#WrestleAlmaty

LIVE BLOG: Senior Asian Championships, Day One

By United World Wrestling Press

Greco-Roman wrestling on day one saw 5 new Asian champions as Iran picked up three gold medal while Japan and Kazakhstan picked up one each in Almaty.

Asian Olympic Qualifier Recap: 36 wrestling quotas decided for Tokyo Olympics through #WrestleAlmaty

WATCH LIVE | MATCH ORDER

2030 hrs: GOLD MEDAL! Third of the night for Iran. Aliakbar YOUSOFIAHMADCHALI (IRI) gets the job done with an easy 5-1 victory over Alimkhan SYZDYKOV (KAZ) to cap off a success day for the Greco powerhouse

1955 hrs: GOLD MEDAL! Naser ALIZADEH is wrestling first time internationally and he picks up the gold medal at the Asian Championships. He beats Atabek AZISBEKOV (KGZ) 3-1 in the 87kg final

1920 hrs: GOLD MEDAL! Daler REZA ZADE (TJK) had the chance to become his country's first ever Greco-Roman Asian champion but he pulls out because of injury and Pejman POSHTAM (IRI) is crowned the champion at 77kg

1855 hrs: GOLD MEDAL! Sultan ASSETULY (KAZ) with a stunning headlock and four points. He holds Meysam DALKHANI (IRI) to the back and wins the gold medal.

1848 hrs: Dalkhani with takedown to lead 3-0 but Assetuly goes big with a four-pointer. He will lead 4-3 at the break

1845 hrs: Matteo Pellicone silver medalist Sultan ASSETULY (KAZ) is taking on U23 world champion Meysam DALKHANI (IRI) in the 63kg gold medal bout

1820 hrs: GOLD MEDAL! Yu SHIOTANI (JPN) claims his first ever gold at an international event as he beats Ilkhom BAKHROMOV (UZB) 17-7.

1800 hrs: Welcome back to the final session of day one of the Asian Championships here in Almaty. All the action will take place on Mat B

1430 hrs: Here are the results from the semifinals of the Greco-Roman 55kg, 63kg, 77kg, 87kg, 130kg

55kg
Ilkhom BAKHROMOV (UZB) df Poya Soulat DAD MARZ (IRI) 3-1
Yu SHIOTANI df Sandeep SANDEEP 9-0

63kg
Meysam DALKHANI df Hanjae CHUNG 8-5
Sultan ASSETULY df. Muhamad FWAZ via fall

77kg
Pejman POSHTAM df Gurpreet SINGH, 7-7
Daler REZA ZADE df. Demeu ZHADRAYEV, 7-2

87kg
Naser Ghasem ALIZADEH df. Rustam ASSAKALOV, 10-4
Atabek AZISBEKOV df. Seunghwan LEE, 6-3

130kg
Aliakbar YOUSOFIAHMADCHALI df Sukhrob FATTOEV, via dsq
Alimkhan SYZDYKOV df Minjoon KIM, via fall

1315 hrs: The semifinals are about to begin in Almaty.

1255 hrs: Rustam ASSAKALOV (UZB) uses his experience to keep Sunil KUMAR (IND) at bay and win the bout 3-1

1250 hrs: World championship bronze medalist Rustam ASSAKALOV (UZB) is leading defending Asia champion at 87kg Sunil KUMAR (IND) 3-0 at the break in their quarterfinal

1245 hrs: Bilan NALGIEV (UZB) challenged for a leg foul but he will lose it. Senior Asian Championships silver medalist Gurpreet SINGH (IND) will move into the semi-finals with a 11-8 at 77kg

1232 hrs: Down goes the defending champion! Elmurat TASMURADOV (UZB) fails to break Meysam DALKHANI (IRI) defence and it will be a 9-7 win for Iran

1230 hrs: Dalkhani called passive and Tasmuradov will get par terre. Can he make it count? It's 9-7 Dalkhani

1226 hrs: Dalkhani is penalised for twisting the fingers and Tasmuradov will get two points. It's 9-6 Dalkhani at the break. Both wrestlers have a caution each as well

1225 hrs: Dalkhani with another takedown and powerful gut to get two more. He extends his lead to 9-4

1223 hrs: Tasmuradov and Dalkhani on Mat B now. The Uzbek with a four pointer but a reversal for Dalkhani. He gets in a lift and a four for him as well. Dalkhani leads Tasmuradov 7-4

1211 hrs: Demeu ZHADRAYEV (KAZ) delights the home crowd with a 7-1 win over Yeonghun NOH (KOR) on Mat C

1210 hrs: A win for Asian Championships silver medalist Pejman POSHTAM (IRI) via technical superiority. Iran wrestlers looking good so far

