#DanKolov2019

United States and China Claim Dan Kolov Team Titles

Sunday, March 3, 2019 - 13:36 By Eric Olanowski

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RUSE, Bulgaria (March 3) – Olympic champion Kyle SNYDER sealed the Dan Kolov team title for the United States (147 points) with a 4-0 shutout win over Ukraine’s Valerii ANDRIITSEV in the 97kg gold-medal bout. 

In the finals, Snyder won the position battle and capitalized on four one-point exchanges to join fellow Americans Jordan BURROUGHS and Alex DIEREINGER as Dan Kolov freestyle champions. 

 

A second Olympic champion also claimed a gold medal on the fourth and final day of wrestling in Ruse, Bulgaria. 

Iran’s Rio Olympic champion Hassan YAZDANICHARATI (IRI) obliterated four-time world medalist Ali SHABANAU (BLR), 16-5 in the 86kg finals and won his first Ranking Series gold medal. Yazdani’s smothering pace and left side underhook proved to be too much for the Belarusian, as he gave up a pair of four-point moves, two takedowns, and a quartet of step-outs.

Iran’s 2018 world bronze medalist Parviz HADI (IRI) closed out the tournament and handed Iran their second gold medal of the night, when he edged Oleksandr KHOTSIANIVSKYI (UKR), 6-4, for the 125kg gold. 

Hadi trailed 3-0 but scored six unanswered points from a takedown and a four-point throw off a high crotch to gain the 6-3 lead. Hadi surrendered a late step out, but his two-point cushion was still enough to give him the win and his first Ranking Series title. 

It’s also worth noting that Hadi had to win back-to-back matches over returning world medalist just to make it to the finals. He defeated China’s returning world finalist Zhiwei DENG (CHN), 8-4, and followed that up with a 5-2 win over two-time world bronze medalist Nicholas GWIAZDOWSKI (USA). 

The United States won the freestyle team title, finishing 32 points ahead of second place Russia (115 points), and 47 points ahead of the bronze-medal winners Turkey. Ukraine (88 points) and Georgia (80 points) rounded out the top-5 respectively. 

In women’s wrestling, PANG Qianyu (CHN) and RONG Ningning (CHN) carried China to the team title with their gold-medal performance on the final day of wrestling in Ruse. 

In the 53kg finals, Pang Qianyu trailed India’s Vinesh VINESH (IND) 2-0 after the opening frame but scored nine unanswered points and gave China their first Dan Kolov women’s wrestling title of the weekend.

On her lone scoring sequence of the match, Pang grabbed a takedown from a high-level shot and fell right into a left side trapped arm gut wrench. The Chinese wrestler rolled Vinesh with a trio of gut wrenches and gained control of the match, 8-2. A failed Indian challenge brought the score to 9-2, which is where the 53kg gold medal bout ended. 

 

Reigning world champion Rong Ninging handed China their second gold medal of the day when she avenged her U23 world championship loss to Norway’s Grace BULLEN and picked up the fall in the 57kg finals. 

Rong was shutting out the Norwegian wrestler 4-0 before stopping a throw attempt and scoring the fall. 

The third women’s wrestling gold medalist on the fourth and final day of wrestling in Ruse was Iwona MATKOWSKA (POL), who defeated America's Erin GOLSTON (USA), 4-1, in the 50kg finals. 

China won the women's wrestling team title, finishing 20 points ahead of second place Ukraine (92 points), and 35 points in front of third-place the United States (77 points). Turkey (75 points) and India (65 points) finished in fourth and fifth places respectively. 

For news, highlights, interviews, and behind the scenes clips, make sure you’re following United World Wrestling on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. 

RESULTS 

Freestyle 
GOLD - United States (147 points)
SILVER - Russia (115 points)
BRONZE - Turkey(100 points)
Fourth - Ukraine (88 points)
Fifth - Georgia (80 points)

86kg 
GOLD - Hassan YAZDANICHARATI (IRI) df. Ali SHABANAU (BLR), 16-5 
BRONZE - Boris MAKOEV (SVK) df. Azamat DAULETBEKOV (KAZ), 4 - 4
BRONZE - Akhmed AIBUEV (FRA) df. Fatih ERDIN (TUR), via inj. def.

