#WrestleIstanbul

WATCH: Ten Freestyle Finals from #WrestleIstanbul

By United World Wrestling Press

ISTANBUL, Turkey (March 5) -- The freestyle competition at the Yasar Dogu Ranking Series event saw Turkey win the team title with three gold medals.

Kyrgyzstan finished second while the USA was third in the team rankings in Istanbul.

Five-time world champion Jordan BURROUGHS (USA) was once again a gold winner at a Ranking Series event while Taha AKGUL (TUR) won the 125kg after bronze medals at the Tokyo Olympics and World Championships.

GOLD: 57kg - Beka BUJIASHVILI (GEO) vs Almaz SMANBEKOV (KGZ)

 

GOLD: 61kg - Ravi KUMAR (IND) vs Gulomjon ABDULLAEV (UZB)

 

GOLD: 65kg - Zagir SHAKHIEV (RWF) vs Shamil MAMEDOV (RWF)

 

GOLD: 70kg - James GREEN (USA) vs Amir YAZDANI (IRI)

 

GOLD: 74kg - Fazli ERYILMAZ (TUR) vs Soner DEMIRTAS (TUR)

 

GOLD: 79kg - Jordan BURROUGHS (USA) vs Chance MARSTELLER (USA)

 

GOLD: 86kg - Osman GOCEN (TUR) vs Fatih ERDIN (TUR)

 

GOLD: 92kg - Ahmad BAZRIGHALEH (IRI) vs Erhan YAYLACI (TUR)

 

GOLD: 97kg - Alikhan ZHABRAILOV (RWF) vs Mohammad MOHAMMADIAN (IRI)

 

GOLD: 125kg - Taha AKGUL (TUR) vs Lkhagvagerel MUNKHTUR (MGL)

#WrestleZagreb

WATCH: Chasing 97kg gold

By United World Wrestling Press

ZAGREB, Croatia (November 3) -- The 97kg weight class at the World Championships in Zagreb saw all four Paris Olympic medalists entered with Akhmed TAZHUDINOV (BRN), defending world champion, as the favorite to win the gold medal in Zagreb.

Apart from Tazhudinov, the field included silver medalist from Paris and European champion Givi MATCHARASHVILI (GEO), Paris bronze medalists Magomedkhan MAGOMEDOV (AZE) and Amirali AZARPIRA (IRI), world and Olympic champion Kyle SNYDER (USA), Asian champion Arash YOSHIDA (JPN) and multiple elite wrestlers.

WATCH THE FULL VIDEO DOCUMENTERY HERE

Magomedov and Matcharashvili bowed out early the semifinals pairs were -- Tazhudinov vs Azarpira and Snyder vs Yoshida.

Azarpira knocked off Tazhudinov with a thrilling win in the semifinals and Snyder used his experience to beat Yoshida to enter the final against Azarpira who had defeated him in Paris in the bronze-medal bout.

Snyder and Azapira squared off in the final with the latter taking early lead but the Snyder, the machine he is, came back and defeated the Iranian 4-2, winning his fourth gold medal at the World Championships.

Tazhudinov and Yoshida went on to win the bronze medals on offer, finishing the podium in one of the premium weight classes in the world.