#WrestleBaku, #WrestleParis

With Paris 2024 quotas on offer, Women's Wrestling stalwarts head to Baku

Monday, April 1, 2024 - 13:42 By Vinay Siwach

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BAKU, Azerbaijan (April 2) -- A four-time Olympic medalist, an Olympic history-maker for Turkiye and two Olympic medalists in the same weight class. The European OG Qualifier in Baku from April 5 is going to be a huge test for some of the wrestling stars such as Mariya STADNIK (AZE), Yasemin ADAR (TUR), Iryna KURACHKINA (AIN) and Evelina NIKOLOVA (BUL) who take the mat in a bid to qualify for Paris Olympics.

Kurachkina and Nikolova were 57kg medalists at the Tokyo Olympics, winning silver and bronze respectively. The two wrestlers met in the European Championships final in February with Kurachkina beating Nikolova to win the gold medal.

However, the qualifiers will not be the same. Apart from the two in-form wrestlers, former European champion and world bronze medalist Alina HRUSHYNA (UKR) returns to the mat after nursing an injury that kept her away for 10 months.

Hrushyna missed the World Championships and will be unseeded for the tournament. While it is unknown if she will return to her top level in Baku, if she does, Hrushyna's opponents will find it difficult to stop her.

Kurachkina and Nikolova will not meet in Baku as they will be drawn on opposite sides of the bracket. The former will be seeded second while the latter at number four.

World fifth-place finisher Elvira KAMALOGLU (TUR), who came in striking distance to win the Olympic spot at the World Championships, is seeded number one and Zhala ALIYEVA (AZE), a bronze medalist at the European Championships, takes the number three spot.

Tokyo Olympian Olga KHOROSHAVTSEVA (AIN), U20 world champion Aurora RUSSO (ITA), world bronze medalist at 59kg Othelie HOEIE (NOR) and Kateryna ZHYDACHEVSKA (ROU) are also entered in the draw.

Mariya STADNIK (AZE)Mariya STADNIK (AZE) has a perfect record over Oksana LIVACH (UKR). (Photo: UWW / Kostadin Andonov)

This may be a little easier for four-time Olympic medalist Stadnik who won her 10th European title in February. She will be the top seed at 50kg in Baku and has past wins over most of her opponents. Stadnik should sail if her performance in Bucharest is anything to go by.

Oksana LIVACH (UKR) will have the best chance to halt Stadnik as she will be seeded fourth and likely to meet her in the semifinals. The winner will earn a Paris 2024 spot. Their latest clash was at the European Championships semifinal which Stadnik won 6-0.

Kseniya STANKEVICH (AIN) and former European champion Miglena SELISHKA (BUL) will be on the other side of the bracket as seeded two and three respectively.

Yasemin ADAR (TUR)Yasemin ADAR (TUR) is the reigning European champion at 76kg. (Photo: UWW / Kostadin Andonov)

Turkiye's first-ever Olympic medalist in Women's Wrestling Adar returned to the mat in February after a year's absence and won the European title at 76kg. That makes her the favorite to win a Paris Olympic quota in Baku.

Adar will be unseeded and drawn randomly in the bracket which has Catalina AXENTE (ROU) as the top seed, Rita TALISMANOVA (AIN) as the second seed, Anastasiia OSNIACH SHUSTOVA (UKR) as third and Anastasiya ZIMIANKOVA (AIN) as the fourth seed.

Others in the bracket include Martina KUENZ (AUT), former European champion Epp MAE (EST), Pauline LECARPENTIER (FRA), Francy RAEDELT (GER), 2024 European bronze medalists Bernadett NAGY (HUN) and Enrica RINALDI (ITA).

Andreea ANA (ROU)Andreea ANA (ROU) will be dropping to 53kg in a bid to win an Paris 2024 quota. (Photo: UWW / Kostadin Andonov)

At 53kg, European champion at 55kg and Tokyo Olympian Andreea ANA (ROU), world medalist and Tokyo Olympian Maria PREVOLARAKI (GRE), former Euro silver medalist Sztalvira ORSUS (HUN), 2024 Euro bronze medalist Zeynep YETGIL (TUR) are the few stars among others.

Orsus will be seeded number one for the qualifier with Prevolaraki getting the second seed. Natalia MALYSHEVA (AIN), who Prevolaraki pinned to win the 2024 Euro bronze, is at number three while Ana is fourth.

Yetgil will be without a seed and so are Mariana DRAGUTAN (MDA), Jowita WRZESIEN (POL), Liliia MALANCHUK (UKR) and Elnura MAMMADOVA (AZE), all of whom can upset any of their opponents on the day.

Bilyana DUDOVA (BUL)Bilyana DUDOVA (BUL) will be the top seed at 62kg in Baku. (Photo: United World Wrestling)

Former world champion Bilyana DUDOVA (BUL) perhaps has the best chance to earn a Paris spot at 62kg from Baku after missing out at the World Championships. As the top seed, Dudova will be a favorite. She was stunned by Johanna LINDBORG (SWE) at the European Championships and will have to forget that loss as Lindborg can be drawn in her bracket.

Veranika IVANOVA (AIN) is the second seed with Mariana CHERDIVARA (MDA) taking the third spot and Birgul SOLTANOVA (AZE) fourth.

