Suraj ends India's 32-year drought for U17 GR world gold

Tuesday, July 26, 2022 - 19:28 By Vinay Siwach

ROME, Italy (July 26) -- As he warmed up for his gold medal bout, Suraj VASHISHT (IND) saw an emotional Ronit SHARMA (IND). He ran up to Sharma and consoled him after the latter lost 3-3 in the 48kg Greco-Roman final. It could have been India's first gold at the U17 World Championships in 32 years.

A few moments later, Suraj took it upon himself to create history by winning the 55kg title at the U17 World Championships in Rome. His gold was India's first since Pappu YADAV (IND) won one back in 1990.

Since then, India had five different wrestlers reach the final at a U17 World Championships but none could clear the final hurdle. It took Suraj beating European champion Faraim MUSTAFAYEV (AZE), 11-0, to add another historic moment in India's wrestling.

Overall, this was India's only third gold at the U17 Worlds and fourth at all World Championships combined. Apart from Yadav, who also won the 1992 U20 World Championships, Vinod KUMAR (IND) won the U17 Worlds gold in 1980.

In Rome, Suraj eyes lit up seeing his draw as he hoped for a potential semifinal against Khurshidbek NORMUKHAMMADOV (UZB). The Uzbek had beaten Suraj 8-0 a month ago at the U17 Asian Championships.

"That was my first tour," Suraj said. "I had little experience of grips and stances. There was a camp [More Than Medals in Bishkek] in which I learned all this. Minor changes to help me avoid getting countered."

One of the biggest drawbacks of Suraj's technique to go for a one-on-two early was getting countered and giving up a takedown. With a weak par terre, stopping his opponent from a win was close to impossible.

Normukhammadov scored eight points in Bishkek using a similar move. But in Rome, keeping a closed stance and not going for the side attacks, Suraj keep the Uzbekistan wrestler quiet to win the semifinals.

"These wrestlers get tired very easily while I keep going for attacks and keep pushing," he said. "That helps because then you know that your opponent doesn't have much power."

In the final, the 16-year-old decimated Mustafayev with two big four-point throws in the final. An aggressive Suraj tried finding an opening against Mustafayev which made the referee call the Azerbaijan wrestler passive in the first period. Suraj failed to get a turn from par terre and led 1-0.

In the second period, he first avoided being passive and then struck a takedown to extend his lead to 3-0. But he still ran the danger of being called passive with more than a minute left. But Suraj, knowing he had to get to a safe zone, used an underhook to throw and collect four points and lead 7-0. Mustafayev tried a flying move but Suraj throw him on the mat with control to win the bout and gold 11-0.

The four medalists at 55kg with silver medalist Faraim MUSTAFAYEV (AZE), left, gold medalist SURAJ (IND) and two bronze medalists Saba SURMANIDZE (GEO) and Khurshidbek NORMUKHAMMADOV (UZB). (Photo: UWW / Martin Gabor)

Mustafayev looked a force to reckon with Monday as he won two bouts via technical superiority and one via fall. But he looked a shadow of himself from Monday and failed to get going when it mattered most.

According to India coach Inderjeet SINGH, Suraj was unfazed by the achievements of his opponents and followed a set plan for each bout."He had a very open stance so we told him to close his hands," Singh said. "Then the par terre defense of Indian wrestlers is weak so we told him to not be passive. He did well to defend a few par terre situations."

For Suraj, who hails from Rithal village, Rohtak in Haryana, the win meant another opportunity to celebrate by thumping his thigh, a popular celebration in mud-dangals across India. He now hopes that he can repeat the success in bigger stages.

"I have dreams to become the best in my weight class," he said. "Obviously a senior world title is a dream as well."

After a brief celebration, Suraj will stay back in Rome for the More Than Medals camp.

"These More Than Medals camps help us a lot. We get limited training in India but here the quality of partners is better. Ronit and Suraj will stay for the Rome camp," Singh said.

Ali AHMADI VAFA (IRI) defeated Ronit SHARMA (IND) to win the 48kg gold in Rome. (Photo: UWW / Kadir Caliskan)

Sharma could have been the history maker but Ali AHMADI VAFA (IRI) denied him history with a 3-3 win in the 48kg final. The two had met earlier at the U17 Asian Championships two times with Ahmadi Vafa winning the group stage bout and Sharma winning the final.

Ahmadi Vafa looked in all sorts of trouble in the final in Rome as Sharma secured a quick 3-0 lead with a turn from par terre as Ahmadi Vafa was called passive.

After the break, Sharma went for a front headlock looking for a four but lost his grip midway and Ahmadi Vafa ended up on top of him. Initially called a slip, Iran challenged and won, trimming Sharma's lead to 3-2.

