#WrestleHammamet

Tunisia Takes Quartet of Olympic Berths, Nigeria Nabs Trio of Tokyo Spots

Saturday, April 3, 2021 - 19:38 By Eric Olanowski

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HAMMAMET, Tunisia (April 3) --- For the second time in as many days, the host nation of the African and Oceania Olympic Qualifier earned four Olympic berths. On Saturday, Rio Olympic bronze medalist Marwa AMRI (TUN) assisted her country in winning three gold medals and a silver and grabbed the team title 45 points ahead of second-place Nigeria, who earned three women’s wrestling Olympic berths on the day.

Sarra HAMDI (TUN), Siwar BOUSETA (TUN) and Marwa AMRI (TUN) won golds at 50kg, 57kg and 62kg, while Zaineb SGHAIER (TUN) won silver at 76kg.

Bouseta’s gold came in the traditional 57kg bracket, while Hamdi and Amri won Nordic style bracket gold medals. The two-time African medalist breezed to the semifinal and final wins over Eman EBRAHIM (EGY) and Fatoumata Yarie CAMARA (GUI). In the semifinals, Bouseta controlled the match whistle-to-whistle with a two-on-one, scored two takedowns, two exposures and a reversal, and cruised to a 9-2 victory over the Egyptian. Then, in the finals, the long and lengthy Tunisian capitalized on her Guinean opponent’s mistakes with eight counter-offensive points and eased her way to a 57kg gold with a 9-3 victory.

Hamdi and Adijat IDRIS (NGR) came into their fourth-round matches with 3-0 records, but the Tunisian took the 50kg gold with a narrow 2-1 victory.

Amri, the most decorated African women’s wrestler ever, punched her fourth ticket to the Olympic Games with three wins on the day. She’ll now head to Tokyo looking to improve on her bronze-medal finish from the Rio Olympic Games.

Coming into the weekend, ’19 world bronze medalist Odunayo ADEKUOROYE (NGR) was the lone Nigerian woman to qualify her nation for the Olympic Games. But Nigeria will have at least four women competiting in Tokyo after Blessing OBORUDUDU’s (NGR) 68kg gold medal and silver-medal finishes from Idris and Aminat ADENIYI (NGR) at 50kg and 62kg, respectively.


Joseph ESSOMBE TIAKO (CMR) won gold at 53kg and punched Cameroon's ticket to the Olympics. (Photo: Ben Mrad Bayrem)

Meanwhile, Cameroon’s Joseph ESSOMBE TIAKO (CMR) stole the show on Saturday night en route to winning the 53kg gold medal. The now-two-time Olympian obliterated her three competitors – scoring back-to-back falls over Bose SAMUEL (NGR) and Lamia CHEMLAL (ALG) before capturing the 53kg crown with a 53-second technical superiority win over Rckaela AQUINO (GUM) in the finals.

Despite falling to Essombe Tiako in the gold-medal match, Aquino scored five first-period takedowns against Siwar LOUATI BEN ALI (TUN) in their semifinal meeting and booked Guam a ticket to the Olympic Games at 53kg. She joined Maria DUNN (GUA) as the only women’s wrestlers from Guam to ever earn an Olympic berth.

Samar HAMZA (EGY) earned Egypt an Olympic berth at 76kg after winning gold on Saturday night. She's now a two-time Olympian. (Photo: United World Wrestling)

The final pair of women's wrestling Olympic berths went to Egpytian wrestlers Enas AHMED (EGY) and Samar HAMZA (EGY). Hamza, who competed at the Rio Olympics, won gold at 76kg with a pair of wins, and Ahmed finished in second place at 68kg after falling to eventual champion Oborududu in the opening round.

The final day of wrestling at the African and Oceania Olympic Qualifier starts on Sunday morning at 11:00 am (local time). Follow all the action live on www.uww.org.

