#Rome2018

Russia Squeaks past Azerbaijan, Wins Freestyle Euro Team Title

Sunday, August 5, 2018 - 19:04 By Eric Olanowski

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ROME, Italy (August 5) - Thanks to impeccable performances by Akhmed SHOKUMOV (RUS) and Azamat ZAKUEV (RUS), Russia added two additional European Championship gold medals and brought their overall tournament total to thirteen gold medals. In addition to the thirteen individual gold medals, Russia also obtained team titles in freestyle, Greco-Roman and women’s wrestling. 

Shokumov and Zakuev, Russia’s third and fourth freestyle champions each cruised to victories in their gold-medal matches, ending their bouts early by fall and technical superiority, helping Russia (141 points) squeak past second place Azerbaijan (136 points) and third place Armenia (135 points).

Akhmed SHOKUMOV (RUS) won one of Russia's two gold medals on the final day of wreslting at the Junior European Championships. (Photo by Max Rose-Fyne)

Akhmed Shokumov was manhandling Dzhemal Rushen ALI (BUL) in the 74kg title match before picking up the second-period fall. 

Shokumov grabbed a pair of opening period takedowns, shutting out Ali while controlling the 4-0 lead after the first three minutes. 

In the second period, a deflated Ali got to his offense and spun behind Shokumov, but was unable to get the Russian’s knee to touch, and the wrestlers were brought back up to their feet. 

Shortly after, the frustrated Ali looked for a homerun throw, but Shokumov pancaked him to his back and scored the fall, picking up Russia’s third freestyle title and their twelfth overall Junior European Championship gold medal. 

Azamat ZAKUEV (RUS) crused to a 10-0 win in the 92kg gold-medal bout. (Photo by Max Rose-Fyne) 

Returning European champion, Azamat Zakuev crushed Askhab HAMZATOV (AZE), 10-0 in the 92kg gold medal bout. 

Zakuev blazed out to an eight-point lead in the opening period, transitioning to a pair of gut wrenches from two separate takedowns. 

The Russian capped off his title run with a second period cross-ankle-pick, giving him the ten-point advantage and back-to-back junior continental championships.

Vazgen TEVANYAN (ARM) flexes after winning his first European title since 2016. (Photo by Max-Rose Fyne) 

Russia wasn’t the only nation busy winning a pair of gold medals on the seventh and final day competition , as Armenia’s Vazgen TEVANYAN (ARM) and Hovhannes MAGHAKYAN (ARM) were also crowned European champions. 

Vazgen Tevanyan, last year’s Cadet European Championship runner-up defeated Intigam VALIZADA (AZE), 5-2 in the extremely slow 61kg gold-medal bout. 

The opening period was filled with underhooks and fake shots, but Tevanyan was able to score the periods only point with a step-out that gave him the 1-0 lead into the break. 

Tevanyan added another step-out to open the second period but fell behind 2-2 on criteria after forfeiting a deep two-point double leg. 

The Armenian wrestler regained the lead with 90 seconds left, scoring his third step-out point of the match. He closed out the bout by stopping Valizada's throw attempt, scoring his first offensive points of the bout and winning his first European title since claiming the gold back in 2016.  

Hovhannes MAGHAKYAN (ARM) gave Armenia their second gold medal of the day after winning the 125kg weight class. (Photo by Max Rose-Fyne) 

In the 125kg gold medal bout, Hovhannes used a left-side underhook to slow down Yurii IDZINSKYI (UKR) and won the bout, 4-2. 

Maghaky gave up an early takedown and trailed 2-0 right out of the gate. The two-time age-level runner-up rebounded before the period ended and threw the Ukranian wrestler with a monstrous four-point throw, taking the 4-2 lead into the final three minutes. 

After a scoreless second period, the match ended 4-2 and Armenia, who finished one point behind Azerbaijan walked away with the third place team trophy. 

RESULTS 
TEAM SCORES 
GOLD – Russia (141 points)
SILVER –Azerbaijan (136 points)
BRONZE - Armenia (135 points)
Fourth –Turkey (126 points)
Fifth – Ukraine (109 points)

61kg 
GOLD - Vazgen TEVANYAN (ARM) df. Intigam VALIZADA (AZE), 5-2

BRONZE - Ramaz TURMANIDZE (GEO) df. Leomid COLESNIC (MDA), 10-0 
BRONZE - Ihor NYKYFORUK (UKR) df. Arman ELOYAN (FRA), via fall 

74kg 
GOLD - Akhmed SHOKUMOV (RUS) vs. Dzhemal Rushen ALI (BUL), via fall 

BRONZE -  Ismail ABDULLAEV (AZE) df. Hrayr ALIKHANYAN (ARM), 10-5 
BRONZE -  Piotr CARASENI (MDA) df. Kevin LUCHT (GER), 10-6 

