Weekly FIVE!

Weekly FIVE! July 16, 2018

By Eric Olanowski

Discussing Olympic champ Wiebe defeating three-time world champ Gray and Mattsson's return. Also taking a look at Fix making his third Junior World team and much more! 

1. Olympic Champ Wiebe Defeats Three-time World Champ Gray 
Erica WIEBE (CAN), the 2016 Olympic champion defeated three-time world champion Adeline GRAY (USA), 6-5, seizing the 76kg Spanish Grand Prix title. 

Though these two were in the same bracket at the first Ranking Series event of the year, the Klippan Lady Open, they did not meet as Wiebe was “knocked off” by reigning world champion Yasemin ADAR (TUR) in the opening round. Gray went on to claim the gold medal, defeating Adar, 9-6

Assuming 2018 European champion Adar makes Turkey’s world squad, with its combined five world and Olympic titles from Adar, Gray, and Wiebe, 76kg may be the deepest weight class of the tournament. 

Spanish Grand Prix Results

Sofia MATTSSON (SWE), Olympic bronze medalist made her return last weekend and claimed the Spanish Grand Prix title. (Photo by Gabor Martin) 

2. Mattsson Makes Return, Wins Spanish Grand Prix 
Sofia MATTSSON (SWE), who gave birth in November made her international return after an 18-month layoff, winning the 55kg Spanish Grand Prix gold medal. 

“The toughest part (about the layoff) has been the struggle to adjust my life to new routines and realize that my life has changed forever….But, I can still be an elite wrestler, I just need to do it in a different way.” 

Since grabbing the bronze medal at the Rio Olympic Games, Mattsson's only competition was the 2017 Indian Pro League. The seven-time world and Olympic medalist made her return this weekend and capped off her gold medal run by beating Marina SEDNEVA (KAZ), grabbing her first gold medal since the 2016 European Championships. 

“Of course I was nervous stepping out on the mat. Normally when I compete, I expect a lot from myself. But this week, I went here without any expectations and was just happy to be back on the mat to get a couple of matches. With these thoughts in my head, I think it gave me a very relaxed and positive mindset which worked out in a very good way!” 

3. Reigning World Champion Fix makes Third Consecutive World Team 
Daton FIX (USA), the reigning junior world champion stormed through Brandon COURTNEY (USA) in two straight matches of the special wrestle-off to lock up his third consecutive Junior World team spot.

Fix, the two-time junior world medalist is coming off a Final X second-place finish after losing to 2017 world runner-up, Thomas GILMAN (USA). USA Wrestling said Fix was awarded a special wrestle-off  “Because Fix is a returning World Team member, placed top-three at the Senior U.S. Open and earned a spot in Final X, he was afforded the opportunity for a delayed wrestle-off for the world team spot.” 

4. India Set to Host Asian Junior Championships July 17-22 
The I.G. Sports Complex in New Delhi, India is set to host the 2018 Junior Asian Championships starting on July 17. 

This is the second junior continental championship (Junior African Championships) but is the first of three that will take place over the next month. 

The Junior European Championships begin July 30 and will be followed by the Junior Pan-American Championships which take place August 17-19.

FULL SCHEDULE

Turkey's Olympic champion, Taha AKGUL (TUR). (Photo by Max Rose-Fyne) 

5. Yasar Dogu, the Third Freestyle Ranking Series Event Begins Next Weekend 
Istanbul, Turkey is set to host the 46th Annual Yasar Dogu International on July 27-29. 

On June 8, United World Wrestling announced that the tournament has been named a Ranking Series event in men’s freestyle wrestling after the South African Open was canceled due to a lack of early sign-ups. 

Weekly FIVE! In Social Media 

1. ? ? ? ? ?

2. It takes SIX full minutes. #kaspeuro2018

3. Lots of great training and fun at the 2018 More Than Medals training camp here in Zagreb, Croatia ??.
#unitedworldwrestling #wrestling#trainingcamp #fitness #uww

4. Inside look at Team Iran ?? training! Notice anything about the colors of the five circles around the mats? نگاهی به کمپ تمرینی ایران. به رنگ پنج دایره تشکهای کشتی دقت کرده اید؟

5. We’re 98 days out from the #Budapest2018 World Championships. We highlight today with this memorable throw from reigning 98kg world champion, Artur ALEKSANYAN ??.

