#CadetAsians

Iran Captures FS & GR Titles in Cadets Asian C’ships, Japan Shines in Women’s Wrestling

By Ali Feizasa

NUR-SULTAN, KAZAKHSTAN (July 9) --- The Cadet Asian Championships concluded in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, and Iran topped the tournament in freestyle and Greco-Roman, as Japan won team title in women’s wrestling.

In freestyle, Iran came in strong and medaled in all ten weight classes, claiming seven gold medals, one silver and one bronze, and collected 212 of the 250 possible points.

Ali ARAB FIROUZJAEI (45kg), Rahman AMOUZADKHALILI (48kg) and Ali GHOLIZADEGAN KOLOUKHI (51kg) gave Iran three golds in light weight categories but Aman AMAN from India and Kota TAKAHASHI from Japan made a gap in Iranian’s victories as captured gold medal in 55 and 60kg respectively.

Amir MOTAGHI (65kg), Amirhossein FIROUZPOURBANDPEI (80kg), Soheyl YOUSEFI SANGANI (92kg) and Salar HABIBI EHSANI (110kg) were four other Iranian champions, while Vijay VIJAY (IND) achieved the second gold medal for India at 71kg to help his team place second  (157 points) with two golds, one silver, and five bronze medalist.  The host country Kazakhstan had 8 medals (3 silver and 5 bronze) and 145 points to place third in Freestyle after Iran and India.

In Greco-Roman, Iran and Kazakhstan had a close battle for team title but Iran topped the host nation by six points.

Iran only had one more gold medal than Kazakhstan (4 gold, 2 silver, one bronze) as the host team had one more bronze medal (3 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze).

Amirreza DEHBOZORGI (48kg), Saeid ESMAEILI LEIVESI (51kg), Hojat REZAEI (65kg) and Saeid KARIMIZADEH (92kg) were four Iranian champions who helped their team gather 181points. \

Samatbek IZIMGALI (45kg), Maksat SAILAU (80kg) and Nurtaz KYDYRBAY (110kg) earned three gold medals for Kazakhstan as the host team finished in second place with 175 points, while Kyrgyzstan came third with 137 points.

The three other Greco-Roman titles went to Firuz MIRZORAJABOV from Tajikistan at 55kg, Amirbek SULTONOV from Uzbekistan at 60kg and Bakdaulet EGEMBERDIEV from Kyrgyzstan at 71kg.

In women’s wrestling, the Japanese girls achieved six medals (4 gold and 2 silver) and won the team title with 176 points. India (159 points) was in close competition as they had six medals but only one of them was gold (one gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze). 

Participating in the tournament with eight wrestlers, China team had good performance by seven medals (one gold, 3 silver, 3 bronze), collecting 138 points and placing third in team standings.

Umi ITO (46kg), Mako OONO (53kg), Ami ISHI (65kg) and Rin TERAMOTO (69kg) were the four Japanese champions as North Korea which had only three wrestlers, won two gold medals by Jin Hyang JANG (43kg) and Ji Hyang KIM (in 49kg).

Four countries shared four remaining individual titles as Mushtariy TOLIPBEKOVA from Uzbekistan at 40kg, Priyanka PRIYANKA from India at 57kg, Maral BATTSOOJ from Mongolia at 61kg and Meng DANG from China at 73kg succeed to defeat all of their rivals.

2019 Cadet’s Asian Championships Medal Winners:

Freestyle

45kg
GOLD- Ali ARAB FIROUZJAEI (IRI)
SILVER- Nodirbek YAKUBOV (UZB)
BRONZE- Suraj ANNIKERI (IND)
BRONZE-  Dastan URMATBEK UULU (KGZ)

48kg
GOLD- Rahman AMOUZADKHALILI (IRI)
SILVER- Nurdaulet BAZARBAYEV (KAZ)
BRONZE- Kamronbek KADAMOV (UZB)
BRONZE- Otgonbaatar BOLDBAATAR (MGL)

51kg
GOLD- Ali GHOLIZADEGAN KOLOUKHI (IRI)
SILVER- Samagan ULAN UULU (KGZ)
BRONZE- Merey BAZARBAYEV (KAZ)
BRONZE- Sunil SUNIL (IND)

55kg
GOLD- Aman AMAN (IND)
SILVER- Arslan RAKHIMOV (UZB)
BRONZE- Shamil KALMATOV (KGZ)
BRONZE- Mahdi VEISI (IRI)

