Tunisia Tops Egypt, Wins African Freestyle Team Title

Sunday, March 31, 2019 - 20:23 By Eric Olanowski

HAMMAMET, Tunisia (March 31) – Tunisia was one of three teams who entered into the final session of wrestling with a quartet of finalists, but their trio of gold medalists helped the host nation hoist the freestyle team trophy on the last day of wrestling in Hammamet’s Omni Sports Hall.

Tunisia, who finished with 183 points, had three champions and seven overall medalists who assisted them in narrowly edging Egypt (180 points) by three points for the tournaments top spot.

Ayoub BARRAJ (TUN) won his third consecutive African title with a win in the 79kg finals. (Photo: Kadir Caliskan)

Their trio of champions were Ayoub BARRAJ, Sabri MNASRIYA, and Mohamed SAADAOUI.

In the 79kg finals, two-time defending champion Ayoub Barraj dismantled Algeria’s Fateh BENFERDJALLAH, 10-0 and won his third consecutive title.

Tunisia’s second freestyle title of the day went to Sabri Minasriya who hung on to defeat Oussama REGANI (MAR), 2-1, in the 86kg finals. Their third and final championship performance came at 92kg where Mohamed Saadaoui shutout Egypt’s defending African champion Hosam MERGHANY, 6-0.

Egypt finished in second place, thanks to their three champions, Amr HUSSEN, Khaled ELMOATAMADAWI, and Khaled ABDALLA.

At 70kg, returning silver medalist Amr Hussen trailed 1-0 after the opening period but ignited for eight second period points before planting 2018 African bronze medalist Fares LAKEL (ALG) on his back for the fall.

Elmoatamadawi and Abdalla, the 97kg and 130kg winners respectively, went undefeated in their Nordic system tournaments, claiming Egypt’s second and third freestyle titles.

Abdelhak KHERBACHE won the 57kg gold medal and improved on his bronze-medal finish from a year ago. (Photo: Kadir Caliskan)

Algeria’s Abdelhak KHERBACHE claimed the 57kg title and helped his nation finishing in third place with 117 points. Kherbache improved on his bronze medal finish a season ago, winning his first continental title with a 3-1 victory over Chakir ANSARI (MAR) in the 57kg gold-medal bout.

Morocco, who had 117 points, and Nigeria, who had 90 points, rounded out the top-five of the freestyle team scores.

The Final Three Golds
The final three nations who had a solo gold-medal winner were Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, and Nigeria.

Senegal’s Adama DIATTA claimed his fifth consecutive African Championship title and tenth overall continental gold medal with a 12-0 thumping of Egypt’s Yasser AHMED in the 61kg finals.

In the 65kg finals, Guinea-Bissau’s Mbunde CUMBA MBALI easily claimed the gold medal with an 11-0 routing of Egypt’s Aly ABDELHAMID.

Lastly, in the 74kg gold-medal bout, two-time defending champion Ogbonna JOHN (NGR) put together a seven-point second period that went unanswered and won his third consecutive African title with a 7-1 victory over Tunisia’s Maher GHANMI.

What's Next?
The African Championships were the first senior-level continental championships of the year. The next continental championships are the European Championships, which begin April 8 in Bucharest, Romania.

RESULTS
Freestyle Team Scores
GOLD – Tunisia (183 points)
SILVER – Egypt (180 points)
BRONZE – Algeria (117 points)
Fourth – Morocco (90 points)
Fifth – Nigeria (63 points)

57kg
GOLD - Abdelhak KHERBACHE (ALG) df. Chakir ANSARI (MAR), 3-1
BRONZE - Gamal Abdelnaser Hanafy MOHAMED (EGY) df. Ebikewenimo WELSON (NGR), via inj. def.

61kg
GOLD – Adama DIATTA (SEN) df. Yasser Eshhata Abady AHMED (EGY), 12-0
BRONZE - Mohamed Al Amine LAKEL (ALG) df. Farouk JELASSI (TUN), 4-0

65kg
GOLD – Mbunde CUMBA MBALI (GBS) df. Aly Ibrahim Abdelhamid ABDELHAMID (EGY), 13-0
BRONZE - Reagan NDOMBASI MATADI (COD) df. DJEKOUNDAKOM DJERAYOM Elie (CHA), via forfeit
BRONZE - Kaireddine BEN TELILI (TUN) df. Chems BOUCHAIB (ALG), 16-6

70kg
GOLD – Fares LAKEL (ALG) df. Amr Reda Ramadan HUSSEN (EGY), 8-3
BRONZE - Rabii REGANI (MAR) df. Haithem DAKHLAOUI (TUN), via fall

74kg
GOLD – Ogbonna JOHN (NGR) df. Maher GHANMI (TUN), 8-1
BRONZE - Saifeldin ELKOUMY (EGY) df. Essam ELHAG (SUD), via forfeit
BRONZE - Augusto MIDANA (GBS) df. Kasimir MADJADOUM (CHA), 10-0

