Freestyle World Cup

USA, Azerbaijan Finish 2-0 on Day 1 of Freestyle World Cup

Saturday, April 7, 2018 - 23:12 By United World Wrestling Press

Share this article

IOWA CITY (April 7) - The United States of America freestyle wrestling team, led by Olympic champions Kyle SNYDER and Jordan BURROUGHS, fed off the home crowd on the opening day of the Freestyle World Cup, picking up two convincing victories. 

USA opened the two-day competition with a 10-0 shutout over India in the Saturday morning session. The Americans outscored their opposition 54-3 in the dual meet and registered seven technical falls. 

In the afternoon session, USA faced a hungry Japan team fresh off beating Georgia 7-3. The dual meet opened with a rematch of last year's gold-medal match at 57kg between Yuki TAKAHASHI (JPN) and Thomas GILMAN (USA). Gilman scored first off a passivity in the opening period, but Takahashi scored two takedowns in the final 1:30 to take the victory, 4-1.

Japan rode the momentum created by Takahashi to get victories at 61kg and 65kg by Kazuya KOYANAGI and Takuto OTOGURO respectively to grab a 3-0 lead. Otoguro's victory came over 2016 world champion Logan STIEBER, 10-5. 

James GREEN, a two-time world medalist, stopped the bleeding for the Americans as he held on to defeat Kirin KINOSHITA 8-5. Green led 6-0 early in the match, but Kinoshita battled back to keep it competitive. 

But it was all USA the rest of the way. Burroughs (74kg), Kyle DAKE (79kg), David TAYLOR (86kg), J'den COX (92kg), Snyder (97kg) and Nick GWIAZDOWSKI (125 kg) claimed victories to give USA a 7-3 victory over Japan. 


Burroughs, a four-time world champion and 2012 Olympic champion, improved his Freestyle World Cup record to 25-0 with his two victories on Saturday. 

"I've wrestled in a lot of World Cups, but I've never been a part of a team that's won it," Burroughs said. "I really want to win this thing. Our team is competing at a high level. It’s our time. I don’t think there is anybody in the world that can compete with what we’ve got going on right now."

USA is looking to capture its 14th Freestyle World Cup title, but first since 2003. 

In Pool B, Azerbaijan finished 2-0 on the opening day of the Freestyle Cup. 


In arguably the most anticipated dual meet of the morning session, Azerbaijan dominated Cuba, winning eight of 10 matches. Azerbaijan opened with victories at 57kg and 61kg. Alejandro VALDES TOBIER (CUB) picked up perhaps the most impressive win of the day, earning a fall over three-time world champ Haji ALIYEV (AZE) at 65kg. The Cuban had built an 8-2 lead prior to the fall. 

After Valdes Tobier's victory, Azerbaijan claimed victories in six of the final seven matches to win the dual meet 8-2. 

Azerbaijan followed up its victory over Cuba with a 9-1 win over Kazakhstan.

Wrestling is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. CT on Sunday. The bronze-medal match is slated for 2:15 p.m., while the gold-medal match is set for 4 p.m. 

Saturday Results

10 a.m. 
USA 10, India 0
Mongolia 6, Kazakhstan 4

11:15 a.m.
Japan 7, Georgia 3 
Azerbaijan 8, Cuba 2

2:30 p.m.
USA 7, Japan 3

4:30 p.m.
Cuba 7, Mongolia 3

5:45 p.m. 
Georgia 8, India 2
Azerbaijan 9, Kazakhstan 1

Pool A:
USA 2-0
Japan 1-1
Georiga 1-1
India 0-2

Pool B:
Azerbaijan 2-0
Cuba 1-1
Mongolia 1-1
Kazakhstan 0-2

Sunday Schedule

10 a.m. - 6 p.m. - Session III
10 a.m. - USA vs. Georgia on Mat A, Mongolia vs. Azerbaijan on Mat B
11:15 a.m. - Japan vs. India on Mat A, Cuba vs. Kazakhstan on Mat B
12:30 p.m. - 5th Place Match at Mat A, 7th Place Match on Mat B
2:15 p.m. - Bronze Medal Match on Mat A
4 p.m. - Gold Medal Match on Mat A
 

#WrestleZagreb

Tazhudinov in search for answers despite bronze medal

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

Share this article

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."