#wrestlenursultan

Gray Stays on Track for 5th World Gold at 76kg as Wiebe Falls by Wayside; Kawai advances

Wednesday, September 18, 2019 - 09:52 By Ken Marantz

Share this article

NUR-SULTAN, Kazakhstan (Sept. 18)---Defending champion Adeline GRAY (USA) remained on track for a fifth world gold overall by making the semifinals at women’s 76kg, but Rio 2016 Olympic champion Erica WIEBE (CAN) will not be around to challenge her following early action on Day 5 at the World Championships. 

Gray racked up a pair of technical falls, the second a 10-0 thrashing of CHANG Hui Tsz (TPE), to advance to the semifinals to be held at the start of the night session at Barys Arena. She will face Aline ROTTER FOCKEN (GER), a European bronze medalist and the 2014 world champion at 69kg.

All wrestlers who advanced to the semifinals in the Olympic weight classes of 57kg and 76kg also secured a berth for their country at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

In a weight class stacked with current and former world medalists, Epp MAEE (EST) and Hiroe MINAGAWA (JPN) survived in the other 76kg bracket and will meet in the other semifinal.

Maee, a 2015 world bronze medalist looking to avoid a third straight fifth-place finish, scored a takedown in the final seconds for a stunning 4-3 win over Wiebe, a bronze medalist a year ago in Budapest.

Trailing 3-1, Maee had shot in on a tackle, but was stopped by Wiebe, who locked on from above. But Maee twisted under and pressing backwards, forced the Canadian over at the edge with :01 on the clock. An unsuccessful challenge made it 4-3. 

Minagawa, who won her second world bronze a year ago in Budapest, scored a takedown with :33 left for a 3-1 win over ZHOU Qian (CHN), who had knocked off top seed and 2018 silver medalist Yasemin ADAR (TUR).

Olympic champion Risako KAWAI (JPN) will meet 2017 world finalist Odunayo ADEKUOROYE (NGR) in the 57kg semifinals. (Photo: Kadir Caliskan)

At 57kg, Rio 2016 and two-time world champion Risako KAWAI (JPN) and reigning champion RONG Ningning (CHN) remained on a possible collision course.

Kawai, the 2018 gold medalist at 59kg who has dropped down to the Olympic weight, will face two-time world medalist Odunayo ADEKUOROYE (NGR), while Rong is pitted against Jowita WRZESIEN (POL).

Adekuoroye earned her place in the final four with a 12-2 technical fall of JONG In Son (PRK), who finished second to Rong at the Asian Championships in April after stunning four-time Olympic champion Kaori ICHO (JPN) in the semifinals. 

Kawai dealt a major blow to Icho’s bid for a fifth Olympic title by beating her for the place on the team to Nur-Sultan. She can clinch Japan’s berth at Tokyo 2020 by winning a medal in the Kazakh capital.

Pooja DHANDA (IND) uses a back trip to defeat Yuzuka INAGAKI (JPN), 11-8. (Photo: Tony Rotundo)

In the non-Olympic 59kg, Pooja DHANDA (IND) provided the highlight of the session with a slick backward trip for 4 points that gave her an 11-8 victory over newly crowned world junior champion Yuzuka INAGAKI (JPN). 

Dhanda, the 2018 world bronze medalist at 57kg who failed to make the Indian team at that weight, was trailing 7-6 in the waning seconds when Inagaki looked to pad her lead by getting a single leg and lifting it into the air.

But Dhanda, going to her bag of tricks as a kid wrestler, used her other leg to trip Inagaki backwards for 4 points. Inagaki got behind for a point, but her efforts to turn the Dhanda were in vain, and an unsuccessful challenge resulted in the final score.

“When I was a child, we were training very hard for this [move],” said Dhanda, adding she had not used it for “a very long time.”

She will face 2017 European champion Luibov OVCHAROVA (RUS) for a place in the final. In the quarterfinals, Ocharova ended a close match with 2018 bronze medalist PEI Xingru with a victory by fall.

In the other semifinal, Shoovdor BAATARJAV (MGL), the other bronze medalist a year ago, will take on Linda MORAIS (CAN).

