#YasarDogu

India Impresses to the Tune of Three Friday Night Yasar Dogu Golds

Friday, July 12, 2019 - 18:28 By Eric Olanowski

Share this article

ISTANBUL, TURKEY (July 12) --- India had quite an impressive showing on Friday night at the Yasar Dogu -- going undefeated in their finals matches and winning a trio of gold medals. Rahul AWARE (IND) reached the top of the podium in freestyle, while Seema SEEMA (IND) and Kumari MANJU (IND) won golds in women’s wrestling. 

Aware, an Asian bronze medalist, ascended to his first career Ranking Series title with a tactical 4-1 victory over Munir AKTAS (TUR) in the 61kg finals and improved on his City of Sassari Tournament bronze medal. The Indian wrestler’s slow-paced strategic match was highlighted by a lightning-quick four-point foot sweep that left his Turkish opponent lying flat on his back. 

Aware, who came into the Yasar Dogu as the sixth-ranked wrestler in the world, added 14 Ranking Series points to his previous total of 26 and will be the second-seeded wrestler at the September’s Nur-Sultan World Championships. 

The Indian wrestler, who now has 40 Ranking Series points, would be the fourth seed at the World Championships, but second-ranked Joe COLON (USA) did not make the United States’ world team and third-ranked Gadzhimurad RASHIDOV (RUS) bumped up to the Olympic weight of 65kg. For these reasons, Aware is the beneficiary and moves up two spots behind top-ranked reigning world champion Yowlys BONNE RODRIGUEZ (CUB).  

Seema SEEMA (IND) won her second consecutive Ranking Series title and will be the 50kg second seed at the World Championships. (Photo: Kadir Caliskan) 

India also collected a pair of women’s wrestling golds from Seema Seema and Kumari Manju, who won the 50kg and 59kg titles, respectively. 

In the 50kg finals, Seema only controlled the lead for a little over a minute but scored a late inactivity point and stopped Valeriya CHEPSARAKOVA (RUS) from winning her second career Ranking Series title, 3-2. Seema’s win on Friday night gives her a second straight Ranking Series gold medal after she won May’s City of Sassari Tournament on the Italian island of Sardinia. 

With Seema’s Friday night victory, she cemented her spot as the second-seeded wrestler at 50kg at September’s World Championships. She came into the Yasar Dogu as the eighth-ranked wrestler in the world but added 14 Ranking Series points to her previous total of 28 and sits one point behind European champion Oksana LIVACH (UKR). Though the rankings show Livach as No. 2 in the world at 50kg, she’ll be the top-seeded wrestler in Nur-Sultan because two-time reigning world champion and No. 1-ranked Yui SUSAKI (JPN) lost her starting spot last weekend to Yuki IRIE (JPN). 

Also of note at 50kg, Yasar Dogu bronze medalist Evin DEMIRHAN (TUR) also jumped into the top-four of the rankings with her bronze-medal finish. 

Kumari MANJU (IND) defeated Katsiaryna HANCHAR YANUSHKEVICH (BLR), 13-2 in the 59kg finals. (Photo: Gabor Martin) 

The third Indian wrestler to claim Friday night gold was Kumari Manju. She mauled Katsiaryna HANCHAR YANUSHKEVICH (BLR), 13-2 in the 59kg finals. 

The match was fairly close after the first period, but Manju opened the match up in the second period -- ending the match early with a technical superiority victory. 

In the first period, Manju was in front 3-0 after scoring a stepout and a double leg attempt turned into a single leg takedown. Then, in the second period, Manju extended her lead to 5-0 after coming through the middle on a shot – scoring her second takedown on the bout. The Indian wrestler conceded a takedown before hip tossing Hanchar Yanushkevich to her back for four points. Manju allowed the Belarusian wrestler to fight off her back then seamlessly transitioned to three leg laces -- closing out the match, 13-2. 

The Indian (50 points) women enter Saturday trailing first-place Turkey (60 points) by ten points. Russia (48 points) rounds out the top three of the women’s wrestling team standings two points behind India. 

On the freestyle side of the competition, Turkey (55 points) has a 15-point advantage over Azerbaijan (40 points), and a 19-point lead over third place Bulgaria (36 points). 

Wrestling resumes Saturday morning at 11:00 (local time) and will be broadcasted live on www.unitedworldwrestling.org.