RESULTS

50kg
GOLD – Sarra HAMDI (TUN)
SILVER – SAdijat Avorshai IDRIS (NGR)
BRONZE – Nada MOHAMED (EGY)

53kg
GOLD – Joseph ESSOMBE (CMR) df. Rckaela AQUINO (GUM), 10-0
BRONZE – Siwar LOUATI BEN ALI (TUN) df. Elisa RASOANANTENAINA (MAD), via fall
BRONZE –  Bose SAMUEL (NGR) df. Lamia CHEMLAL (ALG), 10-0

57kg
GOLD –  Siwar BOUSETA (TUN) df. Fatoumata CAMARA (GUI), 9-3
BRONZE – Rayane HOUFAF (ALG) df. Eman EBRAHIM (EGY), via inj. def.

62kg
GOLD – Marwa AMRI (TUN)
SILVER – Aminat ADENIYI (NGR)
BRONZE – Berthe ETANE NGOLLE (CMR) 

68kg
GOLD – Blessing OBORUDUDU (NGR)
SILVER – Enas AHMED (EGY) 
BRONZE – Khadija JLASSI (TUN) 

76kg
GOLD – Samar HAMZA (EGY)
SILVER – Zaineb SGHAIER (TUN) 
BRONZE – Amy YOUIN (CIV) 

#WrestleZagreb

Tazhudinov in search for answers despite bronze medal

Thursday, September 18, 2025 - 08:45 By Vinay Siwach

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ZAGREB, Croatia (September 16) -- A World Championships medal might be a career milestone for most wrestlers, but for Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN), the bronze he won in Zagreb is a prize he hopes to forget.

Coming into the tournament in Zagreb, Tazhudinov was considered as the best wrestler in the world and the favorite to win the gold medal at the 97kg. He had built a reputation of a wrestler who bulldozes anyone who stands in his path, as he did to win the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

But Tazhudinov was anything but an Olympic and world champion in Zagreb.

He almost dropped his quarterfinal match with Mogomed KURBANOV (UWW), needing a front headlock roll to survive. The thrill of victory was short lived, as Amirali AZARPIRA (IRI) showed that Tazhudinov is indeed human, winning their semifinal 5-2 to end Tazhudinov's golden run.

"My initial goal was the gold medal," Tazhudinov said. "I wanted to become a two-time world champion. Unfortunately, it didn't happen -- maybe it was meant to be this way. It's very painful to lose."

As he searched for answers for his performance, Tazhudinov said that recent shoulder surgery may have affected his wrestling at the World Championships.

"I was coming back after surgery, after a serious injury," Tazhudinov said. "Maybe that had an effect, I don't even know. It took me a very long time to get myself together. At the beginning, training sessions were very difficult."

Tazhudinov returned from surgery to win two gold medals in a one-month span -- first at the Spain Grand Prix and then at the Budapest Ranking Series in June.

After the semifinal loss to Azarpira, Tazhudinov returned the next night for the bronze-medal bout with 34-year-old Akhmed MAGAMAEV (BUL), which only further put Tazhudinov under the scanner despite winning the match.

Magamaev was on the activity clock when he bodylocked Tazhudinov and slammed him for four points just before the 30 seconds elapsed. Tazhudinov rebounded with a takedown to make it 4-2 at the break.

He began the second period with another takedown to make it 4-4, but Magamaev continued the scramble and both wrestlers were awarded two exposure points each, putting the Bulgarian ahead 6-6 on criteria.

A counter lift to exposure gave Tazhudinov the lead for the first time, 8-6, and as Magamaev tried doing the counter lift, he gave up two as Tazhudinov blocked him. The final scramble, which gave Tazhudinov an 11-10 win, was challenged by Bulgaria. Eventually, it was scored 13-10.

Despite winning the bout, Tazhudinov shook his head as he left the mat, perhaps surprised himself by his lackluster performance.

"Honestly, I don't even know what went wrong," he said. "It means I wasn't well enough prepared. It means I wasn't in my best shape. It means I need to work even more."

Tazhudinov said he had difficulty preparing mentally for the bronze-medal bout after the loss to Azarpira.

"After the semifinal loss, I couldn't motivate myself at all for the bronze-medal match," he said. "I don't even know how I stepped onto the mat. I wasn't mentally ready to wrestle at all, and that's why the match was so difficult.

"But I will not give up -- I'll go home, work on my mistakes, and train even harder to come back stronger."