#WrestleAlexandria

Ibrahim Moustafa Ranking Series day four finals set

By Vinay Siwach

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt (February 26) -- The second Ranking Series of the year enters its final day. Eight freestyle weight classes will compete today with some of the biggest names in wrestling including Ernazar AKMATALIEV (KGZ), Bekzod ABDURAKHMONOV (UZB), Arsen HARUTYUNYAN (ARM) and Zahid VALENCIA (USA) among others. 

WATCH LIVE | MATCH ORDER

Here are the gold medal bouts for the evening session which will be delayed because of the insane amount of wrestling we had. No one is complaining

57kg
Suleyman ATLI (TUR) vs. Andrii YATSENKO (UKR)

61kg
Taras MARKOVYCH (UKR) vs. Taiyrbek ZHUMASHBEK UULU (KGZ)

65kg
Vazgen TEVANYAN (ARM) vs. Joseph MC KENNA (USA)

70kg
Lucas CHITTUM (USA) vs. Ernazar AKMATALIEV (KGZ)

74kg
Iakub SHIKHDZHAMALOV (ROU) vs. Vincenzo JOSEPH (USA)

79kg
Avtandil KENTCHADZE (GEO) vs. Amirhossein KAVOUSI (IRI)

86kg
Vasyl MYKHAILOV (UKR) vs. Zahid VALENCIA (USA) 

92kg
Kollin MOORE (USA) vs. Nathan JACKSON (USA) 

16:50: Jo MCKENNA (USA) with back-to-back semifinals at Ranking Series events. He completes dominates the semifinals against Sebastian RIVERA (PUR). Mckenna wins 10-2. He will take on Vagzen TEVANYAN (ARM).

16:45: Nick SURIANO (USA) reached the semifinal but bumped into Suleyman ATLI (TUR) who got a takedown and then gut wrenched Suriano for an 8-0 lead. Suriano tried hard but goes down 9-3. Atli will face Andri YATSENKO (UKR) in the final. 

16:25: Iakub SHIKHDZHAMALOV (ROU) with a takedown with 12 seconds left to beat Soner DEMIRTAS (TUR) 4-3 in the 74kg semifinal. Great comeback from Shikhdzhamalov after giving up three points in the first period.

16:05: Vagzen TEVANYAN (ARM) shuts down Umidjon JALOLOV (UZB) in the 65kg semifinal. Two stepouts, a point for passivity and another for a lost challenge. That is enough for Tevanyan to win 4-0

15:30: Intense bout between Patricio LUGO (USA) and Umidjon JALOLOV (UZB).at 65kg which was dominated by Jalolov for the first four minutes. He took a 5-0 lead but was clearly struggling with conditioning. Lugo tried to utilize that but Jalalov had enough in the tank to win 5-2.

15:05: Sebastian RIVERA (PUR) has turned it around with stunning counterattacks late in the bout against SUJEET (IND). After a 7-2 and under a minute left, Sujeet should have had no business losing it. But Rivera scored a takedown and then two stepout to take the criteria lead before a desperate attempt from Sujeet ended in Rivera winning 9-7

14:45: Soner DEMITRAS (TUR) proved too much for the young Sagar JAGLAN (IND). Demitras with some top defense after leading 5-0 to let Jaglan take any space back in the bout. Jaglan did get on some positions but failed to finish even a single one of them.

14:30: Ernazar AKMATALIEV (KGZ) pins Giorgi ELBAKIDZE (GEO) at 70kg! The Kyrgyz wrestler used an arm throw but also gave up a few takedowns. However, Elbakidze did not match the conditioning and Akmataliev won via fall in the second period.

14:15: In the rematch of the U23 world championships final, Arsen HARUTYUNYAN (ARM) was up against Taiyrbek ZHUMASHBEK UULU KGZ). Harutyunyan won the U23 world title but Zhumashbek Uulu was in no mood to give anything to Harutyunyan here. He gut wrenches his way to a 10-0 at 61kg.

13:55: Vasyl MYKHAILOV (UKR), a hammer at 79kg, has moved up to 86kg. He puts on a show to come back and beat Boris MAKOEV (SVK) 7-5. 

13:25: Avtandil KENTCHADZE (GEO) countered Georgios KOUGIOUMTSIDIS (GRE) cradle with his own and got the four on a challenge while Kougioumtsidis got two. Kentchadze led 6-3. He kept the lead despite trading takedowns to win 9-6 at 79kg.

13:05: Umidjon JALOLOV (UZB) got to passivity points against Anthony ASHNAULT (USA) and completely shut off in the second period to get a 2-0 win at 65kg.