In the final minute of the bout, Sharma is called passive and Ahmadi Vafa gets the 3-3 criteria lead. Despite him failing to turn Sharma from par terre, he defended against the attacks from the Indians to claim the world title for Iran.

Cemal BAKIR (TUR) avenged his European final loss to Laszlo DARABOS (HUN) to win the world gold at 110kg. (Photo: UWW / Martin Gabor)

Turkey wins 2 golds

Cemal BAKIR (TUR) and Alperen BERBER (TUR) gave Turkey two gold medals, winning the 110kg and 80kg weight classes respectively.

It was sweet revenge for Bakir as he defeated Laszlo DARABOS (HUN), 1-1, in the 110kg final. Darabos had pinned Bakir in the U17 European Championships final last month to win the gold. But Tuesday, Bakir did not let Darabos get going and defended well from par terre position.

While he also could not turn Darabos, Bakir made sure he defends his 1-1 criteria lead till the end of the four minutes.

Alperen BERBER (TUR) won the 80kg gold medal in Rome. (Photo: UWW / Martin Gabor)

Berber faced European silver medalist Ismayil RZAYEV (AZE) in the 80kg final and scored a come-from-behind 3-2 win to claim the gold. He got himself into trouble by trying an arm spin which resulted in Rzayev putting Berber's back on the mat for a pin. While he survived that, Berber then scored a pushout.

Rzayev held 2-2 criteria despite Berber scoring a stepout before the end of the first period. But it was the passivity call in the second period that hurt Rzayev and gave Berber a deserved win.

Berber, who finished fifth at the European Championships, outscored his opponents 31-2 over five bouts.

Joel ADAMS (USA) outscored his opponents 31-0 en route to the 65kg gold medal. (Photo: UWW / Kadir Caliskan)

The final gold of the night went to Joel ADAMS (USA) who defeated Ahoura BOUVEIRI PIANI (IRI), 6-0, in the 65kg final.

Adams had a near-perfect performance over the two days in which he showed a five-point move, a four-pointer, arm drags, duck under, and celebrations like no other with his USA teammates joining from the stands.

Outscoring his opponents 31-0 in Rome, Adams showed why he can be the next Greco-Roman star for the USA which won its third U17 world title in 30 years and second in five years. Cohlton SCHULTZ (USA) won the 100kg title in 2017.

Bouveriri Piani was in some strong position throughout the final but Adams' defense along with his ability to transition that into takedowns wreaked havoc on the Iranian. Adams scored two takedowns in the first period to lead 4-0 and added another in the second period to make it 6-0.

But the highlight from the gold medalist will be the five-point suplex he hit on Takaku SUZUKI (JPN) in the opening round bout.

After the medal bouts on in five weight classes, Azerbaijan leads the team title race with 80 points and Iran sitting a close second with 75 points. Turkey's impressive show has helped them to be number three with 60 points while India occupies the fourth spot with 57 points.

Defending champions Georgia will have to work hard if it wants to finish on the podium this year. Currently, it is fifth with 55 points.

RESULTS

48kg
GOLD: Ali AHMADI VAFA (IRI) df. Ronit SHARMA (IND), 3-3

BRONZE: Arsen ZHUMA (KAZ) df. Tigran GALSTYAN (ARM), 5-3
BRONZE: Said KHALILOV (AZE) df. Yu TAKEMOTO (JPN), 9-1

55kg
GOLD: SURAJ (IND) df. Faraim MUSTAFAYEV (AZE), 11-0

BRONZE: Saba SURMANIDZE (GEO) df. Halil CINAR (TUR), 9-0
BRONZE: Khurshidbek NORMUKHAMMADOV (UZB) df. Kohaku KANAZAWA (JPN), 5-4

65kg
GOLD: Joel ADAMS (USA) df. Ahoura BOUVEIRI PIANI (IRI), 6-0

BRONZE: Bekhruz BARNOEV (UZB) df. Ali ALIZADA (AZE), 9-3
BRONZE: Aleksandre RUSITASHVILI (GEO) df. Petro SHAFRANSKYI (UKR), 6-4

80kg
GOLD: Alperen BERBER (TUR) df. Ismayil RZAYEV (AZE), 3-2

BRONZE: Luka GELASHVILI (GEO) df. Andrey ATANASOV (BUL), 5-1
BRONZE: Seyed Reza AZARSHAB (IRI) df. Branko DUKIC (SRB), 8-0

110kg
GOLD: Cemal BAKIR (TUR) df. Laszlo DARABOS (HUN), 1-1

BRONZE: Mohammad JAHANGIRI (IRI) df. Dmytro STRYZHEKOZIN (UKR), 9-0
BRONZE: Mazaim MARDANOV (AZE) df. Davit MGELADZE (GEO), via fall

#WrestleZagreb

Rising Star Hendrickson Aims to Make Splash in Senior Worlds Debut

Friday, September 12, 2025 - 17:23 By Ken Marantz

ZAGREB, Croatia (September 12) -- Sitting on the opposite end of the dais from the reigning world champion, Wyatt HENDRICKSON (USA) expressed confidence that they will be meeting again soon, but in much closer quarters.

