#WrestleFaenza

Russian Cadets Match Junior Squad, Sweep European Team Races

Sunday, June 23, 2019 - 22:51 By Eric Olanowski

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FAENZA, Italy (June 23) – The Cadet European Championships came to a close on Sunday night with five different nations claiming individual freestyle golds, but it was the Russian Federation who grabbed the team title to pick up their second straight continental sweep. Their junior team also won the freestyle, Greco-Roman and women's wrestling team tiles two weeks ago in Pontevedra, Spain. 

Overall, through the three cadet, junior and senior European Championships, Russia has accumulated eight out of nine team titles. They swept the cadet and junior European Championships, while also finishing with two of three team titles at the Senior European Championships. So far, Ukraine’s women’s wrestlers are the only ones to dethrone the Russians in a team race. 

In Faenza, Russia’s freestyle team capped off their run to a third team title of the week with nine medals and were ten points shy of hitting 200 points. They welcomed their 190 points from four champions, a silver medalist, and four bronze medals. 

They had a trio of Day 6 champions and grabbed their fourth freestyle gold medal of the competition when Abdulkerim ABDULAEV (RUS) demolished Davit KUTCHUASHVILI (GEO), 10-0 in the 72kg gold-medal bout to close out the tournament. 

In the finals, Abdulaev dug his toes in the mat and pushed Kutchuashvili out of bounds shortly after being awarded an inactivity point and collected the two-point advantage over the Georgian heading into the final two minutes of the match. 

In the second period, Abdulaev halted Kutchuashvili’s knee pull single off the whistle and picked up a counter-offensive spin behind. This extended his lead to 4-0. Abdulaev quickly jumped to a left-sided gut wrench then hopped over, locking up a trap arm gut wrench. The Russian ended the match with a pair of turns and won his first European title since winning gold at the 2017 U15 European Championships in Belgrade, Serbia. 

Azerbaijan finished in second place with a solo champion, a pair of runner-ups, and four bronze-medal finishers. Their lone gold medalist came on Sunday night when Sabir JAFAROV (AZE) defeated Genik ASATRYAN (ARM), 6-1 in the 60kg finals. 

Georgia ended their tournament with 140 points, which was good enough for third in the team race. Nikolozi SANTELADZE (GEO) reached the top of the podium on Sunday with a 12-5 win against Murad HAGVERDIYEV (AZE) in the 45kg finals. They also had two wrestlers fall short in the finals and had to settle for a pair of silvers, while also finishing with three bronze medalists. 

RESULTS

Final Freestyle Team Scores 
GOLD – Russia (190 points)
SILVER – Azerbaijan (153 points)
BRONZE – Georgia (140 points)
Fourth – Armenia (102 points)
Fifth - Ukraine (87 points)

45kg
GOLD - Nikolozi SANTELADZE (GEO) df. Murad HAGVERDIYEV (AZE), 12-5 
BRONZE - Tolga OZBEK (TUR) df. Anzor MAZHIDOV (RUS), 8-4
BRONZE - Mikita BERAZUN (BLR) df. Stefan SHTERJOV (MKD), 4-2 

51kg
GOLD - Mykyta ABRAMOV (UKR) df. Giorgi GOGRITCHIANI (GEO), 16-6 
BRONZE - Kanan HEYBATOV (AZE) df. Ilya RAHOZAU (BLR), 10-0 
BRONZE - Umar UMAROV (RUS) df. Pavel GRAUR (MDA), 8-1 

60kg
GOLD - Sabir JAFAROV (AZE) df. Genik ASATRYAN (ARM), 6-1 
BRONZE - Ayub Muratovitch MUSAEV (BEL) df. Alexandru Ioan MATEA (ROU), 10-0 
BRONZE - Daniil KHARCHILAVA (RUS) df. Daviti ABDALADZE (GEO), 8-2 

71kg
GOLD - Abdulkerim ABDULAEV (RUS) df. Davit KUTCHUASHVILI (GEO), 10-0 
BRONZE - Muhammed Halit OZMUS (TUR) df. Gabriel IGLESIAS RAMOS (ESP), 10-0 
BRONZE - Menua YARIBEKYAN (ARM) df. Lilian BALAN (MDA), 6-4 

92kg 
GOLD - Lyova GEVORGYAN (ARM) df. Islam KARTOEV (RUS), 6-3 
BRONZE - Sagadulla AGAEV (AZE) df. Redjep HAJDARI (MKD), 15-2 
BRONZE - Omer AGTAS (TUR) df. Saba GAMTENADZE (GEO), 10-0 

#WrestleTirana

World Championships: Five years after third, Kinjo earns shot at fourth gold

Tuesday, October 29, 2024 - 17:12 By Ken Marantz

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TIRANA, Albania (October 29) -- Two-time Olympic champion Risako KINJO (JPN) earned a shot at a fourth world title and first in five years, but Jia LONG (CHN) denied the powerful Japanese team a potential sweep of the women's golds.

Kinjo broke open a tight semifinal at 59kg against Svetlana LIPATOVA (AIN), scoring eight points in the second period for a 9-0 victory at the Non-Olympic Weight Categories World Championships on Tuesday in Tirana.

Japanese hopes of winning all four of the women's titles on Wednesday ended when Asian champion Long rode a second-period surge to an 11-1 victory over Miwa MORIKAWA (JPN) at 65kg, avenging a loss to the Japanese in the final at the 2022 World Championships.