1200 hrs: Some big bouts coming up on Mat B. Pejman Soltanmorad POSHTAM (IRI) will wrestle next before 4x Asian Champion Elmurat TASMURADOV (UZB) takes on U23 world champ Meysam DALKHANI (IRI) 

1145 hrs: U23 World champion Meysam DALKHANI (IRI) is up and about. Huge 5-0 win for him in the first round of 63kg 

1130 hrs: Welcome to day one of the Asian Championships as we begin with Greco-Roman action in five weight categories. Today, we will crown champions in 55kg, 63kg, 77kg, 87kg, and 130kg

#WrestleZagreb

Zagreb Open: Leydecker Makes Senior Debut with 53kg Gold

By Vinay Siwach

ZAGREB, Croatia (February 7) -- If Japan swept the gold medals in Women's Wrestling on day three of the Zagreb Open on Friday, day four on Saturday was a different story. Japan failed to win any gold medal as four different countries crowned champions.

U20 world champion Everest LEYDECKER (USA) threw her name in the mix at 53kg by winning gold in her first senior event. MANISHA (IND), Asian champion at 62kg, moved down to 57kg and managed to win gold in Zagreb.

At 72kg, Buse TOSUN (TUR) had a tough path but she managed find a way and win gold after beating Diksha MALIK (IND), 5-2, i the finals. The final gold of women's went to Alexandra ANGHEL (ROU) who pinned Tristan KELLY (USA), via fall (9-1)..

Leydecker, just 18 years old, secured a one-sided victory over Roksana ZASINA (POL) in the final. She managed to score three takedowns and one point for activity clock against Zasina.

This was the American's first-ever senior event internationally but she showed no signs of being overawed by the situation.

In the semifinals, Leydecker faced two-time world bronze medalist ANTIM (IND) and rallied on her one takedown to win the match 2-2 on criteria.

While the norm is to move up weight classes as wrestlers try and adjust into the Olympic weight, Manisha decided to move down from 62kg to 57kg. The decision could backfire but on Saturday, Manisha showed no mercy to her opponents and winning the gold medal at 57kg.

Facing Himeka TOKUHARA in the final, Manisha gave no chance to the Japanese in the final and two points in the first period and one in the second to close out a 3-0 blanking.

Alexandra ANGHEL (ROU) brought the best for the last as she pinned Tristan KELLY (USA) in the 76kg final and capture a gold medal for Romania. Two huge throws resulted in four-points and after the second throw, Anghel held Kelly on the mat to secure the fall and the gold medal.

Paris bronze medalist Buse TOSUN (TUR), wrestling at 72kg, captured the season-opening Ranking Series gold after comfortably beating Diksha MALIK (IND), 5-2, in the final.

RESULTS

53kg
GOLD:  Everest LEYDECKER (USA) df. Roksana ZASINA (POL), 7-0

BRONZE: Umi IMAI (JPN) df. Annika WENDLE (GER), via forfeit
BRONZE: ANTIM (IND) df. Anjali KACHHAWA (IND), 10-0

57kg
GOLD: MANISHA (IND) df. Himeka TOKUHARA (JPN), 3-0

BRONZE: Amanda MARTINEZ (USA) df. Elvira SULEYMAN (TUR), 11-0
BRONZE: Amory ANDRICH (GER) df. Tindra DALMYR (SWE), 4-2

72kg
GOLD: Buse TOSUN (TUR) df. Diksha MALIK (IND), 5-2

BRONZE: Zahra KARIMZADA (AZE) df. Mahiro YOSHITAKE (JPN), 4-1
BRONZE: Veronika VILK (CRO) df. Kristina BRATCHIKOVA (UWW), via inj. def.

76kg
GOLD: Alexandra ANGHEL (ROU) df. Tristan KELLY (USA), via fall (9-1)

BRONZE: Kendra DACHER (FRA) df. PRIYA (IND), via fall (6-0)
BRONZE: Yasuha MATSUYUKI (JPN) df. Shauna KUEBECK (CAN), 10-0

Greco-Roman

77kg
GOLD: Ali OSKOU (IRI) df. Zoltan LEVAI (HUN), 9-1

BRONZE: Robert FRITSCH (HUN) df. Temuri ORJONIKIDZE (GEO), 4-0
BRONZE: Abdullo ALIEV (UZB) df. Stoyan KUBATOV (BUL), 1-1

87kg
GOLD: Istvan TAKACS (HUN) df. Tamas LEVAI (HUN), 3-1

BRONZE: Erik SZILVASSY (HUN) df. Payton JACOBSON (USA), 2-1
BRONZE: Mukhammadkodir RASULOV (UZB) df. Matej MANDIC (CRO), 6-1