97kg 
GOLD - Kyle Frederick SNYDER (USA) df. Valerii ANDRIITSEV (UKR), 4-0 
BRONZE - Reza YAZDANI (IRI) df. Igor OVSIANNIKOV (RUS), 8 - 4
BRONZE - Murazi MCHEDLIDZE (UKR) df. Baki SAHIN (TUR), 10-0

125kg 
GOLD - Parviz HADI (IRI) df. Oleksandr KHOTSIANIVSKYI (UKR), 6-4 
BRONZE - Daniel LIGETI (HUN) df. DENG Zhiwei (CHN), 6-1 
BRONZE - Said GAMIDOV (RUS) df. Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO), via inj. def. 

Women’s Wrestling 
GOLD - China (112 points)
SILVER - Ukraine (92 points)
BRONZE - United States (77 points)
Fourth - Turkey (75 points)
Fifth - India (65 points)

50kg 
GOLD - Iwona Nina MATKOWSKA (POL) df. Erin Simone GOLSTON (USA), 4-1 
BRONZE - Whitney CONDER (USA) df. Victoria Lacey ANTHONY (USA), 4 - 0
BRONZE - Evin DEMIRHAN (TUR) df. Dauletbike YAKHSHIMURATOVA (UZB), 13-6

53kg 
GOLD - PANG Qianyu (CHN) df. Vinesh VINESH (IND), 9-2 
BRONZE - Vanesa KALADZINSKAYA (BLR) df. Juan DENG (CHN), via fall 
BRONZE - Sarah Ann HILDEBRANDT (USA) df. Amy Ann FEARNSIDE (USA), 6-4 

57kg 
GOLD - RONG Ningning (CHN) df. Grace Jacob BULLEN (NOR), via fall 
BRONZE - Odunayo ADEKUOROYE (NGR) df. Sara Johanna LINDBORG (SWE), 10 - 0
BRONZE - Iryna KURACHKINA (BLR) df. Bilyana Zhivkova DUDOVA (BUL), 8-2 

#JapanWrestling

Tokyo silver medalist Fumita dealt setback on path to Paris Olympics

Tuesday, June 13, 2023 - 10:20 By Ken Marantz

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TOKYO (June 13) -- The path to the 2024 Paris Olympics just got a little bumpier for Tokyo silver medalist Kenichiro FUMITA.

Fumita, the runner-up in Tokyo and a two-time former world champion at Greco 60kg, has pulled out of the upcoming Meiji Cup All-Japan Invitational Championships, Japan's second domestic qualifying tournament for this year's World Championships.

Fumita revealed on his Twitter account that he suffered a torn hamstring and had withdrawn from the Meiji Cup, to be held June 15-18 in Tokyo. That means for him to make Japan's team to the Belgrade worlds, he will have to beat the Meiji Cup champion in a playoff on July 1.

The 27-year-old Fumita wrote that he had undergone treatment for the injury but had decided it was best to play it safe by pulling out of the Meiji Cup, and would "aim to earn a place at the World Championshps in the playoff."

Last December, Fumita won the title at the Emperor's Cup All-Japan Championships, the first of the two domestic qualifiers for the World Championships. He could have secured his ticket to Belgrade with a title at the Meiji Cup, but now will have to rely on a victory in the winner-take-all playoff.

For Japanese wrestlers in Olympic weight classes, getting to Belgrade takes on additional significance. The 2023 worlds offers the first qualifying spots for the 2024 Paris Olympics, and a medal in an Olympic weight class will earn a Japanese wrestler an automatic ticket to Paris.

Of course, should Fumita lose the playoff or not be recovered enough to take part, there is no assurance that the wrestler who earns the spot will win a medal in Belgrade. In that case, then Fumita would have another chance by representing Japan at the Olympic qualifiers in 2024.

But that means leaving his fate in others' hands. It seems likely he will be on the mat for the playoff, even if he is not at 100 percent.

The injury spoiled what had been a productive run for Fumita since the Tokyo Olympics, where he was left in tears after losing in the final to Luis ORTA SANCHEZ (CUB). After that, he won the title at the Wladyslaw Pytlasinski Cup in Warsaw in July 2022, then took a bronze medal the following September at the World Championships in Belgrade, adding to his golds from 2017 and 2019.

At the Emperor's Cup, the link to the Paris Olympics led to a funnelling of top wrestlers into the Olympic weight classes, and Fumita fended off all comers at 60kg to win his fourth national title and first since 2020.

The weight class includes Maito KAWANA and Ayata SUZUKI, Asian bronze medalists in 2023 and 2022, respectively, and Yu SHIOTANI, the Asian champion and world bronze medalist at 55kg in 2022. Also looking to fill the hole left by Fumita is Kaito INABA, who finished seventh at the world U23 in 2022 -- he threw Fumita for a rare 4 in a 7-4 quarterfinal loss at the Emperor's Cup.