If all goes according to plan for both wrestlers, Hendrickson will face Amir Hossein ZARE (IRI) in the semifinals of freestyle 125kg when the World Championships get started on Saturday in Zagreb.

"This is my first senior-level World Championships and I'm very grateful for that," Hendrickson said at a press conference on Friday that was also attended by Zare. "But I also think that the opportunity presented itself because I have grown as a wrestler. I've risen to the level of my competition, and I'm ready to test myself against the best in the world."

It doesn't get much better than Zare when talk of the heavyweights comes up. The two-time Olympic medalist is gunning for his second straight world title and third overall, all still at the tender age of 24.

Hendrickson, also 24 (in fact, he is three days older than Zare), may lack the experience on the senior level, but in recent years, he has raised his game enough to join the handful of foes with the potential to knock of the great Zare.

The American said his aim is to "continue to not only just wrestle at the highest level, but prove I'm meant to be here. Wrestling is something I've been doing since I was 5 years old and all that wrestling has brought me to be here today in Zagreb."

After placing fifth at the 2021 world juniors (U20), Hendrickson struck gold at the world U23 in 2023. In May this year, he capped his senior-level debut with a victory at the Pan-Am Championships.

But his most impressive triumph, and one that made the world take notice, came in a different format of the sport. In March, he stunned Tokyo Olympic champion Gable STEVESON (USA) in the final of the NCAA Championships, denying him a third title and ending his 70-match winning streak.

Even Zare said he was aware of the upset. "I would like to congratulate you for the win over Gable, he's one of the best in this weight category," Zare said. "Some of the seconds of your match are in my mind, I remember that. But originally, I don't have too much information about this American wrestler."

Hendrickson acknowledges he has been cultivated in the American folkstyle. But he feels confident of the transition he has made to freestyle.

"I've been training to wrestle foreign styles," he said. "The majority of my wrestling has been in [American] folkstyle. But the transition I've been able to make the past couple of months has shown that I'm prepared for this. I'm ready to wrestle the best in the world."

Helping in Hendrickson's preparations has been one of the sport's legends. Hendrickson originally attended and competed collegiately at the Air Force Academy, but transferred last year to Oklahoma State, where he came under the wing of former Olympic and three-time world champion David TAYLOR (USA).

Hendrickson is one of three USA wrestlers who are members of the Cowboy RTC, the wrestling club affiliated with Oklahoma State. (Five others will be wrestling in Zagreb with three of them for other nations.)

"Coach David Taylor is very, very excited to be coaching and share with us the knowledge he has learned in the great sport of wrestling," Hendrickson said. "The knowledge that he has been able to bring to me, it's just day and night. I never understood some parts of wrestling and he filled in all of the gaps. Where I maybe have fallen short in the past at some of these tournaments, those gaps are now filled. And I just have nothing but confidence."

The draw for the freestyle weight classes came out a short time before the press conference, and Hendrickson was asked about a possible clash with Zare in the semifinals.

"I love it," he said. "Zare is an excellent wrestler. But -- I don't want to brag on myself -- but I'm also a pretty great wrestler. That's most likely the match we're going to see tomorrow evening."

Hendrickson, however, is not one to get ahead of himself, and contends that he does not concern himself with such details as his opponents in the draw. Nor does he have a certain foe whom he particularly looks forward to facing.

"I'm excited to go through every single person in this bracket," he said. "Obviously there's no one specific because I don't care what my placement is in the bracket. That's not what I look at.

"What I look at is the next opponent ahead of me. One match at a time, one point at a time, one second at a time on the wrestling mat. I'm prepared, I'm ready and tomorrow I'm going to make a splash at the World Championships."

Zare, who has taken over the leadership mantle of the Iranian team in the absence of injured star Hassan YAZDANI (IRI), has competed just once this year, winning the Tirana Ranking Series title in February.

"I have done my best during the last 13 months to be prepared and I am focused on my goal, which is to be champion of this competition," Zare said.

And should Hendrickson or any of the other top competitors, such as European champion Giorgi MESHVILDISHVILI (AZE) or two-time world medalist Lkhagvagerel MUNKHTUR (MGL), make things difficult, then all the better.

"Finally, I want to say that when the competition is tough, it's going to be more joyful for everyone," Zare said.

Suraj ends India's 32-year drought for U17 GR world gold

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Rising Star Hendrickson Aims to Make Splash in Senior Worlds Debut