86kg
GOLD - Arif OZEN (TUR) df. Patrik SZUROVSZKI (HUN), 4-2 

BRONZE - Uri KALASHNIKOV (ISR) df. Ivan NEDEALCO (MDA), 6-3 
BRONZE - Demur MEGENEISHVILI (GEO) df. Mher MARKOSYAN (ARM), 8-4 

92kg 
GOLD - Azamat ZAKUEV (RUS) df. Askhab HAMZATOV (AZE), 10-0 

BRONZE - Ertugrul AGCA (GER) df. Beka NADASHVILI (GEO), 8-7 
BRONZE - Erhan YAYLACI (TUR) df. Gheorghe ERHAN (MDA), 14-4 

125kg
GOLD - Hovhannes MAGHAKYAN (ARM) vs. Yurii IDZINSKYI (UKR), 4-2 

BRONZE - Oktay GUNGOR (TUR) df. Samhan JABRAILOV (MDA), 4-4 
BRONZE - Rahid HAMIDLI (AZE) df. Jakub BRYLEWSKI (POL), 7-4

#WrestleIstanbul

Veteran stars Huseynov, Shariati lead Azerbaijan show in World Olympic Qualifier

Thursday, May 9, 2024 - 19:34 By Vinay Siwach

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ISTANBUL, Turkiye (May 9) -- Two 35-year-old veterans Rafig HUSEYNOV (AZE) and Sabah SHARIATI (AZE) lead a commanding performance from Azerbaijan at the World Olympic Games Qualifier, securing three Paris Olympic spots. This has increased the number of qualified wrestlers for Azerbaijan in Greco-Roman to five with the country winning Olympic spots in 60kg, 87kg and 130kg, adding to the 67kg and 77kg it won at the World Championships in Belgrade.

Apart from Azerbaijan, four other countries won Paris Olympic spots and four Individual Neutral Athletes confirmed their tickets as well on day one of the tournament in Istanbul.

Each weight class offers three Paris 2024 quotas with two awarded on Thursday while the third will be awarded on Friday. The wrestlers eligible for repechage will compete Friday and try to reach the bronze-medal bout against the losing semifinalists. The winners of the bronze-medal bouts in each weight category will compete in a playoff and the winner of this playoff will get the third quota.

Former world champion and Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist was Rafiq HUSEYNOV (AZE) who managed to win the spot at 87kg. The veteran was up against another world champion Lasha GOBADZE (GEO) for the Paris spot and came out on top 4-1. His road to the semifinals included tough wins over Sunil KUMAR (IND) [4-3] in the 1/8 finals and Alex KESSIDIS (SWE) [2-1] in the quarterfinals.

"Everyone knows about my injuries," Huseynov said. "I had three surgeries before the European qualifying tournament in Baku. Now, I am not in optimal form but normal form for competition. After two months, we will be ready for the Olympics and I will get good form."

Huseynov will be looking to better his Tokyo Olympic bronze medal that he won at 77kg. But he also knows that the Olympics can throw several surprising results.

"I have all the medals and I hope that now I can win the Olympic title at 87kg," he said. "The Olympics is a surprise competition. No one knows how it will be. We can't say anything. If I do everything like I did in Tokyo, I think I can win. We will show the best of our wrestling."

Murad MAMMADOV (AZE) won the spot at 60kg after beating Razvan ARNAUT (ROU) 8-2 in the semifinals. Mammadov got the spot on the Azerbaijan team after European champion Nihat MAMMADLI (AZE) lost at the European OG Qualifier in Baku. And he made the most of it.

He opened his day with a technical superiority 10-1 win over Aleksandrs JURKJANS (LAT), defeated Christopher KRAEMER (GER) with a similar scoreline and stopped Michal TRACZ (POL) 5-1 in the quarterfinals. In the qualifying bout, Arnaut never looked like challenging Mammadov who will now be representing Azerbaijan in Paris.

The other spot at 60kg went to Sadyk LALAEV (AIN) who crushed Dahyun KIM (KOR) 8-0 in just 37 seconds in the other semifinal.

Sahab SHARIATI (AZE)Sahab SHARIATI (AZE) defeated Pavel HLINCHUK (AIN) 1-1 in the 130kg semifinals. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Rio Olympic bronze medalist Shariati had to beat up-and-coming Pavel HLINCHUK (AIN) 1-1 in the 130kg semifinal to earn the Paris spot after the two exchange passivity points. Shiariati got the point in the second period to hold the criteria lead. But in his earlier bouts, Shariati defeated Nikolaos NTOUNIAS (GRE) 8-3, rocked Roman KIM (KGZ) 10-0 and held Mantas KNYSTAUTAS (LTU) to 1-1.