But a few others can also go all the way. That line-up includes Alina KASABIEVA (AIN), Lydia PEREZ (ESP), Viktoria VESSO (EST) and Kriszta INCZE (ROU).

Khanum VELIEVA (AIN)Adela HANZLICKOVA (CZE), left, and Khanum VELIEVA (AIN) are two of the five past Olympians at 68kg. (Photo: UWW / Kostadin Andonov)

Five past Olympians will try to be at the Paris Olympics at 68kg but only two will be able to confirm that in Baku. Elis MANOLOVA (AZE), Mimi HRISTOVA (BUL), Adela HANZLICKOVA (CZE), Ilana KRATYSH (ISR) and Khanum VELIEVA (AIN) have been to the Olympics either in Rio or Tokyo. But can they return?

Former European champion at 72kg Alexandra ANGHEL (ROU), age-group European and world medalist Wiktoria CHOLUJ (POL) and young star from Ukraine Manola SKOBELSKA (UKR) are a few of the challengers. Skobelska was a late replacement for European silver medalist Tetiana RIZHKO (UKR).

Hanzlickova, winner of bronze at the 2024 Europeans, is seeded number one with other bronze medalist Hristova getting the second seed. Noemi SZABADOS (HUN) is number three and Danute DOMIKAITYTE (LTU) is fourth.

With Manolova and Velieva unseeded, the path to Paris may not be the easiest for others in the bracket.

#JapanWrestling

Paris Olympic Champ Sakurai Retires at Age 24

Sunday, April 5, 2026 - 09:12 By Ken Marantz

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TOKYO (April 4) -- Having never really regained the motivation that led her to achieve her ultimate goal of an Olympic gold, Tsugumi SAKURAI (JPN) has decided to retire at the tender age of 24.

Sakurai, the women’s 57kg champion at the Paris Olympics, has announced that she will hang up her singlet and begin a second career nurturing a new generation of wrestlers and serving as a goodwill ambassador of sports for her native Kochi Prefecture in western Japan.

“After 21 continuous years, I feel I have reached the cutoff point of my wrestling career, so I have decided to retire,” Sakurai said at a press conference Friday at the Kochi Prefecture government office.

“I gave everything I had for the Olympics, and I was able to experience the feeling of achievement and the ultimate joy. It's difficult to win the Olympics without determination. I couldn't get back to the mindset I had before Paris. That is the biggest reason [for retiring].”

Known for her steely aggressiveness belying a quiet demeanor, and a wicked use of a 2-on-1 arm bar, Sakurai prefaced her triumph in Paris by winning three consecutive world titles, at 55kg in 2021 and back-to-back golds at 57kg in 2022 and 2023.

A U17 world champion in 2016, she won golds at the Asian Championships and Asian Games in 2022 and 2023, respectively, but suffered the second of just two career international losses at the 2024 Asian Championships, where she fell to Yongxian FENG (CHN) in the final.

She bounced back five months later for her crowning achievement in Paris, where she defeated 2016 Rio Olympic champion Helen MAROULIS (USA) 10-4 in the semifinals, then took the gold with a 6-0 victory over Anastasia NICHITA (MDA) in a rematch of the 2023 world final.

Making the win in Paris even more special was the fact that not only did Sakurai strike gold, but so did another Japanese wrestler who started the sport together with her at the kids wrestling club in Kochi run by her father.

Kotaro KIYOOKA (JPN), the freestyle 65kg champion in his Olympic debut, and Sakurai became the toast of Kochi, a rural prefecture fronting the Pacific on the island of Shikoku. They were paraded through the streets of the prefectural capital of Kochi City and hailed as heroes.

Like almost all of Japan’s medalists in Paris, the two took time off from the sport to run the gauntlet of TV interviews and variety shows, and just chill out in general. Sakurai, who returned to Kochi and started graduate studies in sport sciences at Kochi University, was particularly slow in returning to the mat.

In what would prove to be her first – and last – competition after Paris, she won the 57kg title at the second-tier Japan Women’s Open in October 2025, ostensibly to qualify for the Emperor’s Cup All-Japan Championships the following December. That would be the starting point for domestic qualifying for major global tournaments.

But Sakurai never made it to the Emperor’s Cup, and has now fully turned the corner on a new career.

“Over the past year, this decision was made after talking to many people, fretting about it, and thinking things through,” she said.

Sakurai said that as an extension of her father’s Kochi Wrestling Club, she wants to run a series of clinics outside of the city, mainly in her hometown of Konan just to the east of Kochi, to expose more children to wrestling and help it grow.

“Aside from wrestling, I'm learning so many things in graduate school right now, so I want to acquire a wide range of knowledge so that I can give back to Kochi Prefecture properly,” Sakurai said. “I think there will be various problems when I put things into practice, so I want to acquire solid knowledge so that I can solve those problems.”

Fans at this week’s Asian Championships in Bishkek will see another product of the Kochi Wrestling Club in action in Moe KIYOOKA (JPN), Kotaro’s younger sister and a former world champion who will be looking to add the 53kg gold to the one she won at 55kg in 2024. She and Sakurai were also teammates at Ikuei University.

And the name Sakurai might soon be appearing on the world stage again. Her younger sister, Tsukino SAKURAI (JPN), won the Asian U15 title last year.