At 65kg, European champion Elis MANOLOVA (AZE) will face Inna TRAZHUKOVA (RUS) for a place in the final, while Forrest MOLINARI (USA) and Iryna KOLIADENKO (UKR) will meet in the other semifinal.

Following the semifinals, the night session will feature the medal matches at 50kg, 53kg, 55kg and 72kg. 

Day 5 Results

Women’s Wrestling Pairings

50kg (29 entries)
Gold – Alina VUC (ROU) vs Mariya STADNIK (AZE) 
Bronze – Oksana LIVACH (UKR) vs Valentina ISLAMOVA BRIK (KAZ)
Bronze – Ekaterina POLESHCHUK (RUS) vs SUN Yanan (CHN)

53kg (30 entries)
Gold – Mayu MUKAIDA (JPN) vs PAK Yong Mi (PRK)
Bronze –Vinesh PHOGAT (IND) vs Maria PREVOLARAKI (GRE)
Bronze – Roksana ZASINA (POL) vs PANG Qianyu (CHN)

55kg (18 entries)
Gold – Nanami IRIE (JPN) vs Jacarra WINCHESTER (USA)
Bronze –Olga KHOROSHAVTSEVA (RUS) vs Marina SEDNEVA (KAZ)
Bronze – Bolortuya BAT OCHIR (MGL) vs Bediha GUN (TUR)

57kg (31 entries)
Semifinal – RONG Ningning (CHN) vs Jowita WRZESIEN (POL) 
Semifinal – Odunayo ADEKUOROYE (NGR) vs Risako KAWAI (JPN)

59kg (18 entries)
Semifinal – Pooja DHANDA (IND) vs Luibov OVCHAROVA (RUS)
Semifinal – Shoovdor BAATARJAV (MGL) vs Linda MORAIS (CAN)  

65kg (17 entries)
Semifinal – Forrest MOLINARI (USA) vs Iryna KOLIADENKO (UKR) 
Semifinal – Elis MANOLOVA (AZE) vs Inna TRAZHUKOVA (RUS) 

72kg (12 entries)
Gold – Natalia VOROBEVA (RUS) vs Alina MAKHYNIA (UKR)
Bronze –Masako FURUICHI (JPN) vs Zhamila BAKBERGENOVA (KAZ)
Bronze – Victoria FRANCIS (USA) vs Paliha PALIHA (CHN)

76kg (31 entries)
Semifinal – Hiroe MINAGAWA (JPN) vs Epp MAEE (EST) 
Semifinal – Aline ROTTER FOCKEN (GER) vs Adeline GRAY (USA) 

#WrestleParis

10 seeded showdowns we need to see at Paris 2024 (No. 1-5)

Friday, July 19, 2024 - 11:28 By Eric Olanowski

Share this article

PARIS, France (July 18) --- Yesterday, we launched the No. 6-10 must-watch seeded matches that could take place in the quarterfinals and semifinals of the upcoming Paris Olympic Games. We continue the series with the top five matchups that could be between seeded athletes in the quarterfinals and semifinals.

SCHEDULE | PARIS 2024 EVENT PAGE 

The top eight Ranking Series point scorers from the 2023 World Championships, 2024 Continental Championships, and the Croatian and Hungarian Ranking Series events earned a top eight seed in Paris. The remaining eight wrestlers will be randomly drawn into their respective brackets.

Here are the top-five seeded showdowns that can take place in Paris:

5. 97kg SEMIFINAL – No. 1 Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM) vs. No. 4 Gabriel ROSILLO (CUB)
If you were to rank the ten Greco-Roman favorites expected to win gold at last year’s World Championships, Artur ALEKSANYAN (ARM) would have been either at the top or second on that list.

Unfortunately (or fortunately), no one told Gabriel Rosillo that the list existed.

In their lone career meeting, Rosillo, with the most perfectly timed arm drag that the wrestling world has seen in recent memory, stopped Aleksanyan from winning his fifth world gold medal. The Cuban sucked in an arm drag to Aleksanyan’s right arm, then perfectly timed a re-drag to the left side just as the Armenian pulled away, giving him the go-ahead takedown with 23 seconds left.

After the match, Aleksanyan said he relaxed at the most inopportune time and he’ll use the loss to Rosillo as motivation heading into Paris.

The second meeting between Aleksanyan and Rosillo could happen on August 6 in the 97kg semifinals.