79kg
GOLD – Ayoub BARRAJ (TUN) df. Fateh BENFERDJALLAH (ALG), 10-0
BRONZE - Aboubakr GADELMAWLA (EGY) df. Alberto da Silva GUNZA (ANG), 15-5
BRONZE - Ekerekeme AGIOMOR (NGR) df. Zander GERINGER (RSA), 12-1

86kg
GOLD – Sabri MNASRIYA (TUN) df. Oussama REGANI (MAR), 2-1
BRONZE - Melvin BIBO (NGR) df. Blaise DIATTA (SEN), via fall
BRONZE - Bedopassa BUASSAT DJONDE (GBS) df. Nicolaas DE LANGE (RSA), 10-2

92kg
GOLD – Mohamed SAADAOUI (TUN) df. Hosam Mohamed Mostafa MERGHANY (EGY), 6-0
BRONZE - Aron Isomi MBO (COD) df. Francisco Nkunga NGONDA (ANG), 18-4
BRONZE - Mohammed FARDJ (ALG) df. Johan MOSTERT (RSA), 10-0

97kg (Round Robin)
GOLD – Khaled Masoud Ismail ELMOATAMADAWI (EGY)
SILVER – Meher DAHMANI (TUN)
BRONZE – Mohamed Saliou CAMARA (GUI)

125kg (Round Robin)
GOLD – Khaled Omr Zaki Mohamed ABDALLA (EGY)
SILVER – Abdelmoneim ADOULI (TUN)
BRONZE – Ahmed SEREHALI (MAR)

'I was destroyed, couldn't sleep': Ghasempour recalls painful loss to Sadulaev

Monday, March 10, 2025 - 10:53 By Vinay Siwach

TIRANA, Albania (March 10) -- "I've thought about it a lot. Of course, it's in the past and thinking about it won't change anything. But I've thought a lot about why I made a mistake in those four seconds and I could have managed the wrestling differently and finished it very easily."

Kamran GHASEMPOUR (IRI) stares at the empty walls of the interview room as he recalls the heartbreaking and shocking 5-3 loss to Abdulrashid SADULAEV (UWW) in the semifinal of the World Championships last October.

The images of Ghasempour holding his head in hands after the loss went viral on social media. Sadulaev was praised for his champion mindset and his ability to script a remarkable late turnaround. Ghasempour was consoled by his fans, who urged him to not lose heart.

Those comforting words felt hollow at that point and Ghasempour felt 'lost'.

"The reality is that the fighting spirit and the feeling I had on the first day of the competition caused all those feelings to disappear and I was destroyed. I couldn't control myself and I just wanted the competition to end and go back," Ghasmepour says, with his voice breaking as he recollects his thoughts.

For 5 minutes and 55 seconds, Ghasempour controlled the 92kg semifinal against Sadulaev, a two-time Olympic champion known for his must-win attitude. A loss would have reinforced the belief that the Sauldaev aura was fading. A win for Ghasempour, a two-time world champion at 92kg, would make him only the third wrestler to beat Sadulaev.

But with five seconds remaining, Sadulaev snapped the Iranian down, spun behind, then managed to fling him to the mat for a 4-point takedown.

Abdulrashid SADULAEV (UWW), behind, hits the match-winning takedown on Kamran GHASEMPOUR (IRI). (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

"It was also very difficult for me to come to terms with the loss," Ghasempour recalls. "After the match, I felt very bad and didn't sleep all night. I was awake from the intensity of thought and pressure, and it was very difficult for me. Due to the pressure I was under, I took four painkillers after the match."

A few hours of sleep was never going to be enough for Ghasempour to return for his bronze-medal bout against David TAYLOR (USA), which he lost 6-2.

Four months have passed since that day in Tirana, a city Ghasempour returned for the Muhamet Malo Ranking Series last week and captured the gold medal. Though not the World Championships and there was no Sadulaev in the field, Ghasempour managed to bring a smile on his face as he stood on the podium.

However, memories flashed back.

"When I was going up to the podium [after winning gold], I thought again that I could have been standing on the Worlds podium a few months ago, not this tournament," he said. "But that's how sports is, and if a professional athlete wants to continue their path, they must know that winning and losing are part of sports."

Kamran GHASEMPOUR (IRI) won the 92kg gold medal at the Muhamet Malo Ranking Series in February. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Kadir Caliskan)

Ghasempour did take comfort from the messages he received. Yet, he is unable to move on from those five seconds of lapse in concentration.

"People gave me a lot of good energy and praised me constantly, which shows the kindness of the people," he says. "But what I wanted didn't happen and the result wasn't as I wanted. It would have been better if it ended with a good result."

As the new Olympic cycle begins, Ghasempour wants to make amends. There will be many pit stops before he can be at his first Olympics and he wants to capture every gold medal that comes his way.

"There are three more World Championships left before the Olympics [in 2028]," he says. "The World Championships are very important to me, and after that, it's the Olympic medal that I want to have in my medal showcase. In the year leading up to the Olympics, I will make the decision and compete in a weight class so that I can participate in the Olympics."

Tunisia Tops Egypt, Wins African Freestyle Team Title

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'I was destroyed, couldn't sleep': Ghasempour recalls painful loss to Sadulaev