The two other Japanese in action, Moe KIYOOKA (JPN) at 55kg and Ami ISHII (JPN) at 72kg, had little trouble advancing to the finals of their respective weight classes.

At 59kg, Kinjo earned just an activity point in the first period against Lipatova, but came out firing in the second, scoring a takedown off a low-ankle shot that she topped off with an exposure and gut wrench for a 7-0 lead. Kinjo then added a double-leg takedown.

Kinjo, who needed a dramatic last-second victory in a domestic playoff with 18-year-old Sakura ONISHI (JPN) to earn her ticket to Tirana, will be aiming to add to her consecutive world titles from 2017 to 2019 in Wednesday's final against veteran Tserenchimed SUKHEE (MGL).

Sukhee, a world champion in 2014 and silver medalist in 2015, scored a late takedown to clinch a 4-1 victory over MANSI (IND) in the other semifinal. Both Kinjo and Sukhee were bronze medalists this year at the Asian Championships, with the Mongolian's coming at 62kg.

Kinjo could have been expected to retire after failing to make Japan's team to Paris 2024 in a bid for an Olympic three-peat, but she has often said that she wants her daughter, now 2 1/2, to see
how good her mother was, not just hear about it.

The 30-somethings Kinjo and Lipatova's careers had crossed paths before, meeting in the semifinals at the 2018 World Championships. Kinjo won that one 10-0 en route to the second of her three consecutive gold medals.

Kiyooka, winner of both the world U23 and U20 golds in 2022, will be aiming to capture her first senior global title, after seeing her brother Kotaro KIYOOKA (JPN) and Ikuei University teammates Tsugumi SAKURAI (JPN) and Sakura MOTOKI (JPN) all strike gold at the Paris Olympics.

She got the parade into the final started by scoring a takedown in each period for a 4-0 victory over reigning European champion Iryna KURACHKINA (AIN), who was the losing finalist to Kinjo in the 57kg final at the Tokyo Olympics.

In the final, Kiyooka will face world U20 champion Jin ZHANG (CHN), who advanced with a victory by fall over Areana VILLAESCUSA (USA). Zhang got in on a deep single for a takedown that led to two quick exposures, then levered the American over before securing the fall.

At 65kg, Morikawa was ahead 1-1 on criteria in the second period when Long used a counter lift for 2 points (originally ruled 4, but later changed on the challenge). She had Morikawa's arm locked and used that for three rolls. After the match was resumed following the challenge, Long ended it with 43 seconds left with another counter lift.

In the final, Long will face European silver medalist Kateryna ZELENYKH (ROU), who scored a second-period fall over Valeriia DONDUPOVA (AIN) after building up an 11-6 lead.

Morikawa and Long were meeting for the second time, but one round earlier than before. Morikawa edged the Chinese 2-0 in the final at the 2022 World Championships.

The two finalists at 62kg at the World U23 Championships held last week at the same venue, champion Iryna BONDAR (UKR) and runnerup Macey KILTY (USA), lost to Morikawa and Zelenykh, respectively.

Ishii, the 2022 world 68kg silver medalist, won a battle of newly crowned world U23 champions by overwhelming Kylie WELKER (USA) with a 12-1 technical fall that she concluded in the final seconds. Ishii had won the U23 68kg title, while Welker had triumphed at 72kg.

In the final, Ishii will face three-time former Asian champion Zhamila BAKBERGENOVA (KAZ), who will be looking to take home a first world gold after winning two silvers and a bronze over the past three years.

Bakbergenova prevailed in an entertaining 8-6 victory over Bolortungalag ZORIGT (MGL), scoring 4 points in a first-period scramble and clinching the win with a late takedown in the second.

Both Morikawa and Ishii lost out on the place at the Paris Olympics at 68kg to Nonoka OZAKI (JPN), who ended up with a bronze medal.

For Ishii, the pain of missing out on Paris was particularly sharp, as she had earned the quota for Japan by placing fifth at the 2023 World Championships, only to lose in the last second of a playoff against Ozaki.

Morikawa rebounded from her disappointment by making the team at 72kg to the 2023 worlds, from which she took home a bronze. Now she is back at her normal weight class, in which she won the world gold in 2022 and finished second in 2021.

Women's Wrestling Results

55kg (18 entries)
SF: Jin ZHANG (CHN) df. Areana VILLAESCUSA (USA) by Fall, 1:28 (8-0)
SF: Moe KIYOOKA (JPN) df. Iryna KURACHKINA (AIN), 4-0

59kg (22 entries)
SF: Tserenchimed SUKHEE (MGL) df. MANSI (IND), 4-1
SF: Risako KINJO (JPN) df. Svetlana LIPATOVA (AIN), 9-0

65kg (19 entries)
SF: Kateryna ZELENYKH (ROU) df. Valeriia DONDUPOVA (AIN) by Fall, 1:59 (11-6)
SF: Jia LONG (CHN) df. Miwa MORIKAWA (JPN) by TF, 11-1, 5:17

72kg (18 entries)
SF: Zhamila BAKBERGENOVA (KAZ) df. Bolortungalag ZORIGT (MGL), 8-6
SF: Ami ISHII (JPN) df. Kylie WELKER (USA) by TF, 12-1, 5:58