Weekly FIVE!

Weekly FIVE! March 26, 2019

By Eric Olanowski

Discussing Russia's European C'ship lineups and the 12 reigning world champions who will compete in Bucharest. Also looking at the U23 Asian C'ship results and this week's African C'ships and Hollywood Wrestles Bollywood. 

1. World Champs Sadulaev, Sidakov, and Uguev to Sit Out European C'ships
Registration for the 2019 European Championships has closed, and the Russian Federation has elected to sit out the majority of their No. 1 wrestlers. The reasoning behind the decision to sit their top wrestlers seems to be they'll be preparing for the European Games, which take place June 25-30 in Minsk, Belarus.

Most notably, reigning world champions Abdulrashid SADULAEV, Zaurbek SIDAKOV, and Zaur UGUEV will sit out of the European Championships. Muslim SADULAEV, Magomed KURBANALIEV, and Vladislav BAITCAEV will be replacing the defending world champions at 57kg, 74kg, and 97kg respectively. 

This will be Muslim Sadulaev's first trip to the European Championships, but Kurbanaliev and Baitcaev both represented Russia at last year’s European Championships, where they reached the top of the podium and claimed gold medals.

*The European Championships happen yearly, while the European Games only happen every four years.

Russia’s European Lineup
57kg - Muslim SADULAEV
61kg - Magomedrasul IDRISOV
65kg - Nachyn KUULAR
70kg - Magomedrasul GAZIMAGOMEDOV
74kg - Magomed KURBANALIEV
79kg - Akhmed GADZHIMAGOMEDOV
86kg - Dauren KURUGLIEV
92kg - Magomed KURBANOV
97kg - Vladislav BAITCAEV
125kg - Anzor KHIZRIEV

2. Iran and Mongolia Capture Titles at First U23 Asian Championships
The host country Mongolia captured the women’s wrestling title at the first edition of the U23 Asian Championships, while Iran shined, winning team titles in both freestyle and Greco-Roman.

In women’s wrestling, the host country Mongolia won four gold medals and captured the team title. India also won four gold medals, and the other two titles went to Kazakhstan and Chinese Taipei.

Iran claimed the freestyle and Greco-Roman team titles. 

In freestyle, Iran had seven finalists and ended up taking home four golds to win the team title with 200 points (4 gold, three silver, two bronze).

In Greco-Roman, Iran battled Kyrgyzstan but ultimately came out on top of the team race. 

Both countries had four golds and two bronze medal winners, but Iran grabbed one more silver medal and captured the title with 202 points (four gold, three silver, two bronze). Kyrgyzstan placed second with 182 points (four gold, two silver, two bronze), and Kazakhstan came third with 167 points (two gold, two silver, three bronze).

FULL RESULTS

3. African Championship Underway in Tunisia
The African Championships kicked off Monday in Hammamet, Tunisia, and will last until Sunday (March 31). 

The cadets and juniors wrestle until Thursday, and the senior-level competition begins on Friday. 

The African Championships will be the first senior-level continental championships where the revamped point system will be used. The winner of the continental championships will receive 12 Ranking Series points, with the second, third, fifth, seventh, and eighth-place finishers receiving 10, 8, 6, 4, and 2 points respectively. 

In addition to the placement points, wrestlers will also receive additional entry points based on the number of wrestlers in their brackets. 

For weight categories with 10 or fewer entries, an additional six (6) points will be added. For categories with 11-20 wrestlers entered an additional eight (8) points will be added. Ten (10) points will be added to any weight category with more than 20 entries.

SCHEDULE 

4. Hollywood Wrestles Bollywood This Sunday 
Women's Wrestling stars from the United States and India will battle each other on Sunday in the 'Hollywood Wrestles Bollywood' at Los Angles' historic Wiltern Theater.

According to www.beatthestreets-la.org, "The dual will be a part of Beat the Streets Los Angeles’ 5th Annual Benefit and International Competition, which is a yearly fundraising and awareness event for the LA-based wrestling non-profit."

