#YasarDogu

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

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

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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 

#WrestleZagreb

Lee strikes gold as U.S., Iran shine at Zagreb Open

Thursday, February 6, 2025 - 01:15 By Vinay Siwach

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ZAGREB, Croatia (February 5) -- Spencer LEE (USA) did not compete internationally, for circumstances beyond his control, for eight years after winning his U20 world title in 2016. But in a year since he came back in February 2024, Lee has competed in six tournaments in less than a year.

Lee competed at the Henri Deglane Grand Prix in January and won gold. Two weeks later he won the Zagreb Open gold medal at 57kg on Wednesday, marking his debut at a Ranking Series event.

The Paris Olympic silver medalist led a strong performance of the wrestlers from United States as they won two gold medals as six weight classes concluded on day one of the Zagreb Open at Arena Zagreb.

Lee did not look as dominant as he did in Paris before the final but still managed to pull out a good defensive game and win the gold medal with rather ease.

In the final, Lee defeated Islam BAZARGANOV (AZE), 6-2, after a similar win over Roman BRAVO YOUNG (MEX) in the semifinals. He opened the day with an 11-0 drubbing of Luka GVINJILIA (GEO).

"It's good to get competition right now," Lee said. "[It] showed that I'm really not ready yet."

Though Lee was not convinced about his readiness, his coach Dan DENNIS kept pushing Lee and reminded him of the progress he is making bout after bout.

"I think it [progress] comes from being more successful early and then I was in on three shots, kicked out of all three of them," he said. "He's (Dan Dennis) just saying that you just kind of kept progressing. You even got taken down, good counter from him, got to keep wrestling, keep moving."

In the final, Lee scored two takedowns, first one a double-leg and second a counter, as his scoring actions to beat Bazarganov, a bronze medalist at the European Championships last year.

The win takes second-ranked Lee to 43000 ranking points, same as top ranked Rei HIGUCHI (JPN), the gold medalist from Paris Olympics. If Lee can finish top eight at any other Ranking Series or Pan-Am Championships, he will move to the top. However, Lee was not sure if he will be in action internationally before the World Championships.

"I think that ranking tournaments are awesome because good guys come," he said. "The points are obviously a nice bonus to that just because you can get seeded in the bracket. I love competing. Obviously I need more of it. So maybe. This tournament was tough. So good for me."

Zahid VALENCIA (USA)Zahid VALENCIA (USA) won the 86kg gold medal in Zagreb. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Zahid VALENCIA (USA) was the second gold medalist for the U.S. as he won gold medal at 86kg after beating Arsenii DZHIOEV (AZE), 8-0, in the final. Valencia was good with his counters and after building a 4-0 lead at the break, he scored two more takedown in the second period to win the gold medal.

The two bronze medals at this weight class went to Nathan JACKSON (USA) and Trent HIDLAY (USA), making sure all three U.S. wrestlers finish on the podium at the weight class.

Ahmad JAVAN (IRI)Ahmad JAVAN (IRI) defeated Ibrahim KHARI (IRI) 10-0 in the 61kg final. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kostadin Andonov)

Iran wins 2 golds

Iran also won two gold medals but the tournament left it with more questions than answers for the Asian Championships team.

At 61kg, Ahmad JAVAN (IRI) defeated Ebrahim KHARI (IRI) 10-0 to confirm his spot for the Asian Championships. Khari, who won silver at the U20 World Championships last year, failed to give Javan a fight in the final.

Prior to the final, Javan defeated Nashon GARRETT (USA) 7-2 in the quarterfinals and Giorgi GONIASHVILI (GEO) 9-3 in the semifinals.

Abbas EBRAHIM (IRI)Abbas EBRAHIM (IRI) defeated Joseph MC KENNA (USA) 8-6 in the 65kg final. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Abbas EBRAHIM (IRI) undoubtedly gave Iran its biggest win of the day as he came back to beat Joseph MC KENNA (USA) 8-6 in the 65kg final.

McKenna got the first two takedowns to lead 4-0 before Ebrahim answered with his own to lead 4-4 at the break. Ebrahim began the second period with another takedown to go ahead 6-4 but with less than a minute to go, McKenna hit ankle pick and transitioned into a leg-attack. He scored a takedown to lead 6-6 on criteria.

In the dying seconds of the bout, Ebrahim  tried a front headpinch but McKenna defended it as he had Ebrahim's one leg locked. However, the Iranian managed to get his leg out of McKenna's hands, he tried to circle back and complete a takedown but McKenna held his knee pad which was penalized as one point, giving the win to Ebrahim 7-6.

The United States challenged that call but it remained and McKenna was docked one more point for lost challenge, making the score 8-6.

Both Iran and the U.S. had two silver medalists as well after Sina KHALILI (IRI) lost the final at 70kg and David CARR (USA) dropped the final at 74kg.

Kanan HEYBATOV (AZE), a former U20 world champion, gave no chance to Sina KHALILI (IRI) in the final and shut him down for a 12-1 win victory.

The weight class also had Paris Olympian and 2023 world champion Iszmail MUSZUKAJEV (HUN) who was stunned in the first bout of the day by Jarrett JACKQUES (USA) who scored a takedown in his 3-2 win Muszukajev.

Carr ran into three-time world medalist Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK) in the final and finished with a silver medal at 74kg.

Salkazanov scored a takedown on each side of the break to complete a 4-0 win.

RESULTS

57kg
GOLD: Spencer LEE (USA) df. Islam BAZARGANOV (AZE), 6-2

BRONZE: Roman BRAVO YOUNG (MEX) df. Luka GVINJILIA (GEO), 11-2 
BRONZE: Azamat TUSKAEV (SRB) df. Ahora KHATERI (IRI), 11-0

61kg
GOLD: Ahmad JAVAN (IRI) df. Ebrahim KHARI (IRI), 10-0

BRONZE: Nahshon GARRETT (USA) df. Giorgi GONIASHVILI (GEO), 16-11
BRONZE: Nuraddin NOVRUZOV (AZE) df. Reza MOMENI (IRI), 8-4

65kg
GOLD: Abbas EBRAHIM (IRI) df. Joseph MC KENNA (USA), 8-6

BRONZE: Khamzat ARSAMERZOUEV (FRA) df. Erik ARUSHANIAN (UKR), 2-2
BRONZE: Ali RAHIMZADA (AZE) df. Goga OTINASHVILI (GEO), 6-0

70kg
GOLD: Kanan HEYBATOV (AZE) df. Sina KHALILI (IRI), 12-1

BRONZE: Austin GOMEZ (MEX) df. Ebrahim ELAHI (IRI), 9-3
BRONZE: Vasile DIACON (MDA) df. James GREEN (USA), via inj. def.

74kg
GOLD: Tajmuraz SALKAZANOV (SVK) df. David CARR (USA), 4-0

BRONZE: Murad KURAMAGOMEDOV (HUN) df. Kamil RYBICKI (POL), 10-0
BRONZE: Giorgi ELBAKIDZE (GEO) df. Aghanazar NOVRUZOV (AZE), 3-2

86kg
GOLD: Zahid VALENCIA (USA) df. Arsenii DZHIOEV (AZE), 8-0

BRONZE: Nathan JACKSON (USA) df. Matthew FINESILVER (ISR), 12-2
BRONZE: Trent HIDLAY (USA) df. Tariel GAPHRINDASHVILI (GEO), 10-4