#WrestleTallinn

Russia Wins Three Golds on Saturday Night, Leads Iran By Seven Points

By Eric Olanowski

TALLINN, Estonia (August 17) – The Russian Federation (97 points) won a trio of Day 6 junior world titles and have a seven-point lead over second-place Iran (90 points), who had two wrestlers reach the top of the podium on Saturday. 

Anvar ALLAKHIAROV (RUS) ascended to the top of the podium with a fall over Zaur ALIYEV (AZE) after erasing a 4-0 deficit in the 55kg finals. “I feel very good. Everything came out perfect and that’s what I wanted to do,” said Allakhiarov after winning his first world title. 

In the opening period, Allakhiarov gave up a four-point throw, but scored a reversal -- cutting the Azeri’s lead to three points with a quick reversal. A pair of back-to-back gut wrenches flipped the match in favor of Allakhiarov, as he took the 5-4 lead into the break. 

In the second period, the Russian back-peddled as the Aliyev heavily pressed the pace. While toeing the out of bounds line, Allakhiarov circled to his left and tried to get back to the center of the mat to avoid giving up the step-out point. His Azeri opponent also started to circle back towards the center of the mat, but while doing so, relaxed for one second. Allakhairov capitalized on that one-second opening and threw a massive headlock and planted Aliyev flat on his back for the fall to claim his first world title. 

“I feel very happy to be the first Russian in Greco-Roman to win the world title” Allakhairov said. He added, “We put a lot of work into the preparation process so we’re very happy with everyone in the finals.”

Abu AMAEV (RUS) defeated Leri ABULADZE (GEO), 5-3 in the 63kg finals -- handing Russia their second gold medal of the night. (Photo: Gabor Martin)

Russia’s second champion came at 63kg where Abu AMAEV (RUS) scored the tactical 5-3 win over Leri ABULADZE (GEO) in the gold-medal match. “The hardest part of the competition was the finals. The opponent I wrestled in the finals was second in Europe, so I’m very happy to be the world champion.” 

After the match, Amaev took a deep breath and let out a noticeable psy of relief. When asked why he let out such a deep breath, Amaev said, “I felt the happiest when my hand was raised, and I knew I was world champion.” 

The newly minted world champion, who said he has hopes of making an Olympic team one day, will head back to Chechnya, Russia, and take a week off before getting back to training. “I don’t know what’s next. I think I will take a week off…I’m going to train and see what the future brings.” 

Ilia ERMOLENKO (RUS) was the third Russian to win a gold medal on Day 6. He snuck past Giorgi KATSANASHVILI (GEO), 2-0 in the 87kg finals (Photo: Gabor Martin)

A bloody and battered Ilia ERMOLENKO (RUS) scored a point in each period against Giorgi KATSANASHVILI (GEO) in the 87kg finals and became the third Russian wrestler to circle the mat with his nation’s flag over his head. “All of my matches were very hard, but the hardest one was definitely the finals,” said Ermolenko after winning his gold medal. He continued, saying, “I’m very happy to be a world champion. I’ve worked very hard to get to this point and I would like to thank everyone who has supported me.” 

Aliakbar YOUSOFIAHMADCHALI took down 2018 cadet world champion Cohlton Michael SCHULTZ (USA), 2-1 in the 130kg finals. (Photo: Gabor Martin)

Meanwhile, Iran’s Mohammad NAGHOUSI and Aliakbar YOUSOFIAHMADCHALI snuck past their gold-medal final opponents, 2-1, and helped their country head into the final day of wrestling at the 2019 Junior World Championships only trailing Russia by seven points. 

In the 77kg finals, Mohammad Naghousi nabbed the one-point win over Damir RAKHIMOV (RUS), while Aliakbar Yousofiahmadchali stole the 130kg gold medal from 2017 cadet world champion Cohlton Michael SCHULTZ (USA). 

The final day of wrestling begins tomorrow at 16:00 (local time) and can be followed live on www.unitedworldwrestling.org.

RESULTS 

Team Scores (After Day 6) 
GOLD - Russia (97 points)
SILVER - Iran (90 points)
BRONZE - Georgia (56 points)
Fourth - Turkey (42 points)
Fifth - United States (41 points)

55kg
GOLD - Anvar ALLAKHIAROV (RUS) df.  Zaur ALIYEV (AZE), 9-4
BRONZE - Ken MATSUI (JPN) df. Nurmukhammet ABDULLAEV (KGZ), 13-12 
BRONZE - Poya Soulat DAD MARZ (IRI) df. Tigran MINASYAN (ARM), 2-0 

63kg
GOLD - Abu AMAEV (RUS) df. Leri ABULADZE (GEO), 5-3 
BRONZE - Shahin Eidi BADAGHI MOFRAD (IRI) df. Nikalas Petrov SULEV (BUL), 3-2 
BRONZE - Alston Jon NUTTER (USA) df. Kamil CZARNECKI (POL), via fall 

77kg
GOLD - Mohammad NAGHOUSI (IRI) df. Damir RAKHIMOV (RUS), 2-1
BRONZE - Dmytro VASETSKYI (UKR) df. Exauce MUKUBU (NOR) , 3-2 
BRONZE - Sajan SAJAN (IND) df. Abdurrahman KALKAN (TUR), 11-1 

87kg
GOLD - Ilia ERMOLENKO (RUS) df. Giorgi KATSANASHVILI (GEO), 2-0 
BRONZE - Bedirhan TAN (TUR) df. Jacob Edward LOGAARD (SWE), 3-0
BRONZE - Ihar YARASHEVICH (BLR) df. Hasan FOROUZANDEH GHOJEHBEIGLOU (IRI), 4-4 

130kg
GOLD - Aliakbar YOUSOFIAHMADCHALI (IRI) df. Cohlton Michael SCHULTZ (USA), 2-1 
BRONZE - Dariusz VITEK (HUN) df. Lu ZHANG (CHN), 3-2 
BRONZE - Muhammet Hamza BAKIR (TUR) df. Robinzon ESADZE (GEO), 5-1 

#WrestleAthens

Wrestling World U17 C'ships: Freestyle Live Results

By Vinay Siwach

ATHENS, Greece (August 1) -- The World U17 Championships will be moving to Freestyle action with 48kg, 55kg, 65kg, 80kg and 110kg.