12:55: SUJEET (IND) has managed to shut down Abbos RAKHMONOV (UZB). Exceptional scrambling from the two but Sujeet wins 6-0

12:45: Vazgen TEVANYAN (ARM) looks solid today. He takes out Omar MOURAD (EGY) 11-0 with a strong show. He has a very strong gut wrench in the game.

12:30: The 2-1 scoreline does not do justice to that Nicholas SURIANO (USA) vs Minghu LIU (CHN) bout. Suriano wins 2-1 after a stepout which proved decisive.

12:00: Suleyman ATLI (TUR) rocks and rolls over Arslan RAKHIMOV (UZB) to continue his exciting run at 57kg. He moves into the quarterfinal with an 11-0 win.

11:40: Sagar JAGLAN (IND) and Joseph LAVALLEE (USA) are not giving up. Lavallee ran to a 14-8 lead but was not up to the conditioning of Jaglan. A takedown and lace for Jaglan as he wins 26-14.

11:25: Ernazar AKMATALIEV (KGZ) comes back from 5-2 to beat Zafarbek OTAKHONOV (UZB) 6-5 in a thriller at 70kg. Otakhanov used a slick duck under to lead 5-2 but Akmataliev scored a takedown and then a stepout to make it 5-5 with 16 seconds left. Otakhnov failed to stop another stepout, he challenged and lost, which gave Akmataliev the win 7-5

10:55: Vazgen TEVANYAN (ARM) with a powerful throw for four. Great execution as he got behind and as Edemi BOLKVADZE (GEO) tried running to save himself, Tevanyan used that momentum to hit a big one. He wins his first bout at 65kg 9-0.

10:25: Suleyman ATLI (TUR) is back at 57kg as the Olympics approach. He opens his day against Roberti DINGASHVILI (GEO). He builds a 6-0 lead before moving into a massive suplex to win 10-0. You can watch it here.

10:00: Welcome to the final day of the Ibrahim Moustafa Ranking Series event. Eight freestyle weight classes will be on the mat. We have some advice -- don't miss any!

#wrestlemanama

Bahrain to host 2026 World Championships

By United World Wrestling Press

ZAGREB, Croatia (September 16) -- For the first time in history, the World Championships are headed to Bahrain.

The 2026 World Championships will be held in Manama, Bahrain from September 5 to 13, United World Wrestling announced on Tuesday, during the ongoing World Championships in Zagreb.

No Arab country has ever hosted a World Championships but Bahrain will etch its name in history with the 2026 edition.

Secretary General of the Bahrain Olympic Committee Faris AL-KOOHEJI attended the press conference at the Arena Zagreb for the historic announcement. UWW President Nenad LALOVIC and Al-Kooheji announced the host together and signed the agreement.

"Bahrain has a superstar in wrestling," UWW President Lalovic said. "They probably want to use this opportunity to promote the sport through this superstar [Akhmed] TAZHUDINOV (BRN). But he's not the only one.

"They also want to develop the local Bahrain born athletes to compete because they have the role model of the top achievement in wrestling. This is something that we considered and that is why we made this decision.

Bahrain won its first-ever gold medal in Olympics in Paris when Tahzudinov ran-through the 97kg weight class and captured the gold medal. A year before that, he won the world title in the same weight class.

Tazhudinov is also an Asian champion, Asian Games champion and winner of other Ranking Series events.

Lalovic on the fact that wrestling wants to change the host continent of the World Championships more regularly.

 "We also want to change the continent regularly," he said. "A state that can organize the Asian [Youth] Games like they will do now in October, they will not face any problem with the championships, especially that we give all the assistance possible for the execution"

Manama, Bahrain will host the Asian Youth Games in which wrestling will be held from October 28 to 30.

Expressing its gratitude to UWW and readiness to host the mega event, Al-Kooheji said that the tournament will help Bahrain take wrestling to the grassroot levels in the country.

"For us, wrestling is a long term project," Al-Kooheji said. "Wrestling is a growing sport. It's a strategic sport for us. We got a gold medal in Paris, and we're looking to getting more medals. That gold medal started to inspire a lot of people, locally, to pursue wrestling, which is why part of the discussions with United World Wrestling is to even help us add wrestling in schools."

The Bahrain Olympic Committee expects that the World Championships will have a positive impact in growing the sport in the country.

"Strong economic impact [from the event]," he said. "We're going to get lots of travel spectators from Iran, the United States, and other countries as well. It's going to encourage the local community. They will understand more wrestling."