that had an effect, I don't even know. It took me a very long time to get myself together. At the beginning, training sessions were very difficult."

Tazhudinov returned from surgery to win two gold medals in a one-month span -- first at the Spain Grand Prix and then at the Budapest Ranking Series in June.

After the semifinal loss to Azarpira, Tazhudinov returned the next night for the bronze-medal bout with 34-year-old Akhmed MAGAMAEV (BUL), which only further put Tazhudinov under the scanner despite winning the match.

Magamaev was on the activity clock when he bodylocked Tazhudinov and slammed him for four points just before the 30 seconds elapsed. Tazhudinov rebounded with a takedown to make it 4-2 at the break.

He began the second period with another takedown to make it 4-4, but Magamaev continued the scramble and both wrestlers were awarded two exposure points each, putting the Bulgarian ahead 6-6 on criteria.

A counter lift to exposure gave Tazhudinov the lead for the first time, 8-6, and as Magamaev tried doing the counter lift, he gave up two as Tazhudinov blocked him. The final scramble, which gave Tazhudinov an 11-10 win, was challenged by Bulgaria. Eventually, it was scored 13-10.

Despite winning the bout, Tazhudinov shook his head as he left the mat, perhaps surprised himself by his lackluster performance.

"Honestly, I don't even know what went wrong," he said. "It means I wasn't well enough prepared. It means I wasn't in my best shape. It means I need to work even more."

Tazhudinov said he had difficulty preparing mentally for the bronze-medal bout after the loss to Azarpira.

"After the semifinal loss, I couldn't motivate myself at all for the bronze-medal match," he said. "I don't even know how I stepped onto the mat. I wasn't mentally ready to wrestle at all, and that's why the match was so difficult.

"But I will not give up -- I'll go home, work on my mistakes, and train even harder to come back stronger."