#Trnava2018

Returning Freestyle World Champs Steveson, Fix Enter #Trnanva2018 Field

By Eric Olanowski

TRNAVA, Slovakia (September 4) - Daton FIX (USA) and Gable STEVESON (USA), the duo of American returning champions lead a freestyle #Trnava2018 field that boasts 245 wrestlers from 40 different nations. 

Fix, the 55kg champion from a year ago enters the Junior World Championships at 57kg, while Steveson, the 120kg gold-medal winner enters at 125kg. 

Steveson will be looking for his fourth age-level world title. Since stepping on the international scene in 2015, Steveson has yet to drop a match on his way to claiming two Cadet World titles, and a Junior World gold medal. 

Fix, the three-time world medalist will be trying to win back-to-back Junior World titles while competing in his fifth age-level World Championship. Since taking tenth place at the 2014 Cadet World Championships, Fix has rallied to win two bronzes, and most recently, a gold medal. 

Freestyle action begins on Friday, September 21 and will close the Junior World Championships. 

ALB
65kg - Eriglent PRIZRENI 
125kg - Paris KAREPI 

ALG
57kg - Salah Eddine KATEB 

65kg - Fares LAKEL 
79kg - Oussama ABDELLAOUI 
97kg - Mohammed FARDJ 

ARM
57kg - Arsen HARUTYUNYAN
61kg - Vazgen TEVANYAN
65kg -  Gegham GALSTYAN
70kg -  Arman ANDREASYAN
74kg - Hrayr ALIKHANYAN 
79kg -  Arman AVAGYAN 
86kg -  Mher MARKOSYAN 
125kg - Hovhannes MAGHAKYAN 

AUT
74kg -Simon MARCHL

79kg -Benjamin GREIL

AZE
57kg -  Aliabbas RZAZADE 
61kg -  Intigam VALIZADA 
65kg -  Royal AGHAMALIYEV 
70kg -  Khadzhimurad GADZHIYEV 
74kg -  Ismail ABDULLAEV 
79kg -  Orkhan ABASOV 
86kg -  Magomed ASIYATILOV 
92kg -  Askhab HAMZATOV
97kg -  Alimagomed ALIKHMAEV 
125kg - Rahid HAMIDLI 

BLR
57kg -  Uladzislau KOIKA 
61kg -  Dzmitry HERASIMENKA 
65kg -  Mikita STRAKH 
70kg -  Aliaksandr KURYSHTA
86kg -  Arkadzi PAHASIAN 
92kg -  Vasil PAULIUCHENKA 
97kg -  Yaraslau SLAVIKOUSKI  
125kg - Uladzislau ASIPENKA

BUL 
61kg -  Alish Gyoksel ALISH 
65kg -  Nikola Delchev LEVENOV 
70kg -  Veselin Georgiev PETROV 
74kg -  Dzhemal Rushen ALI 
79kg -  Oktay Ruzhdi HASAN 
86kg -  Ivan Kostadinov STEFANOV
125kg - Daniel Milanov VESELINOV 

CAN 
57kg -  Brayden TODD 
61kg -  Marco PALERMO 
65kg -  Connor MCNEICE 
70kg -  Gunnar SALES
74kg - Ty BRIDGWATER 
86kg - Connor PATTISON 
92kg - Hunter LEE 
97kg -  Richard DESCHATELETS
125kg - Aly BARGHOUT 

CHN
57kg -  Wanhao ZOU 
61kg -  Minghu LIU 
65kg -  Chao ZHENG 
70kg -  Jun ZHAO 
74kg -  Yi LI 
79kg -  Gangsuhe GANGSUHE 
86kg -  Danan XU 
92kg -  Awusayiman HABILA 
97kg - Qirui BING 
125kg - Benxin DUAN 

Vojtech PISKOR (CZE), two-time World Team represenative. 