Another veteran was looking to earn a spot at 130kg but 38-year-old Heiki NABI (EST) was denied by 34-year-old Alin ALEXUC CIURARIU (ROU). The Romanian managed to qualify for his fourth Olympics after a 1-1 win over Nabi.

Kiryl MASKEVICH (AIN)Kiryl MASKEVICH (AIN) celebrates after beating Turpal BISULTANOV (DEN) in the 87kg semifinal. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

At 87kg, former world silver medalist Kiryl MASKEVICH (AIN) had to beat another world silver medalist Turpal BISULTANOV (DEN) to earn a ticket to Paris 2024. He scored two turns from par terre in the first period and stopped Bisultanov in the second to post a 5-2 win.

Another world silver medalist who earned a Paris spot was Sergei KUTUZOV (AIN) at 77kg. Perhaps the most dominant wrestler of the day, Kutuzov had two technical superiority wins and an 8-2 victory in the semifinals before the defeated Iuri LOMADZE (GEO) 5-2 in the semifinal.

Aik MNATSAKANIAN (BUL) managed to hold Riu LIU (CHN) in the semifinal 1-1 and the criteria win helped him win the quota for Bulgaria at 77kg. This was his second 1-1 win as he had beaten Paulius GALKINAS (LTU) in the quarterfinal with the same scoreline.

Before those matches, he defeated former world silver medalist Zoltan LEVAI (HUN) 2-1 and Marcos SANCHEZ SILVA (ESP) in his opening bout.

At 67kg, Moldova and Georgia got the Paris 2024 spots with Valentin PETIC (MDA) and Ramaz ZOIDZE (GEO) respectively. Petic defeated Etienne KINSINGER (GER) 3-1 in the qualification bout while Zoidze performed a stunning bodylock to beat Lei LI (CHN) 10-0.

"Everything went as planned," Zoide said. "I had surgery on my shoulder. I wasn’t training and competing for 10 months. I have won the Olympic quota. I have a chance to make my dream come true, but now it’s not just a dream, it’s my goal."

Zoide said that he is happy to have proved his doubters wrong after many doubted if he will return after his injury. 

"Many people didn’t believe that I would make it," he said. "They were saying that my injury was very severe and I didn’t have enough time to recover. Today I proved to everyone that I can do it.  Some people were against me competing here. I read some comments on the internet saying that Zoidze is not ready to compete. Now I am happy to prove that I actually can do it."

Tokyo Olympic fifth-placer Arvi SAVOLAINEN (FIN) will return to the Olympics as he won the spot after beating Yuri NAKAZATO (JPN), a surprise semifinalist at 97kg, 4-2. Nakazato led 2-1 at the break but Savolainen got the par terre and a turn to lead 4-2 and win with that score.

The other wrestler qualifying at 97kg was Artur SARGSIAN (AIN) who broke his arm at the World Championships. Apart from a close 2-1 win in the quarterfinal, Sargsian was in complete control of his bouts including the semifinal in which he beat Lucas LAZOGIANIS (GER) 3-1.

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RESULTS

60kg Paris Qualification Bouts
Sadyk LALAEV (AIN) df. Dahyun KIM (KOR), 8-0
Murad MAMMADOV (AZE) df. Razvan ARNAUT (ROU), 8-2

67kg Paris Qualification Bouts
Valentin PETIC (MDA) df. Etienne KINSINGER (GER), 3-1
Ramaz ZOIDZE (GEO) df. Lei LI (CHN), 10-0

77kg Paris Qualification Bouts
Aik MNATSAKANIAN (BUL) df. Rui LIU (CHN), 1-1
Sergei KUTUZOV (AIN) df. Iuri LOMADZE (GEO), 5-2

87kg Paris Qualification Bouts
Kiryl MASKEVICH (AIN) df. Turpal BISULTANOV (DEN), 5-2
Lasha GOBADZE (GEO) df. Rafig HUSEYNOV (AZE), 4-1

97kg Paris Qualification Bouts
Arvi SAVOLAINEN (FIN) df. Yuri NAKAZATO (JPN), 4-2
Artur SARGSIAN (AIN) df. Lucas LAZOGIANIS (GER), 3-1

130kg Paris Qualification Bouts
Sabah SHARIATI (AZE) df. Pavel HLINCHUK (AIN), 1-1
Alin ALEXUC CIURARIU (ROU) df. Heiki NABI (EST), 1-1