#Trnava2018

Susaki, Larroque Headline Trnava World C'ships

Thursday, September 13, 2018 - 13:52 By Eric Olanowski

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TRNAVA, Slovakia (September 13) - Yui SUSAKI (JPN), the reigning 48kg senior-level world champion, will head to Trnava, Slovakia for her first-ever junior-level competition before putting her Paris World title on the line at the Budapest World Championships. 

Susaki, Japan's 19-year-old superstar won three straight Cadet World Championships before heading to Paris last year to claim her first senior-level World gold medal. 

The Junior World Championships will be Susaki’s second individual international tournament of the year after she suffered a devastating 10-0 loss to Asian Championship/ Asian Games representative, Yuki IRIE (JPN) at Japan’s Emperor’s Cup. That loss ultimately kept Susaki off of Japan’s continental championship teams. 

To make up for the Asian Championships and Asian Games absence, the Waseda University freshman traveled to Klippan, Sweden to wrestle in the first Ranking Series Event of the year, the Klippan Lady Open.

At the Klippan Lady Open, Susaki defeated current World No. 2, Mariya STADNIK (AZE), 2-2 in the gold-medal bout. She handed Stadnik her only defeat of the season. In 2018, Stadnik is 12-1, with 12 technical superiority victories while outscoring her opponents 128-5, and has gold medals at the Poland Open and the European Championships. 

Fast forward to July, Susaki avenged her loss to Irie, rallying from a four-point deficit with 30-seconds left to win the special wrestle-off, 6-4, ultimately making Japan’s Budapest World Team for the second straight year. 

If Susaki, the clear favorite at 50kg was to make the finals, she’d wrestle on Thursday night for the gold medal.


Koumba LARROQUE (FRA) looks to finish a single-leg in the bronze medal bout of the Paris World Championships. (Photo by Martin Gabor) 

Another superstar that’ll be in attendance will be France’s Koumba LARROQUE. 

Since 2015, Larroque has reached the top of the podium at the Cadet World Championships, Junior World Championships, and U23 World Championships. 

In addition, Larroque bumped up to the senior-level in her home country a season ago and captured a bronze medal at the Paris World Championships. 

Larroque is entered at 72kg and will compete on Thursday, with the potential to make Friday nights finals. 

Reigning Tampere champions Sae NANJO (JPN) and Khanum VELIEVA (RUS) also make their return to the Junior World Championships with hopes of winning back-to-back gold medals.

Nanjo is entered at 59kg, while Velieva is registered at 68kg. 


Cadet World champion, Anshu ANSHU (IND) will wrestle at 62kg. (Photo by Martin Gabor) 

Other World Medalists in Action 
50kg 
Stefania PRICEPUTU (ROU)  - Junior World bronze 

53kg
Zeynep YETGIL (TUR) - Junior World bronze

57kg  
Viktoriia VAULINA (RUS) - Junior World bronze

59kg
Anastasia NICHITA (MDA)  - Junior World runner-up 
Erika BOGNAR (GER) – Cadet World bronze 

62kg 
Yuliana YANEVA (BUL) – Junior World runner-up 
Anshu ANSHU (IND)  - Cadet World champion 
Krystsina SAZYKINA (BLR) – Cadet World bronze 

65kg 
Alena TIMOFEEVA (RUS) – Cadet World runner-up
Wiktoria CHOLUJ   (POL) – Cadet World bronze

72kg 
Hui Tsz CHANG (TPE) - Junior World bronze

76kg 
Yasuha MATSUYUKI (JPN) -  Junior World runner-up
Denise MAKOTA STROEM (SWE)  – Junior World bronze 
Bernadett NAGY (HUN) – Cadet World bronze 


In addition to their gold medal, each World Champion will receive a belt. (Photo by Justin Hoch)

SCHEDULE 
Wednesday 
10:30 - Qualification rounds WW – 50-55-59-68-76kg
17:15 - Semifinal WW – 50-55-59-68-76kg