CZE
61kg -  David KOPRIVA 
86kg -  Vojtech PISKOR 
92kg -  Matous VONDAL 

EGY
57kg -  Gamal MOHAMED 
74kg -  Samy MOUSTAFA 
86kg -  Hassan FOUAD 

EST
65kg -  Marek KUETT 
74kg -  Erik REINBOK

FRA
61kg -  Arman ELOYAN 
79kg -  Charles AFA 

GEO
57kg -  Teimuraz VANISHVILI
61kg -  Ramaz TURMANIDZE
65kg -  Giorgi ELBAKIDZE        
70kg -  Iveriko JULAKIDZE       
74kg -  Goga MAMIAURI        
79kg -  Tornike KVINIKADZE   
86kg -  Demur MEGENEISHVILI          
92kg -  Beka NADASHVILI       
97kg -  Zuriko URTASHVILI     
125kg - Aleksi ZHORZHOLIANI

GER
57kg -  Horst Junior LEHR       
70kg -  Tino RETTINGER         
74kg -  Kevin LUCHT   
86kg -  Johannes DEML           
92kg -  Ertugrul AGCA

HUN
57kg -  Rajmund FARKAS        
70kg -  Botond GULYAS          
74kg -  Botond LUKACS          
79kg -  Milan MESTER
86kg -  Patrik SZUROVSZKI

Naveen NAVEEN (IND), Junior Asian runner-up. Photo by Sachiko Hotaka.

IND
57kg -  Naveen NAVEEN         
61kg -  Suraj Rajkumar KOKATE          
65kg -  Karan KARAN  
70kg -  Vishal KALIRAMANA   
74kg -  Sachin RATHI  
79kg -  Sachin GIRI      
86kg -  Deepak PUNIA
92kg -  Somveer SOMVEER    
97kg -  Hussain NASIR
125kg - Mohit MOHIT  

IRI
57kg -  Reza ALIJANZADEHJOUYBARI
61kg -  Mehdi ESHGHIVASOUKOLAEI
65kg -  Amirhossein MAGHSOUDI     
70kg -  Amirhossein KAVOUSI
74kg -  Ali SAVADKOUHI         
79kg -  Sajjad GHOLAMI         
86kg -  Seyedabolfazl HASHEMIJOUYBARI    
92kg -  Abbas Ali FOROUTANRAMI
97kg -  Sajad AZIZI      
125kg - Amir YARI        

ISR
79kg - David LABKOVSKY        
86kg -  Uri KALASHNIKOV       
125kg - Lior ALTSHULER          

JPN
57kg -  Daiki ARAKI
61kg -  Kodai OGAWA
65kg -  Takuma TANIYAMA    
70kg -  Jintaro MOTOYAMA   
74kg -  Yuto MIWA     
79kg -  Hayato ISHIGURO      
86kg -  Shutaro YAMADA        
92kg -  Takuma OTSU
92kg -  Shohei YAMAZAKI       
97kg -  Hiroto NINOMIYA       
125kg - Akiho MORI / Kota TOYAMA  

Serik BAKYTKHANOV (KAZ), Junior Asian runner-up. Photo by Sachiko Hotaka.

KAZ
57kg -  Rakhat KALZHAN        
61kg -  Syrbaz TALGAT           
65kg -  Kuanysh DUISENKUL  
70kg -  Nurkozha KAIPANOV  
74kg -  Aibar ZHYLKAIDAROV
79kg -  Daniyar MELDEBEK     
86kg -  Aslan DZICOEV            
92kg -  Alisher YERGALI          
97kg -  Serik BAKYTKHANOV  
125kg - Omar EYUBOV

KOR
57kg -  Hyeonsu CHO  
61kg -  Minsu CHO      
65kg -  Sangho HAN   
70kg -  Jinwoo MOON
74kg -  Gihwan LEE     
79kg -  Jaegyun GO     
86kg -  Jayong JIN       
92kg -  Myeongseok CHOO    
97kg -  Hyunsu HAN   
125kg - Ki Bum KIM     

KSA
57kg -  Tuorki HAZOAZI
61kg -  Hassan M WADDAN       

LTU
65kg -  Gytis JOVAISA
79kg -  Dominykas VILIUSIS    

MDA
57kg -  Ion BUTNARU
61kg -  Leomid COLESNIC       
65kg -  Nicolai GRAHMEZ       
70kg -  Vasile DIACON
74kg -  Piotr CARASENI
79kg -  Andrian GROSUL        
86kg -  Ivan NEDEALCO           
92kg -  Gheorghe ERHAN
125kg - Samhan JABRAILOV    

BYAMBASUREN Bat-Erdene (MGL), Junior Asian runner-up. Photo by Sachiko Hotaka.

