Rahimi, Lebedev, 57kg, World Championships

UNSTOPPABLE SADULAEV!

Monday, September 8, 2014 - 04:03 By Tim Foley

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Russia Wins Two, Yang Bags Bantamweight Crown in World Championship Freestyle

TASHKENT (September 8) – Russia won two gold medals and added a bronze on the first day of men’s freestyle at the World Championship while Turkey carried a complete set of gold, silver and bronze, led by super heavyweight champion Taha AKGUL (TUR).

But, it was bantamweight YANG Kyong-Il who emerged from the battle of former world champions to claim the 57kg crown and claim his second world title after winning the 55kg title in 2009.

Yang triumphed over European champion and top-ranked Vladimir KHINCHEGASHVILI (GEO) in the final after overcoming a five-point deficit in the semifinals to defeat defending champ Hassan RAHIMI (IRI). In the quarterfinals, Rahimi pinned 2010 and 2011 world champ Viktor LEBEDEV (RUS) in the quarters.

PHOTO ALBUM

Russia’s two winners Khetik TSABOLOV (RUS) at 70kg and Abdulrashid SADULAEV (RUS) both opened their championship bouts with fireman’s carry throws and wrapped up their first world championship titles in the first period.

Tsabolov dropped Yakup GOR (TUR) off the whistle to begin their bout and rolled up a 10-0 win at 1:45.  Sadulaev, meanwhile, scored with a quick carry, then a tilt on his way to a 10-0 triumph at 1:25 over Reineris SALAS PEREZ (CUB).

Akgul, a bronze medalist last year Budapest, capped the evening with a 4-3 win over Asia champion Komeil GHASEMI (IRI) to become Turkey’s first freestyle world champion since 2007, when Ramazan SHAHIN (TUR) won the 66kg in Baku.

Earlier, Khadshimourad GATSALOV (RUS) came up short in his bid for a seventh world-level title when he ran out of gas in the 125kg semifinals and fell 5-4 to Ghasemi. Gatsalov, however, bounced back in the bronze medal final, pinning Aleksander KHOTSIANIVSKI (UKR) in 45 seconds.

Summary of the medal finals:

57kg – Trailing 2-3 in the second period, Yang rolled Khinchegashvili with a front headlock and turn for a 4-3 lead, but also appeared to be stopped on his back. No challenge came from the Geogian’s corner and the bout ended with a force-out point for Yang.

In the bronze medal finals, deposed champion Rahimi trailed on criteria to 2010 Youth Olympics champion Yuki TAKAHASHi (JPN), but rallied with a low-single and a force-out for a 7-4 win. Vladislav ANDREEV (BLR) scored the final point in a 1-1 bout with ERDENEBAT Bekhbayar (MGL) for the win.

GOLD:  Kyong Il YANG (PRK) df. Vladimer KHINCHEGASHVILI (GEO), 5-3 
BRONZE: Uladzislau ANDREYEU (BLR) df. Bekhbayar ERDENEBAT (MGL), 1-1
BRONZE: Hassan Sabzali RAHIMI (IRI) df. Yuki TAKAHASHI (JPN), 7-4

Semifinal: Vladimer KHINCHEGASHVILI (GEO) df. Bekhbayar ERDENEBAT (MGL), 6-3  
Semifinal: Kyong Il YANG (PRK) df. Hassan Sabzali RAHIMI (IRI), 5-5 

 

70kg – Tsabolov scored four points off an arm-and-leg throw for four and cruised to the gold medal with the technical fall over Gor.

Local favorite Bekzod ABDURAKHMANOV (UZB) had fans on the edge of their seats with his counter-style of wrestling and a 7-3 win over Zalimkhan YUSUPOV (TJK). Ali SHABANOV (BLR) won his second world bronze medal with a 13-1 technical fall over Cleopas NCUBE (CAN). 

Interview with Bekzod ABDURAKHMONOV (UZB)

GOLD: Khetik TSABOLOV (RUS) df. Yakup GOR (TUR) by TF, 10-0
BRONZE: Ali SHABANAU (BLR) df. Cleopas NCUBE (CAN) by TF, 11-1
BRONZE: Bekzod ABDURAKHMONOV (UZB) df. Zalimkhan YUSUPOV (TJK), 7-3 

Semifinal: Khetik TSABOLOV (RUS) df. Ali SHABANAU (BLR) by TF, 11-0  
Semifinal: Yakup GOR (TUR) df. Zalimkhan YUSUPOV (TJK), 7-0

 

86kg – Sadulaev appeared to stun 2013 world silver medalist Salas Perez with his early throw and never allowed his opponent to recover with tilts and a go-behind to finished the bout.

In the bronze medal bouts, Selim YASAR (TUR) scored with a single-leg early and added a counter takedown in the second for a 5-2 win over Asia silver medalist Azlan KAKHIDZE (KAZ). After a slow start, Mohammad Hossein MOHAMMADIAN (IRI) pulled away from Gamzat OSMANOV (AZE) for an 11-2 win.

