#panam2018

Pan-Am's, Euro's Wrap Sunday in Peru, Russia

Saturday, May 5, 2018 - 23:47 By Tim Foley

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LIMA (May 5) – United World Wrestling concludes a busy week of championship competition Sunday with the final day of wrestling at the Senior Pan-American and Senior European Championships in Lima and Kaspiysk, respectively.

The Pan-American Championships will host a full day of men’s freestyle wrestling competition with eight weight categories going start to finish, while the European Championships are slated for bronze and gold medal finals in their final five men’s freestyle categories.

The European finals are highlighted by the heavyweight showdown between 2016 Olympic champion Taha AKGUL (TUR) and 2017 world champion Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO). The 125kg finale will be a rematch of last year’s world finals won by Petriashvili, 10-8. Many wrestling fans consider the duo’s 2017 clash to be the greatest heavyweight wrestling match in history.
 

 

The Euro finals will also feature 2012 Olympic champion Sharif SHARIFOV (AZE) facing 2016 Olympic champion Abdulrashid SADULAEV (RUS). Both won their titles at 86kg, but are now testing their strength at the new non-Olympic 92kg weight category.

Sunday’s European gold medal finals begin at 6pm local:

61kg: Beka LOMTADZE (GEO) vs. Gadzhimurad RASHIDOV (RUS)

74kg: Zelimkhan KHADJIEV (FRA) vs. Soner DEMIRTAS (TUR)

86kg: leksandr GOSTIYEV (AZE) vs. Artur NAIFONOV (RUS)

92kg: Sharif SHARIFOV (AZE) vs. Abdulrashid SADULAEV (RUS)

125kg: Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO) vs. Taha AKGUL (TUR) 

 

The Pan-American Championships in Lima conclude Sunday with freestyle wrestling. Matches will be highlighted by a crop of top tier freestyle talent from powerhouse Cuba and defending world champion United States. Team USA will feature 2016 world champion Logan STIEBER (65kg), 2017 world silver medalist Thomas GILMAN (57kg) and 2017 world bronze medalist Nick GWIAZDOWSKI (125kg)

Wrestling in Lima begins at 10am CT

Saitiev, three-time Olympic champion, passes away aged 49

Sunday, March 2, 2025 - 17:40 By United World Wrestling Press

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (March 2) -- Wrestling legend, three-time Olympic gold medalist and six-time world champion Buvaisar SAITIEV passed away Sunday. He was 49 years old and nine days short of his 50th birthday.

Saitiev was buried in the village of Novokuli in the Novolaksky district of Dagestan on Tuesday, March 4.

Saitiev, widely considered the best Freestyle wrestler of all time, was born in Dagestan but moved to Krasnoyarsk, Siberia to train at the Mindiashvili wrestling academy under the legendary coach Dmitri Mindiashvili.

The 49-year-old announced his retirement soon after winning his third Olympic title in Beijing 2008. His other two titles came in 1996 Atlanta Olympics and 2004 Athens Olympics. In 2000 Sydney Olympics, Brandon SLAY (USA) defeated him.

Apart from the world and Olympic titles, Saitiev was six-time European champion.

 

United World Wrestling President Nenad LALOVIC expressed his shock on the untimely passing of Saitiev.

"The wrestling family is in shock with the passing of Saitiev," Lalovic said. "He was a legend of the sport and we lost him at a very young age of 49. Saitiev inspired wrestlers around the world and many took up the sport because of him. It's an unrepairable loss to the wrestling community and we are with the Saitiev family during this time of grief."

In 2007, Saitiev was awarded as the best Freestyle wrestler in history by UWW [then FILA].

Wrestling majorly in the 74kg weight class, Saitiev stood at 183 centimetres and made his World Championships debut in Atlanta, 1995. A year later, he won the gold medal at 74kg at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

He became world champion in 1997 and 1998 but did not participate in 1999. He lost to Slay in early rounds of the 2000 Sydney Olympics and finished ninth.

But he captured the gold medals again at the 2001 and 2003 World Championships and returned to the top at the 2004 Athens Olympics. He became the world champion in 2005 and 2006 and claimed his third Olympic gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Games.