WATCH LIVE | LIVE MATCH ORDER | DAY 4 RESULTS

14:30: The big three at 110kg -- Magomedrasul OMAROV (UWW), Amirhossein NAGHDALIPOUR (IRI) and LACKY (IND) -- win their respective quarterfinals and enter the semifinals.

14:15: Zhakshylyk BOROBAEV (KGZ) thought he had the win at 55kg. But Jinnosuke OKONOGI (JPN) still had something in him and then. He scores a takedown manages to turn Borobaev for two more points and lead 9-8. He is ecstatic! He will wrestle Burnett later.

14:00: Greyton BURNETT (USA) shuts down Jaiveer SINGH (IND) and gets a 3-0 win over Singh at 55kg. Burnett gave no opening to Singh to score.

13:45: Big match on Mat A at 65kg between Asian U17 champion Gaurav PUNIA (IND) and Pan-Am U17 champion Arseni KIKINIOU (USA). Punia tries a leg-attack but Kikinou with a counter and turn for two points. Punia with a reversal. Kikinou led 3-1 at the break. Punia gets the exposure for two points to take a 3-3 criteria lead but Kikinou manages to put Punia in danger in the same scramble which makes it 5-3 for him. Kikinou cautioned for fleeing but he wins 5-4.

13:35: Morteza HAJ (IRI) gets a takedown in the final seconds to beat Ivan ZALISKO (UKR) at 65kg. Zalisko led 4-4 on criteria but Haj makes a  big comeback.

13:10: LACKY (IND) gut-wrenches Hanto HAYASHI (JPN) and wins his 110kg bout 10-0. He is looking to add a world title to his Asian title he won in June

13:06: In a match that saw six stepouts, Amirhossein NAGHDALIPOUR (IR) manages keep his breath and beat Zekeriya DOGAN (TUR) 6-2 at 110kg.

12:56: Aaron STEWART (USA) cuts shorts Marshall EVERETT JONES (GBR) tournament with an 11-0 hammering at 80kg. Stewart just overpowered Everett Jones.

12:55: Jinnosuke OKONOGI (JPN) hands Mohammadreza BARARI (IRI) a 4-1 loss at 55kg. Solid positioning from Okonogi. Barari's tactics of keeping it slow did not work out.

12:45: Nihad SULEYMANLI (AZE) is shocked after Issa ZANGIEV (UWW) gets front roll for two points and wins the 80kg 1/8 final 6-5. Suleymanli did well to keep his lead but failed in the final second. Azerbaijan challenges but it loses it. Zangiev wins 7-5

12:35: Greyton BURNETT (USA) gets a takedown with 20 seconds remaining to lead 3-1 against Armen PAPIKYAN (ARM) who needed a two-point technique to win. He however gets one a stepout. Burnett wins 3-2 at 55kg.

12:27Asian U17 champion Gourav PUNIA (IND) like a workhorse with five takedowns and he defeats Kodai IWASAKI (JPN) 10-0 at 65kg.

12:25: Adisbek ALTYNBEKOV (KGZ) went five on Kiryl PAULIUCHENKA (UWW), not once but twice to win his 65kg match 10-0. Those were some high level throws from the Kyrgyz, a bronze medalist from Asian U17 Championships

12:05: Magomedrasul OMAROV (UWW), European champion at 110kg, begins with a 11-0 win over Yu Chiao CHUANG (TPE), who had his own troubles with bleeding. He needed several medical timeouts

11:45: Marshall EVERETT JONES (GBR), European U17 bronze medalist, comes out with a huge underhook throw for four and then rolls Levan CHERTKOEV (FRA) to win 10-0 at 80kg.

11:40: Mohammadparsa KARAMI (IRI) keeps his strong positions and beats Buyantogtokh BYAMBADORJ (MGL) 7-2 at 80kg to give Iran the third win of the day. Iran is hoping to reclaim the U17 team title.

11:19: European champion Ruslan ALIZADA (AZE) has no trouble seeing off Dan BULGARU (MDA) 10-0 at 55kg. Alizada is one of more exciting prospects in this Azerbaijan team.

11:15: Iran with back-to-back wins! Morteza HAJ (IRI) beats Yandro SOTO RIVERA (PUR) at 65kg and Mohammadreza BARARI (IRI) defends a late attack from Aleksandar DELCHEV (BUL) to win at 55kg.

11:05: Asian U17 champion Gourav PUNIA (IND) slams Changxin WU (CHN) for a big four and then exposes his two times to win 11-0 at 65kg.

10:50: Quick results at 65kg as Magomed IBRAGIMOV (UWW) beats Nikos SOURAILOV (CYP) 10-0, followed by European U17 silver medalist Huseyn ISMAYILOV (AZE) getting a 4-2 win over Liam GORTON (CAN). Pan-Am champion Arseni KIKINIOU (USA) also has a technical superiority win over Nikita KOZICH (ISR).

10:30: Freestyle action will take centerstage at the World U17 Championships in Athens. The United States will once again be favorite to win the team title but Iran will look to challenge them.