60kg
GOLD- Kota TAKAHASHI (JPN)
SILVER- Erfan ELAHI (IRI)
BRONZE- Deepak DEEPAK (IND)
BRONZE- Akniyet TULEGENOV (KAZ)

65kg
GOLD- Amir Hossein MOTAGHI (IRI)
SILVER- Mustafo AKHMEDOV (TJK)
BRONZE- Olzhas OLZHAKANOV (KAZ)
BRONZE- Manish GOSWAMI (IND)

71kg
GOLD- Vijay VIJAY (IND)
SILVER- Shokhruh JURAEV (UZB)
BRONZE- Nurdaulet KUANYSHBAY (KAZ)
BRONZE- Nurman UMAROV (KGZ)

80kg
GOLD- Amirhossein FIROUZPOURBANDPEI (IRI)
SILVER- Bekzat AMANGALI (KAZ)
BRONZE- Pureun KIM (KOR)
BRONZE- Abubakr SHUKUROV (TJK)

92kg
GOLD- Soheyl YOUSEFI SANGANI (IRI)
SILVER- Monu DAHIYA (IND)
BRONZE- Er HURILEBATE (CHN)
BRONZE- Bekzat TAZHI (KAZ)

110kg
GOLD- Salar HABIBI EHSANI (IRI)
SILVER- Islam TAGIROV (KAZ)
BRONZE- Kumar ANIRUDH (IND)
BRONZE- Zihao HUANG (CHN)

Freestyle Team Standings:
1- Iran 212 pts
2- India 157 pts
3- Kazakhstan 145 pts
4- Uzbekistan 127 pts
5- Kyrgyzstan 95 pts
6- Japan 91 pts
7- Korea 65 pts
8- Mongolia 63 pts
9- Tajikistan 55 pts
10- China 54 pts
11- Turkmenistan 30 pts
12- Saudi Arabia 20 pts
13- Taipei Chinese 12 pts
14- Jordan 10 pts
15- Singapore 0 point
15- Syria 0 point

Greco-Roman

45kg
GOLD- Samatbek IZIMGALI (KAZ)
SILVER- Razzak BEISHEKEEV (KGZ)
BRONZE- Kansei KAMIYOSHI (JPN)
BRONZE- Harsh HARSH (IND)

48kg
GOLD- Amirreza DEHBOZORGI (IRI)
SILVER- Yerassyl DAULETBEK (KAZ)
BRONZE- Kuvonchbek TOSHNAZAROV (UZB)
BRONZE- Ulukbek SANSYZBAEV (KGZ)

51kg
GOLD- Saeid ESMAEILI LEIVESI (IRI)
SILVER- Arshad ARSHAD (IND)
BRONZE- Kohei YAMAGIWA (JPN)
BRONZE- Iskhar KURBAYEV (KAZ)

55kg
GOLD- Firuz MIRZORAJABOV (TJK)
SILVER- Abror ATABAEV (UZB)
BRONZE- Yerassyl KENGANOV (KAZ)
BRONZE- Parvin PATIL (IND)

60kg
GOLD- Amirbek SULTONOV (UZB)
SILVER- Seyed Danial SOHRABI (IRI)
BRONZE- Ravi RAVI (IND)
BRONZE- Didar ORAZBERDIYEV (TKM)

65kg
GOLD- Hojat REZAEI (IRI)
SILVER- Din MUKHAMED KOSHKAR (KAZ)
BRONZE- Jianwei OU (CHN)
BRONZE- Neeraj NEERAJ (IND)

71kg
GOLD- Bakdaulet EGEMBERDIEV (KGZ)
SILVER- Reza SAKI (IRI)
BRONZE- Sheroz OCHILOV (TJK)
BRONZE- Samandar BOBONAZAROV (UZB)

80kg
GOLD- Maksat SAILAU (KAZ)
SILVER- Bekzat ORUNKUL UULU (KGZ)
BRONZE- Yifan CHEN (CHN)
BRONZE- Eito NISHIDA (JPN)

92kg
GOLD- Saeid KARIMIZADEH (IRI)
SILVER- Nitesh NITESH (IND)
BRONZE- Ao SUN (CHN)
BRONZE- Djakhongir KHOSHIMOV (UZB)