There will be eleven top-15 ranked wrestlers in action, with six of those being ranked in the top-5 of the latest world rankings. (The latest rankings can be found on www.unitedworldwrestling.org 's homepage) 

Of the ten star-studded bouts, the most intriguing matchup comes at 53kg, where returning world runner-up and top-ranked Sarah HILDEBRANDT (USA) will take on No. 11 Vinesh VINESH (IND). 

This will be a rematch of last month’s Dan Kolov semifinals, where Vinesh stuck Hildebrant to put herself in the Ranking Series tournament finals. She ultimately fell to China's PANG Qianyu in the finals. 

The dual starts at 15:00 on March 31. 

United States vs. India 
50kg: No. 15 Whitney CONDER vs. Sheetal TOMAR 
53kg: No. 1 Sarah HILDEBRANDT vs. No. 11 Vinesh VINESH
55kg: No. 6 Jacarra WINCHESTER vs. Pinki PINKI
57kg: Jenna BURKERT vs. No. 6 Pooja DHANDA
59kg: Alli RAGAN vs. No. 4 Sarita SARITA
62kg: No. 5 Mallory VELTE vs. Sakshi MALIK  
65kg: No. 2 Forrest MOLINARI vs. Navjot KAUR 
68kg: No. 2 Tamyra MENSAH vs. Divya KAKRAN 
72kg: Rachel WATTERS vs. No. 12 (at 76kg) Kiran KIRAN 
76kg: No. 1 Adeline GRAY vs. Sudesh SUDESH

Reigning world and European champion Petra Maarit OLLI (FIN) is set to compete at the 2019 European Championships. She'll wrestle her world championship weight of 65kg. 

5. European Championships Begin April 8 
The most dominant wrestling continent on the plant, Europe, begins its continental championships on April 8. The early registration closed and of last year's eighteen defending world champions who hailed from Europe, 12 are set to compete in Bucharest, Romania. 

The three women's wrestling European world champions will wrestle, but only two of the five freestyle world champions have entered their names into the field. As mentioned above, Russia's Abdulrashid Sadualev, Zaurbek Sidakov, and Zaur Uguev are the reigning freestyle world gold medalists who won't make the trip to Romania.

Of the ten European Greco-Roman world champions, seven will wrestle in Bucharest. The three who won't be in action will be Peter BACSI (HUN), Aleksander CHEKHIRKIN (RUS), and Frank STAEBLER (GER). 

Though Russia will be without 77kg Greco-Roman world champion Aleksander Chekhirkin, they've entered two-time Olympic champion Roman VLASOV (RUS), who will make his return after missing the 2018 world championships after having knee surgery. 

SCHEDULE

Returning World Champions Competing
55kg (GR) - Eldaniz AZIZLI(AZE)
60kg (GR) - Sergey EMELIN (RUS) 
62kg (WW) - Taybe Mustafa YUSEIN (BUL) 
63kg (GR) - Stepan MARYANYAN (RUS) 
65kg (WW) - Petra Maarit OLLI (FIN) 
67kg (GR) - Artem SURKOV (RUS) 
68kg (WW) - Alla CHERKASOVA (UKR) 
70kg (FS) - Magomedrasul GAZIMAGOMEDOV
82kg (GR) - Metehan BASAR (TUR) 
97kg (GR) - Musa EVLOEV (RUS)
125kg (FS) - Geno PETRIASHVILI (GEO) 
130kg - (GR) - Sergey SEMENOV (RUS) 

Weekly FIVE! In Social Media

1. Big Move Monday -- Vladen KOZLIUK (UKR) -- U23 Europe
2. Highlights from the 2019 Freestyle World Cup #wrestleyakutsk #uww #wrestling
3. Freestyle wrestlers started competing today at #U23AsianChampionship in Mongolia.?61 kg - Ulukbek Zholdoshbekov?? ?92 kg - Arashk Mohammadkazem Mohebi??
4. Egypt's Yassar NASR punches his ticket to the 65KG final tonight with a powerful preformance in the Semifinal. #wrestling #uww#unitedworldwrestling#WrestleHammamet
5. Day 1 Wrestlers preparing to take to the mats at the 2019 African Championship.  #wrestling #uww#unitedworldwrestling#WrestleHammamet