#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 

#BeachWrestling

Dakar to Mexico, Beach Wrestling Hits the Right Notes in 2024

Friday, December 6, 2024 - 12:32 By Vinay Siwach

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (December 6) -- In 2024, Beach Wrestling had a momentous year. From Dakar to Rio de Janeiro, there were championships and Games. And the World Series traveled from Mexico to Greece.

The second edition of the African Championships in Beach Wrestling was held in Dakar, Senegal in June. Dakar will host the 2026 Youth Olympic Games with Beach Wrestling being one of the main sports. The city also hosted the Beach Sports Festival.

Apart from the Dakar event, the Beach Wrestling calendar was packed with international tournaments, thanks to UWW's efforts to develop the sport.

The Beach Wrestling Committee also made a few changes to the sport, bringing in the challenge and the activity clock from 2024. This meant that two additional ways to get one point in Beach Wrestling were added: if a wrestler has been called passive and fails to score points during the 30-second activity period, his opponent will receive a point, and the wrestler whose opponent requested a challenge and the challenge is unsuccessful will receive a point.

Each wrestler is entitled to at least two unsuccessful challenges per event — one during the group stage and eliminations and another during the medal match.

For the first time, the Pan-Am Championships were held in the U15, U17, U20 and U23 age-groups. The U15 event was held in El Salvador and Mexico dominated the tournament by winning the title in both men's and women's events. The U17 event was in Dominican Republic with Ecuador winning the men's title and Puerto Rico winning the women's title.

At the U20 Pan-Ams in Peru, Ecuador continued its dominance with the men's title while Mexico bounced back and won the women's title. In Colombia for the U23 event, the hosts won both the men's and women's team titles.

Similarly, the European Championships in the U15, U17 and U20 age groups were held in Romania, a country which has taken keenly to the sport. Romania was so dominant in the competitions that it won the men's and women's team titles in five of the six categories. Only the U20 men's team title was won by Moldova.

UWW's commitment to growing the sport saw a new country host a Beach Wrestling event in Dakar. The African Championships were attended by over 100 wrestlers with the competition going over two days. Hosts Senegal emerged as the best country in both men's and women's categories. It won three gold medals and one silver in each category, combining for eight medals in eight weight classes.

A documentary capturing the essence of Senegal, promoting culture and rich tradition in wrestling, was also produced by UWW.

The U17 World Championships in Beach Wrestling was held in Greece this year along with the World Championships in the U20 age group.

The United States, which has been promoting the sport extensively on the national level, won its first-ever world title as the women captured the team title in the U17 age-group, thanks to the three silver medals it won.

Ukraine emerged as the best team in men's, winning the title over Romania which won two gold medals. But Ukraine had a better performance overall and it pipped Romania for the top spot.

In U20, Moldova destroyed the field, winning three gold medals and the team title in men's while Ukraine made amends by winning the women's title, which it lost at the U17 level.

Beach Wrestling World Series

The fifth edition of the Beach Wrestling World Series saw a remarkable start in Mexico in March along with the Pan-Am Championships. The first stop saw Mexico on the board with two gold medals in the women's category. The men's was more scattered with the U.S., Guatemala, Argentina and Venezuela winning gold medals.

The second stop of the series travelled to a familiar Saint-Laurent-Du-Var which saw records tumbling. The highlight of the tournament was Moldova's growing stature in Beach Wrestling.

Two wrestlers -- Vasile DIACON (MDA) and Traian CAPATINA (MDA) -- won gold medals. Diacon ultimately emerged as the best 80kg wrestler in the world and secured first place in the final rankings. Capatina was second in the final rankings in 90kg.

Romania hosted the third spot and the battle between the hosts and Ukraine in the women's category lived up to expectations. Ukraine won two gold medals and Romania won one out of four available. In men's, Capatina repeated as the gold medalist in 90kg and Mamuka KORDZAIA (GEO) continued his winning run at +90kg.

The fourth stop was in Greece, and not much changed from the other stops. The glittering beaches saw winners from Romania, Ukraine, the United States, Turkiye, Moldova, Azerbaijan and Georgia. It all came down to Porec, Croatia for the finale. With ranking points up for grabs, it meant that the world champions would be decided in Porec.

The final stop in Porec decided the winners of the series. Ana Marie PIRVU (ROU) was the top wrestler in 50kg, Anastasiya KRAVCHENKO (UKR) in 60kg, Oksana HERHEL (UKR) in 70kg and Eliana BOMMARITO (USA) in +70kg. Bommarito was the only wrestler across categories to maintain a 100 percent record -- winning four gold medals.

In men's Yunus COSKUN (TUR) won the top spot in 70kg, Vasile DIACON (MDA) in 80kg, Ibrahim YUSUBOV (AZE) in 90kg and the evergreen Mamuka KORDZAIA (GEO) in +90kg.