RESULTS

Freestyle 
57kg 
GOLD - Givi DAVIDOVI (ITA) df. Baris KAYA (TUR), 16-5
BRONZE - Giorgi EDISHERASHVILI (AZE) df. Mikyay Salim NAIM (BUL), 7 - 2
BRONZE - Abdelhak KHERBACHE (ALG) df. Minir REDJEPI (MKD), 3-1 

61kg 
GOLD - Rahul Balasaheb AWARE (IND) df. Munir Recep AKTAS (TUR)
BRONZE - Utkarsh Pandharinath KALE (IND) df. David MISHEV (MKD), via forfeit 
BRONZE - Emrah ORMANOGLU (TUR) df. Cabbar DUYUM (TUR), 2-2 

70kg 
GOLD - Murtazali Raxmatullayevic MUSLIMOV (AZE) df. Mihail Iliev GEORGIEV (BUL), via fall
BRONZE - Ilyas ZHUMAY (KAZ) df. Rajnesh RAJNEESH (IND), 6 - 3
BRONZE - Haydar YAVUZ (TUR) df. Daniel ANTAL (HUN), 11-0 

Women’s Wrestling
50kg 
GOLD - Seema SEEMA (IND) df. Valeriya CHEPSARAKOVA (RUS), 3-2
BRONZE - Nadezhda SOKOLOVA (RUS) df. Sarra HAMDI (TUN), 4 - 2
BRONZE - Evin DEMIRHAN (TUR) df. Veronika GURSKAYA (RUS), 10-0 

53kg 
GOLD - Bediha GUN (TUR) df. Zulfiya YAKHYAROVA (KAZ), via fall 
BRONZE - Samantha Leigh STEWART (CAN) df. Zalina SIDAKOVA (BLR), via injury default 
BRONZE - Marina SEDNEVA (KAZ) df. Sinem KOROGLU (TUR), 10-0 

59kg
GOLD - Kumari MANJU (IND) df. Katsiaryna HANCHAR YANUSHKEVICH (BLR), 13-2 
BRONZE - Sara Johanna LINDBORG (SWE) df. Elif YANIK (TUR), via fall 
BRONZE - Emma JOHANSSON (SWE) df. Gulnora TOSHPULATOVA (UZB), via fall 

65kg
GOLD - Forrest Ann MOLINARI (USA) df. Natalia FEDOSEEVA (RUS), 5-2 
BRONZE - Aina TEMIRTASSOVA (KAZ) df. Rimma RYSSAYEVA (KAZ), via injury default 
BRONZE - Anna SHCHERBAKOVA (RUS) df. Sule KABAK (TUR), 10-0 

#WrestleBudapest

Takahashi marks return from injury with Ranking Series gold

Friday, July 18, 2025 - 20:08 By Vinay Siwach

Share this article

BUDAPEST, Hungary (July 18) -- The last memories of Kota TAKHASHI (JPN) on the mat were painful. He had a heavily strapped right knee and was wrestling at the Non-Olympic World Championships in Tirana last year. He was torn.

A surgery and nine months later, Takahashi returned to international wrestling at the Budapest Ranking Series on Friday and captured the 74kg gold medal.

The world U23 champion was the third gold medalist from Japan in Budapest after Takara SUDA (JPN) and Yoshinosuke AOYAGI (JPN) won at 61kg and 70kg, respectively.

In the other two weight classes that were in action on Friday, Arsenii DZHIOEV (AZE) and Trent HIDLAY (USA) captured the gold medal at 86kg and 92kg as Freestyle came to a close at the Ranking Series.

Takahashi, who won the Asian Championships gold in 2024, made himself a gold-medal threat for the World Championships in Zagreb with an impressive performance that saw him score wins over Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK) and David CARR (USA).

"This was my first international competition since my right knee surgery, and I wanted to show my true abilities," Takahashi said. "I'm very happy that I was able to win by thoroughly executing my tackles and aggressive wrestling style."

Takahashi was up against Salkazanov in his first match and began by blasting two double-leg attacks to race to a 4-0 lead. But the second period was not the same as he was put on the activity clock and Salkazanov cut the lead with a takedown during that.

Just when it seemed that Salkazanov can take the lead, Takahashi hit a low leg-attack and converted it into takedown to make the gap 6-3. Salkazanov did not let it go and scored a stepout with nine seconds left.

Takahashi was happy to not engage in those nine seconds, and happily gave a stepout and a caution. He won 6-6 and set up a quarterfinal against Murad KURAMAGOMEDOV (HUN). He did not need any of those attacks as he managed a 3-0 win.