Thursday 
10:30 - Qualification rounds WW – 53-57-62-65-72kg
10:30 - Repechage WW – 50-55-59-68-76kg
17:15 - Semifinal WW – 53-57-62-65-72kg
18:00 - Finals WW – 50-55-59-68-76kg

Friday 
10:30 - Repechage WW – 53-57-62-65-72kg
18:00 - Finals WW – 53-57-62-65-72kg

#UWWAwards

UWW's 2024 Wrestlers of the Year: Petriashvili, Tosun, Kusaka

Monday, December 16, 2024 - 16:45 By United World Wrestling Press

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CORSIER-SUR-VEVEY, Switzerland (December 16) -- United World Wrestling has announced the wrestlers of the year in Freestyle, Women's Wrestling and Greco-Roman. UWW’s 2024 Wrestler of the Year award winners are Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO), Buse TOSUN (TUR) and Nao KUSAKA (JPN).

Freestyle: Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO)

The 30-year-old Georgian finished with a style-best 68,200 Ranking Series points through his finishes at the four point-based events of the year -- Olympic Games, European Championships, Croatian and Hungarian Ranking Series -- in which he collected a 13-4 record with 8 wins coming against top 20 ranked opponents.

Petriashvili’s 2024 season didn’t start well, as he finished in fifth place with a 3-2 record at the Croatian Ranking Series. This marked Petriashvili’s sixth consecutive full season in which he started on a losing note before regaining focus and peaking at the most opportune times.

In his next outing, Petriashvili scored three wins before reaching the European finals for the seventh time in his career. However, he fell short against career rival Taha AKGUL (TUR) for silver.

The three-time world champion then went to Hungary for the final tune-up before the Paris Olympics. While at the second Ranking Series event of the year, Petriashvili grabbed three wins, but not before falling to Yusup BATIRMURZAEV (KAZ) in the semifinals while nursing a left elbow injury.

Petriashvili headed to Paris hungry to improve his 2020 Tokyo Olympic silver medal. The father of two did exactly that, picking up four victories including a 10-9 shock win over two-time reigning world champion Amir Hossein ZARE (IRI), becoming Georgia’s third-ever freestyle Olympic gold medalist.
 
Greco-Roman: Nao KUSAKA (JPN)

23-year-old Nao KUSAKA (JPN), finished with a Greco-Roman best 79,200 Ranking Series points after winning golds at the Olympics, Asian Championships, and Hungarian Ranking Series events while also winning a bronze at the Croatian Ranking Series event at the beginning of the season.

After falling in the semifinals of his first competition of the year, Kusaka rallied off 14 consecutive victories -- four of which came against former world champions Burhan AKBUDAK (TUR), Ibrahim GHANEM (FRA), Malkhas AMOYAN (ARM) and Akzhol MAKHMUDOV (KGZ) -- on his way to winning golds in Paris, Bishkek and Budapest.

Kusaka’s win in Paris at 77kg, alongside his fellow teammate Kenichiro FUMITA’s gold, ended Japan’s 40-year Greco-Roman Olympic gold-medal drought.

Women's Wrestling: Buse TOSUN (TUR)

Buse TOSUN (TUR) is UWW’s Women’s wrestler of the year after topping the rankings with a style best 60,200 points. She narrowly edged Sakura MOTOKI (JPN) by 200 points for the coveted award.

Tosun, the reigning world champion at 68kg, finished 2024 with an impressive 11-2 record. Of those 11 wins during the season, a staggering eight came against wrestlers in the top 15 of the world rankings.

She dropped her first match of the season to Feng ZHOU (CHN) but went on to win 11 of her remaining 12 bouts, falling only at the Paris Olympics to eventual champion Amit ELOR (USA), en route to winning an Olympic bronze which was just Turkiye's second-ever women’s wrestling Olympic medal.

United World Wrestling congratulates Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO), Nao KUSAKA (JPN), and Buse TOSUN (TUR) for their incredible achievements this year and for being named the 2024 Wrestlers of the Year.