MGL
57kg -  Tumentsogt BOLD       
61kg -  Jamsranjav DUGERKHOROL   
65kg -  Bud BATBAATAR        
70kg -  Tergel TUMURKHUYAG          
74kg -  Bat-Erdene BYAMBASUREN   
79kg -  Tserendash BAASANDORJ      
92kg -  Altangerel CHINBAT   
97kg -  Mungunshagai TUMURBAT   
125kg - Lkhagvagerel MUNKHTUR     

MKD
65kg -  Fati VEJSELI     

PAK
70kg -  Ghulam GHOUS          
97kg -  Haroon ABID   

POL
61kg -  Karol Jakub CZEGUS   

70kg -  Szymon WOJTKOWSKI           
74kg -  Pawel Tomasz MALICKI           
79kg -  Jakub SZYMULA          
86kg -  Michal Jan BIELAWSKI
92kg -  Matthew WROBLEWSKI         
125kg - Jakub BRYLEWSKI       

RSA
61kg -  Frederik NORTJE         
74kg -  Matthew BARTLETT   

RUS
57kg -  Akhmed IDRISOV        
61kg -  Abasgadzhi MAGOMEDOV     
65kg -  Saiyn KAZYRYK
70kg -  Razambek ZHAMALOV           
74kg -  Devid BETANOV         
79kg -  Aslanbek GVARAMIIA
86kg -  Alik SHEBZUKHOV      
92kg -  Khokh KHUGAEV
97kg -  Magomedkhan MAGOMEDOV           
125kg - Soslan KHINCHAGOV  

SUI
57kg -  Nino LEUTERT
70kg -  Tobias PORTMANN

SVK
61kg -  Pavol RAPCAN
65kg -  Balazs HAKSZER         
70kg -  Daniel CHOMANIC      
74kg -  Martin HORINEK         
79kg -  Christopher BEDNARIK           
92kg -  Dominik PECHA           
97kg -  Viliam OROSS

TKM
65kg -  Perman HOMMADOV
86kg -  Azat GAJYYEV
97kg -  Zyyamuhammet SAPAROV     

TPE
61kg -  Chia Hung CHANG      
74kg -  Hsiang-Wei WENG     

TUR
57kg -  Ahmet TAS      
61kg -  Ertugrul KAHVECI        
65kg -  Ahmet Salim YIGIT     
70kg -  Hasan KAYA    
74kg -  Isa DEMIR        
79kg -  Ramazan Ishak SARI   
86kg -  Arif OZEN        
92kg -  Erhan YAYLACI
97kg -  Feyzullah AKTURK       
125kg - Oktay GUNGOR          

UAE
125kg -Bader ALALI     

UKR
57kg -  Andrii DZHELEP           
61kg -  Ihor NYKYFORUK        
65kg -  Denys BOROHAN       
70kg -  Stepan LYLYK  
74kg -  Mahomed HADZHYMAHOMEDOV     
79kg -  Adlan BATAIEV           
86kg - Andrii HYKA      
92kg -  Oleksandr BYKANOV  
97kg -  Ruslan HEORHIIEV      
125kg - Yurii IDZINSKYI            

Aaron BROOKS (USA), 2017 Cadet World champion. Photo by Martin Gabor.

USA
57kg -  Brandon COURTNEY    
57kg -  Daton FIX          
61kg -  Josh SAUNDERS     
65kg -  Domonick DEMAS         
70kg -  Brady BERGE      
74kg -  Mekhi LEWIS     
79kg -  Aaron BROOKS
86kg -  Lou DEPREZ        
92kg -  Jacob WARNER     
97kg -  Daniel KERKVLIET JR
125kg - Gable STEVESON

UZB
57kg -  Gulomjon ABDULLAEV           
61kg -  Abbos RAKHMONOV 
65kg -  Ikhtiyor NORMURODOV         
86kg -  Davlatbek ASHUROV  
92kg -  Makhsud VEYSALOV   
125kg - Khasanboy RAKHIMOV          

#WrestleUlaanbaatar

Kamal survives scare in Ulaanbaatar amid Turkiye gold rush

By Vinay Siwach

ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia (May 30) -- Turkiye captured all three Greco-Roman gold medals on offer on Friday with European champion Kerem KAMAL (TUR) surviving a tough final to win at 63kg, and Paris Olympians Enes BASAR (TUR) and Hamza BAKIR (TUR) winning at 60kg and 130kg respectively.

Kamal, who won European Championships gold in dominant fashion, could not replicate that performance from April but still managed to win gold. In the final, he survived a scare against Asian Championships bronze medalist Hanjae CHUNG (KOR), winning 6-6 on criteria, thanks to a foul from Chung.