4. 125kg SEMIFINAL – No. 1 Amir ZARE (IRI) vs. No. 4 Taha AKGUL (TUR)
Zare and Akgul have been going blow for blow for the last three years, with Zare grabbing the 2-1 advantage from his 2021 and 2023 wins, which were sandwiched between a 2022 world championship loss.

Zare picked up the biggest win of his career (at the time) with his win 4-0 shutout win over Akgul at the 2021 Oslo World Championships. Up until that point, the Iranian was looked at as a tier-two heavyweight. His win over Akgul in Norway pushed him into the ranks with Akgul, Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO) and Gable STEVESON (USA).

In the second meeting, Akgul stood tall on the United World Wrestling logo in the center of the mat and didn't budge. He evened the score at one match apiece, striking late with a counter-offensive 360 spin, moving into the world finals with a 3-3 win.

Zare regained his crown in the third meeting, with a tactical heavy-handed 4-0 win.

Zare knew Akgul wasn’t much of an offensive threat and couldn't afford to make a similar mistake as he did the year before, giving up the match-deciding takedown with no time left. He remained composed and scored a pair of stepouts and a takedown to win 4-0, giving him the 2-1 advantage heading into Paris.

The fourth meeting between world champions Zare and Akgul could happen on August 9 in the 125kg semifinals.

3. 57kg SEMIFINAL –  No. 2 Rei HIGUCHI (JPN ) vs. No. 3 Arsen HARUTYUNYAN (ARM)
Harutyunyan and Higuchi are two guys with unlimited offensive and have gas tanks that rival a nuclear submarine.

That was on display in last year’s Freestyle Match of the Year, where Harutyunyan and Higuchi put up a combined 30 points in one match—17 points in the first period and 13 in the second.

In their epic second meeting, Higuchi surrendered an early 6-0 lead, but clawed his way back before the ending whistle in the first, taking the 10-7 lead with a beautiful four-point arm-throw. Higuchi’s onslaught of attacks continued as the second period started, scoring six straight points and extending his lead to 16-8. From there, Higuchi seemingly shut it down to conserve energy for the semifinals, as he gave up six unanswered points but still won the bout, 16-14.

The second meeting between Higuchi and Harutyunyan would go down on August 8 in the 57kg semifinals.

2. 97kg SEMIFINAL – No . 2 Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN) vs. No. 3 Kyle SNYDER (USA)
Coming into the 2023 World Championships, Tazhudinov was a relatively unknown 20-year-old. The most fans knew about the 21-year-old was that he was a young guy trained by Sadulaev’s coach but left Russia to compete for Bahrain.

That all changed for Tazhudinov after his sub-three-minute quarterfinal routing of world and Olympic champion Kyle SNYDER (USA). The lengthy pupil of the Sadulaev’s School of Wrestling threw Snyder twice for four, using all four of the American’s shot attempts to score his 10 quick points.

Heading into Paris, there’s nothing more that Snyder wants more than revenge against Tazhudinov on his way to a potential third Olympic medal.

“I’m pumped about the bracket. It worked out great, in my opinion,” said Snyder in an interview with FloWrestling. “The third match of the day, that’s probably my best match. Once I start getting warm, I feel like I can wrestle forever.”

Round two of the Snyder vs. Tazhudinov rivalry will take on August 10 in the 97kg Olympic semifinals.

1. 60kg SEMIFINAL  –  No. 1 Zholaman SHARSHENBEKOV (KGZ) vs. No. 4 Kenichiro FUMITA (JPN)
The Sharshenbekov and Fumita gold-medal bout from the 2023 World Championships was voted as the 2023 Match of the Year by fans.

In their second career meeting, the pair of two-time world champions wowed the crowd from whistle to whistle, with Sharshebekov scoring the first four-pointer of the match five seconds after the referee blew the whistle.

The points continued to pile up throughout the match. The pair collectively scored 15 points in the opening 90 seconds. They ultimately scored 17 points in the six-minute bout, with Sharshenbekov taking ownership of the world title with an 11-6 victory.

Sharshenbekov and Fumita are scheduled to meet on August 5 in the 60kg semifinals.

Wrestling at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games starts August 5-11 and can be followed on www.uww.org.