110kg
GOLD- Nurtaz KYDYRBAY (KAZ)
SILVER- Sonu SONU (IND)
BRONZE- Shahrokh MIKAEILI (IRI)
BRONZE-Davran SADYKOV (KGZ)

Greco-Roman Team Standings:
1- Iran 181 pts
2- Kazakhstan 175 pts
3- Kyrgyzstan 137 pts
4- India 134 pts
5- Uzbekistan 132 pts
6- Japan 85 pts
7- China 81 pts
8- Tajikistan 76 pts
9- Korea 58 pts
10- Turkmenistan 39 pts
11- Saudi Arabia 18 pts
12- Taipei Chinese 12 pts
13- Syria 6 pts
14- Jordan 0 point

Women’s Wrestling

40kg
GOLD- Mushtariy TOLIPBEKOVA (UZB)
SILVER- Komal KOMAL (IND)
BRONZE- Jin A KIM (PRK)

43kg
GOLD- Jin Hyang JANG (PRK)
SILVER- Karin UEMATSU (JPN)
BRONZE- Nazik MIRLAN KYZY (KGZ)

46kg
GOLD- Umi ITO (JPN)
SILVER- Xuejing LIANG (CHN)
BRONZE- Bermet NURIDIN KYZY (KGZ)

49kg
GOLD- Ji Hyang KIM (PRK)
SILVER- Yu SAKAMOTO (JPN)
BRONZE- Zeinep BAYANOVA (KAZ)
BRONZE- Xiaomin XIE (CHN) 

53kg
GOLD- Mako OONO (JPN)
SILVER- Altyn SHAGAYEVA (KAZ)
BRONZE- Ying LU (CHN)

57kg
GOLD- Priyanka PRIYANKA (IND)
SILVER- Yifan TANG (CHN)
BRONZE- Altjin TOGTOKH (MGL)
BRONZE- Burulsun BEKBOLOTOVA (KGZ)

61kg
GOLD- Maral BATTSOOJ (MGL)
SILVER- Laylokhon SOBIROVA (UZB)
BRONZE- DDilnaz SAZANOVA (KGZ)
BRONZE-Bhagyashree FAND (IND)

65kg
GOLD- Ami ISHI (JPN)
SILVER- Sonam SONAM (IND)
BRONZE- Cun LIU (CHN)
BRONZE- Rushana ABDIRASULOVA (UZB)

69kg
GOLD- Rin TERAMOTO (JPN)
SILVER- Yifeng LU (CHN)
BRONZE- Nurzat NURTAEVA (KGZ)
BRONZE- Reetika REETIKA (IND)

73kg
GOLD - Meng DANG (CHN)
SILVER - Pooja POOJA (IND)
BRONZE - Ayazhan SADU (KAZ)
BRONZE - Delgertsetseg BAASANKHUU (MGL)

Women’s Wrestling Team Standings:
1- Japan 176 pts
2- India 159 pts
3-China 138 pts
4- Mongolia 123 pts
5- Uzbekistan 114 pts
6- Kazakhstan 111 pts
7- Kyrgyzstan 110 pts
8- DPR Korea 65 pts
9- Taipei Chinese 58 pts

#USAWrestling

Paris Olympic Champ Elor Makes Winning Return After Child Birth

By United World Wrestling Press

LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, United States (May 15) -- Three months after giving birth, Paris 2024 Olympic champion Amit ELOR (USA) returned to competition at the United States World Team Trials Challenge tournament in Louisville.

The 22-year-old Elor pinned her way to win the tournament and book her stop for the Final X, the U.S. tournament, to be held on June 19, to select its team for the 2026 World Championships.

The two-time world champion wrestled Pan-American champion Precious WIESER (USA) in the 72kg final and pushed her lead to 11-0 before converting her final takedown into a fall with 29 seconds left.

This was Elor's first appearance since the same this tournament a year ago. She pulled out of the 2025 Final X due to health issues and later announced her pregnancy.

In other bouts, two-time world medalist Macey KILTY (USA) also pinned her way to Final X. Following a technical fall in the semifinals, Kilty pinned Claire DI CUGNO (USA) 66 seconds into final at 62 kg. With the victory, Kilty now sets up a rematch of the U.S. Open final against recent Pan-Am champion Adaugo NWACHUKWU (USA) at Final X.

At 53kg, Elena IVALDI (USA) secured a technical superiority win over Sydney PETZINGER (USA) in a high-scoring, 23-12, contest. Ivaldi, leading 15-12 at one point, put the match away with eight-straight points to seal the win.