Both had wrestled in the group stages as well as this weight category only had seven wrestlers and were divided into two groups. Kamal came out on top 6-3 in that match.

But the final began with Chung scoring a takedown in the first minute and then adding another point when he was given the par terre advantage. However, he failed to score from that position.

In the second period, Kamal scored a push from par terre and had Chung's back on the mat for two points. He then lifted Chung upside down and completed a throw during which Chung committed a defensive leg foul.

Korea challenged the call but lost which gave Kamal a 6-4 lead. Chung tried to score and during the final 10 seconds, he pushed Kamal to the zone and the Turkish wrestler lost his balance, giving up a takedown.

Chung tied it 6-6 but Kamal led on criteria as Chung had committed the leg foul earlier. Chung realized it later that he was losing the final.

"I think it was a bit of a misjudgment because I thought I was winning and I didn't try hard for last 7 seconds at the end," Chung said. "I'm training hard with [former world champion] Hansu RYU (KOR) as my role model, and I'm trying to copy his style a lot."

For Kamal, the tournament was an eye-opener, especially for his performance against the Asian wrestlers.

"It was a very difficult tournament," Kamal said. "From the first round to the final match, I had very strong and very tough opponents. It was one of the hardest matches I've had this year. Winning is important, but in this tournament I realized that I have many mistakes. I'm thinking that I'm going to watch all my matches over and over again and analyze them and try to wrestle in a way that is more error-free and less pointless."

As he gears up to win his first senior world title in Zagreb later this September, Kamal is now wary of his opponents from Asia and wants to tackle them with more conviction.

"All my opponents are Asian," he said. "Kyrgyz, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Iranian. These are my strongest opponents. When you look at it, most of my opponents are from Asia, so I try to wrestle like Asians. I try to train like them, because they are very difficult to keep up with, they are very active. But as I said, as much as I can stop them, as much as I can do, as long as I can, I will continue to wrestle with them and wrestle like him."

Despite his close matches against Chung, Kamal looked in supreme form, especially while defending on par terre, as he captured his second Ranking Series gold medal of the year. His first gold was in Tirana, Albania.

"I don't think about it there [on the mat], to be honest, because I'm in a completely negative position," he said. "I'm trying to get out of it by doing all the weird things I can. The important thing is that I don't get scored there. It doesn't matter how I do it, what I do, the important thing is not to give points to my opponent and to continue in that way. So I'm very happy that I was able to do that."

Enes BASAR (TUR)Enes BASAR (TUR), blue, won gold medal at 60kg. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

Basar, who was at the Paris Olympics at 60kg, won four bouts in the day to claim the gold medal. He began with an 8-3 win over Kurmanbek ZHAPAROV (KGZ) but his second against Akyl SULAIMANOV (KGZ) tested him to the limits. He made two comebacks to win 16-5, using a strong gut-wrench.

He followed that win by beating SURAJ (IND), 8-0, in a minute and 13 seconds before finishing his campaign with a 10-2 win over Ganbayar NAMSRAI (MGL).

Hamza BAKIR (TUR)Hamza BAKIR (TUR) claimed the 130kg gold medal in Ulaanbaatar. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

The most dominant run of the day came from Hamza BAKIR (TUR) at 130kg, as he won all his four bouts via technical superiority.

In his first bout, he gave up a point for passivity but still managed to win 9-1 against Erlan MANATBEKOV (KGZ). That was the only point he gave in the competition, winning his next three bouts via technical superiority.

He defeated Turbat BATBAYAR (MGL), 8-0, in Round 2, PREM (IND) with identical scoreline in Round 3 and in Round 5, he won against Nambardagva BATBAYAR (MGL), 8-0.

RESULTS

60kg
GOLD: Enes BASAR (TUR)
SILVER: SURAJ (IND)
BRONZE: Akyl SULAIMANOV (KGZ)

63kg
GOLD: Kerem KAMAL (TUR) df. Hanjae CHUNG (KOR), 6-6

BRONZE: Aref MOHAMMADI (QAT) df. Mohammad KESHTKAR (IRI),

130kg
GOLD: Hamza BAKIR (TUR)
SILVER: Nambardagva BATBAYAR (MGL)
BRONZE: Erlan MANATBEKOV (KGZ)