The semifinal against Carr was a challenging one as Takahashi struggled to keep his conditioning for six minutes. He opened with a stepout and Carr was called for fleeing. As Carr used a chest wrap to stop Takahashi's double-leg attack, he fell on his back with hand opens. Only Takahashi was awarded two points which made his lead 4-0. Two stepouts later, it was 6-0.

Carr got going in the final two minutes as he scored two takedowns inside 20 seconds to make it 6-4. So far, Takahashi had remained low in his stance and cancelled Carr's long reach. However, his defense began to break up.

As Carr tried to turn Takahashi after the second takedown, Takahashi blocked the turn and got two points. Carr scored a reversal to make it 8-5. He then made it 8-7 with 10 seconds remaining but that was the final scoring action of the bout.

"Car is very aggressive, and I am also good at aggressive wrestling, but in the second half, my opponent's attacks were superior to mine. I ended up conceding points," he said. "I think that was my mistake. In the second period, I tried to attack, but the opponent kept attacking repeatedly. I ended up just defending, and that was the reason I lost points. I need to be more aggressive and attack more."

Takahashi's aggressive wrestling was once again on show in the final against another former world U23 champion Magomed KHANIEV (AZE). He scored two takedowns and defending so well that Khaniev was not able to score a point and Takahashi won gold medal, 4-0.

But the Japanese accepted the chinks in his armor and has decided to work on them before the World Championships where he knows that the competition will be even tougher.

"Similar story against Salkazanov. I want to review my stamina to maintain an aggressive attack throughout the six minutes without breaking my stance, and keep solid stance," he said. "In the second half, my desire to attack weakened, and I ended up being attacked by the opponent, leading to them scoring points. I need to improve on that."

Carr returned for the bronze medal bout and defeated Salkazanov 4-4, avenging his previous to the Slovak from Zagreb.

Trent HIDLAY (USA)Trent HIDLAY (USA) defeated Miriani MAISURADZE (GEO) 7-2 in the 92kg final. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Trent HIDLAY (USA), a 86kg silver medalist last year in Budapest, upgraded to gold medal after beating world silver medalist Miriani MAISURADZE (GEO), 7-4, in the 92kg final.

Hidlay was in red-hot form the whole day as he began with a win over Abubakr ABAKAROV (AZE)  and then posted a 10-0 win over Krizstian ANGYAL (HUN) in the quarterfinal. He began the semifinal against Dauren KURUGLIEV (GRE) with a powerful double-leg takedown.

As Kurugliev fell, he landed on his knee and suffered an injury so bad that he was unable to walk off the mat. Hidlay reached the final after the injury forced Kurugliev to stop.

It was Maisuradze who opened the scoring in the final with a snapdown to takedown for two points but Hidlay answered with two stepouts and the Georgian led 2-2 on criteria at the break.

Hidlay opened the second period with a takedown to take a 4-2 lead and then continued to put pressure on Maisuradze. It paid off as he scored another takedown on the edge to lead 6-2. Georgia challenged that both wrestlers were already out of the zone and it should be one point. But the challenge was lost, making it 7-2 for Hidlay with 1:47 left on the clock.

That was all in the bout as Hidlay captured the gold and put his name in contention for the gold medal at the upcoming World Championships.

At 86kg, Arsenii DZHIOEV (AZE) was the gold medalist after European silver medalist Mahamedkhabib KADZIMAHAMEDAU (UWW) pulled out of the final injured.

Kadzimahamedau suffered a knee injury in the semifinal against Ali SAVADKOUHI (IRI) as the Iranian did not let go off his knee despite it turning more than 90 degrees.

RESULTS

74kg
GOLD: Kota TAKAHASHI (JPN) df. Magomed KHANIEV (AZE), 4-0

BRONZE: David CARR (USA) df. Taimuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK), 4-4
BRONZE: Magomedrasul ASLUEV (BRN) df. Yeldos KUANYSHBAY (KAZ), 8-2

86kg
GOLD:  Arsenii DZHIOEV (AZE) df. Mahamedkhabib KADZIMAHAMEDAU (UWW), via inj. def.

BRONZE: Osman GOCEN (TUR) df. Boris MAKOEV (SVK), 3-2
BRONZE: Ali SAVADKOUHI (IRI) df. Nurzhan ISSAGALIYEV (KAZ), 3-0 

92kg
GOLD: Trent HIDLAY (USA) df. Miriani MAISURADZE (GEO), 7-4

BRONZE: Benjamin HONIS (ITA) df. Musza ARSUNKAEV (HUN), via fall (5-5)
BRONZE: Abubakr ABAKAROV (AZE) df. Dauren KURUGLIEV (GRE), via inj. def.