Two-time U17 world champion Morgan TURNER (USA) needed a late takedown to confirm her 10-8 win over Felicity TAYLOR (USA) at 50kg. In a back-and-forth battle, Taylor grabbed an 8-7 lead with seven seconds to go with a takedown on the edge of the mat. On the ensuing restart, Turner scored two points off an ankle pick, and a lost challenge sealed the 10-8 victory.

The 55kg spot went to Areana VILLAESCUSA (USA) who won 6-0 over Alexandra HEDRICK (USA) while at 65kg, 2023 world bronze medalist Jennifer PAGE (USA) outlasted Emma BRUNTIL (USA), 4-2.

Alexis JANIAK (USA), a age-group world medalist, secured her Final X spot at 59kg as she edged out two-time age-group world medalist Amani JONES (USA), 4-1.

Each winner of the tournament is paired against the U.S. Open champion in a best-of-three series at Final X to determine the representative for the U.S. at the 2026 World Championships. Final X will take place on June 19 at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.

Three Final X matchups were already determined in women’s freestyle, 57kg, 68kg and 76kg.

In Freestyle, Olympic silver medalist Spencer LEE (USA) made it to Final X after winning the World Team Trials Challenge tournament. Lee scored a 13-3 win over Anthony KNOX (USA) at 57kg. Lee’s victory sets up a rematch against three-time age-group world champion Luke LILLEDAHL (USA), who beat Lee at the U.S. Open last month.

In the 61 kg final, U23 world champion Jaxen FORREST (USA) won against Benjamin DAVINO (USA), 11-1. Forrest previously beat Davino in the finals at the NCAA National Championships, 4-2, and Davino came back to beat Forrest in the U.S. Open semifinals, 8-4.

Paris 2024 Olympian Zain RETHERFORD (USA) made his return to the mat in style and won the 70kg tournament title. In low-scoring bouts, Retherford won his semifinal match on Thursday, 3-2, then edged Caleb HENSON (USA) in the final, 2-1.

At 125kg, after what was ruled a pin early on, Mason PARRIS (USA) rallied and claimed the victory. An early scramble ended with Isaac TRUMBLE (USA) initially being rewarded with a fall. However, after a challenge, the call was overturned after being called for a choke. After the challenge, the match was all tied at 2-2, and Parris bounced back to take a 14-6 lead. He held off a late rally from Trumble to secure the 14-12 victory.

David CARR (USA) won at 74 kg after he defeated Jayden JAMES (USA), holding off a late charge from James to secure the 9-7 decision and advance to Final X.

Final X Match-Ups

Women's Wrestling

50kg: Katie GOMEZ (USA) vs. Morgan TURNER (USA)
53kg: Cristelle RODRIGUEZ (USA) vs. Elena IVALDI (USA)
55kg: Everest LEYDECKER (USA) vs. Areana VILLAESCUSA (USA)
57kg: Helen MAROULIS (USA) vs. Amanda MARTINEZ (USA)
59kg: Abigail NETTE (USA) vs. Alexis JANIAK (USA)
62kg: Adaugo NWACHUKWU (USA) vs. Macey KILTY (USA)
65kg: Kayla MIRACLE (USA) vs. Jennifer PAGE (USA)
68kg: Kennedy BALDES (USA) vs. Isabella MIR (USA)
72kg: Alexandria GLAUDE (USA) vs. Amit ELOR (USA)
76kg: Kylie WELKER (USA) vs. Dymond GUILFORD (USA)

Freestyle

57kg: Luke LILLEDAHL (USA) vs. Spencer LEE (USA)
61kg: Marcus BLAZE (USA) vs. Jaxen FORREST (USA)
65kg: Real WOODS (USA) vs. Bowen BASSETT (USA)
70kg: Ridge LOVETT (USA) vs. Zain RETHERFORD (USA)
74kg: James GREEN (USA) vs. David CARR (USA)
79kg: Levi HAINES( USA) vs. Chance MARSTELLER (USA)
86kg: Zahid VALENCIA (USA) vs. Kyle DAKE (USA)
92kg: Trent HIDLAY (USA) vs. Michael MACCHIAVELLO (USA)
97kg: Kyle SNYDER (USA) vs. Stephen BUCHANAN (USA)
125kg: Wyatt HENDRICKSON (USA) vs. Mason PARRSI (USA)