#HungarianGP2019

Olympic Silver Medalist Ota Headlines Saturday Night's Hungarian Grand Prix Finals

By Eric Olanowski

GYOR, Hungary (February 23) -  Rio Olympic runner-up Shinobu OTA (JPN) headlines Saturday night's Hungarian Grand Prix finals, where he'll wrestle China's fifth-ranked TUO Erbatu for the 63kg gold medal.

Ota reached the finals handling Olympic bronze medalist Stig-Andre BERGE (NOR), 6-1 in the quarterfinals. Ota and Berg's Hungarian Grand Prix quarterfinals bout was their second meeting since 2016. Their first match came in the quarterfinal round match at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, where Ota won 4-0. 

Japan's 2018 Asian Games champion defeated Iran's Meysam DALKHANI, 5-2 in the semifinals, reaching his first career Ranking Series gold-medal bout. 

Ota will wrestle China's fifth-ranked Tuo Erbatu in the 63kg gold-medal bout. Tuo upset the 2018 world bronze medalist WALIHAN Sailike (CHN), 7-3 in the quarterfinals. Walihan won his world bronze medal down at 60kg, where he's currently ranked No. 3 in the world. Tuo then rolled into the finals thumping America's Travis RICE (USA), 9-0 in the semifinals. 

Ota and Tuo's Saturday night matchup will be their first career meeting.

The Hungarian Grand Prix opening day finals begin at 18:00. 

SCHEDULE

Saturday (February 23) 
17:00 - Opening Ceremony 
18:00 - Finals for GR cat. 55, 63, 72, 82, 97kg Award ceremonies 

Sunday (February 24) 
8.30 - Medical examination & Weigh-in for GR cat. 60, 67, 77, 87, 130kg
10.00 - Qualification rounds and repechage for GR cat. 60, 67, 77, 87, 130kg
16.00 - Finals for GR cat. 60, 67, 77, 87, 130kg and Award ceremonies

Day One Finals 
63kg - Erbatu TUO (CHN) vs. Shinobu OTA (JPN) 
72kg - Sachino DAVITAIA (GEO) vs. Shmagi BOLKVADZE (GEO) 
82kg -  Gela BOLKVADZE (GEO) vs. Rajbek Alvievich BISULTANOV (DEN) 
97kg -  Tracy Gangelo HANCOCK (USA) vs. Fatih BASKOY (TUR) 

#WrestleSkopje

U17 European Championships, Skopje: Results and Highlights

By United World Wrestling Press

SKOKPJE, North Macedonia (June 9) -- The U17 European Championships will begin June 9 in Skopje, North Macedonia with more than 550 wrestlers registered in Freestyle, Women's Wrestling and Greco-Roman.

The competition will begin with Greco-Roman followed by Women's Wrestling and finishing with Freestyle. The full schedule can be accessed here.

WATCH LIVE: MAT A, B and C

Qualification and repechage rounds will begins 1030 hours local time and medal bouts will begin at 1800 hours local time. On June 9, as there is no repechage and medal bouts, semifinals will begin at 1800 hours. On June 15, Sunday, as there are no qualification bouts, the repechage will begin 1600 hours local time.

The live match order and results can be followed here. The full list of wrestlers entered from different countries is here. All brackets available here.

For all photos, click here. Tpday