GOLD: Abdulrashid SADULAEV (RUS) df. Reineris SALAS (CUB) by TF, 10-0 
BRONZE: Mohammadhossein Askari MOHAMMADIAN (IRI) df. Gamzat OSMANOV (AZE) by TF, 11-1
BRONZE: Selim YASAR (TUR) df. Aslan KAKHIDZE (KAZ), 5-2

Semifinal: Reineris SALAS (CUB) df. Gamzat OSMANOV (AZE),1-0
Semifinal: Abdulrashid SADULAEV (RUS) df. Aslan KAKHIDZE (KAZ) by TF, 10-0

 

125kg – Akgul received two penalty points and worked a low-single attack for a 4-0 lead and then held on for a 4-3 win, with Ghasemi on his leg in the closing seconds.

In the bronze medals bouts, Gatsalov used an inside-leg trip to drop Khotsianivski to his back and then press for the fall at 0:45. Tervel DLAGNEV (USA) scored a first period takedown and held off 2011 world champ Aleksey SHEMAROV (BLR) for his first world medal since 2009.

Interview with Tervel DLAGNEV

GOLD: Taha AKGUL (TUR) df. Komil GHASEMI (IRI), 4-3
BRONZE: Tervel Ivaylov DLAGNEV (USA) df. Alexei SHEMAROV (BLR), 2-1 
BRONZE: Khadzhimurat GATCALOV (RUS) df. Oleksandr KHOTSIANIVSKYI (UKR) by FALL

Semifinal: Taha AKGUL (TUR) df. Alexei SHEMAROV (BLR), 8-1.  
Semifinal: Komil GHASEMI (IRI) df. Khadzhimurat GATCALOV (RUS), 5-4.  

 

#JapanWrestling

Paris Olympic Champ Sakurai Retires at Age 24

Sunday, April 5, 2026 - 09:12 By Ken Marantz

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TOKYO (April 4) -- Having never really regained the motivation that led her to achieve her ultimate goal of an Olympic gold, Tsugumi SAKURAI (JPN) has decided to retire at the tender age of 24.

Sakurai, the women’s 57kg champion at the Paris Olympics, has announced that she will hang up her singlet and begin a second career nurturing a new generation of wrestlers and serving as a goodwill ambassador of sports for her native Kochi Prefecture in western Japan.

“After 21 continuous years, I feel I have reached the cutoff point of my wrestling career, so I have decided to retire,” Sakurai said at a press conference Friday at the Kochi Prefecture government office.

“I gave everything I had for the Olympics, and I was able to experience the feeling of achievement and the ultimate joy. It's difficult to win the Olympics without determination. I couldn't get back to the mindset I had before Paris. That is the biggest reason [for retiring].”

Known for her steely aggressiveness belying a quiet demeanor, and a wicked use of a 2-on-1 arm bar, Sakurai prefaced her triumph in Paris by winning three consecutive world titles, at 55kg in 2021 and back-to-back golds at 57kg in 2022 and 2023.

A U17 world champion in 2016, she won golds at the Asian Championships and Asian Games in 2022 and 2023, respectively, but suffered the second of just two career international losses at the 2024 Asian Championships, where she fell to Yongxian FENG (CHN) in the final.

She bounced back five months later for her crowning achievement in Paris, where she defeated 2016 Rio Olympic champion Helen MAROULIS (USA) 10-4 in the semifinals, then took the gold with a 6-0 victory over Anastasia NICHITA (MDA) in a rematch of the 2023 world final.

Making the win in Paris even more special was the fact that not only did Sakurai strike gold, but so did another Japanese wrestler who started the sport together with her at the kids wrestling club in Kochi run by her father.

Kotaro KIYOOKA (JPN), the freestyle 65kg champion in his Olympic debut, and Sakurai became the toast of Kochi, a rural prefecture fronting the Pacific on the island of Shikoku. They were paraded through the streets of the prefectural capital of Kochi City and hailed as heroes.

Like almost all of Japan’s medalists in Paris, the two took time off from the sport to run the gauntlet of TV interviews and variety shows, and just chill out in general. Sakurai, who returned to Kochi and started graduate studies in sport sciences at Kochi University, was particularly slow in returning to the mat.

In what would prove to be her first – and last – competition after Paris, she won the 57kg title at the second-tier Japan Women’s Open in October 2025, ostensibly to qualify for the Emperor’s Cup All-Japan Championships the following December. That would be the starting point for domestic qualifying for major global tournaments.

But Sakurai never made it to the Emperor’s Cup, and has now fully turned the corner on a new career.

“Over the past year, this decision was made after talking to many people, fretting about it, and thinking things through,” she said.

Sakurai said that as an extension of her father’s Kochi Wrestling Club, she wants to run a series of clinics outside of the city, mainly in her hometown of Konan just to the east of Kochi, to expose more children to wrestling and help it grow.

“Aside from wrestling, I'm learning so many things in graduate school right now, so I want to acquire a wide range of knowledge so that I can give back to Kochi Prefecture properly,” Sakurai said. “I think there will be various problems when I put things into practice, so I want to acquire solid knowledge so that I can solve those problems.”

Fans at this week’s Asian Championships in Bishkek will see another product of the Kochi Wrestling Club in action in Moe KIYOOKA (JPN), Kotaro’s younger sister and a former world champion who will be looking to add the 53kg gold to the one she won at 55kg in 2024. She and Sakurai were also teammates at Ikuei University.

And the name Sakurai might soon be appearing on the world stage again. Her younger sister, Tsukino SAKURAI (JPN), won the Asian U15 title last year.