Weekly FIVE! July 30, 2019

Monday, July 29, 2019 - 22:57 By Eric Olanowski

Reviewing the Cadet World Championships, the Oleg Karavaev and Russia sweeping the Stepan Sargsyan. Also looking at this week's Poland Open and German Grand Prix and Taymazov being stripped of his second Olympic gold medal.

1. Cadet Worlds Underway in Sofia, Bulgaria
The 2019 Cadet World Championships are in full swing in Sofia, Bulgaria. Freestyle kicked off the championships on Monday and will hold center stage until Wednesday when women’s wrestling grabs the reigns. Greco-Roman takes charge on Friday and will close out the first of this year’s World Championships.

On the first day of competition, Iran dominated -- putting four of their five wrestlers into the Day 2 finals.

Iran will be led by returning cadet world champion Rahman AMOUZADKHALILI (IRI). He’ll be making his second-straight trip to the finals after defeating 2018 Cadet Pan American champion Stevo POULIN (USA) in the 48 kg semifinals with a 12-0 tech fall. Amouzadkhalili will take on Asian bronze medalist Kamronbek KADAMOV (UZB) in the 48kg finals.

Meanwhile, Umidjon JALOLOV (UZB) will also be looking to add a second cadet world title to his resume. Jalolov, a 2017 Cadet World champion and 2018 Youth Olympic Games champion, punched his ticket to the finals after an 8-0 win over 2019 Cadet European silver medalist and 2018 Cadet European bronze medalist Muhammet KARAVUS (TUR). He’ll wrestle two-time Asian bronze medalist Mahdi Mehrdad VEISI (IRI) in the gold-medal bout.

Wrestling continues on Tuesday at 10:30 (local time) with the qualification rounds and the Day 2 finals will begin at 18:00. Here are the finals matchups for the second day of wrestling at the Cadet World Championships:

Day Two Freestyle Finals:
48kg: Rahman Mousa AMOUZADKHALILI (IRI) vs. Kamronbek KADAMOV (UZB)
55kg: Mahdi Mehrdad VEISI (IRI) vs. Umidjon JALOLOV (UZB)
65kg: Batyrbek TSKHOVREBOV (RUS) vs. Dzhabrail GADZHIEV (AZE)
80kg: Amirhossein Biglar FIROUZPOURBANDPEI (IRI) vs. Arslan BAGAEV (RUS)
110kg: Arsamag ZASSEEV (RUS) vs. Giorgi CHIKHRADZE (GEO)

Click HERE to read Taylor Miller's preview of the Day 2 freestyle finals.

2. Regular Season Closes out at the Oleg Karavaev
Belarus not only hosted the Oleg Karavaev but also closed out the final Ranking Series event of the season with the team title. They narrowly edged second-place Russia by two points in the team race. Their four gold medalists were: Pavel LIAKH, Viktar SASUNOUSKI, Radzik KULIYEU and Siarhei STARADUB. The quartet won their titles at 77kg, 82kg, 87kg and 97kg, respectively.

Viktar Sasunouski gave the host nation arguably their most impressive Oleg Karavaev gold medal and sealed up the third seed at September’s World Championships with a late clutch throw in the 82kg finals against the No.1-ranked Emrah KUS (TUR).

In the opening period of the gold-medal match, Sasunouski conceded an inactivity point and an exposure and fell behind 3-0 to last year’s Budapest world runner-up. Sasunouski scored first in the second period and trailed 3-1 when he threw a desperation headlock -- which was good enough to pick up two correct throw points. Sasunouski hung on to edge Kus, 3-3 on criteria.

Sasunouski came into the Oleg Karavaev as the fourth-ranked wrestler in the world at 82kg, but after his title-winning efforts in his home country, he’s passed Iran’s Saeid ABDVALI for the third seed heading into Nur-Sultan.

RESULTS

Final Team Standings
GOLD - Belarus (147 points)
SILVER - Russia (145 points)
BRONZE - Turkey (113 points)
FOURTH -Kazakhstan (88 points)
FIFTH - Uzbekistan (67 points)

Gold Medal Results
55kg - Emin Narimanovitch SEFERSHAEV (RUS) df. Manjeet MANJEET (IND), 9-0
60kg - Seunghak KIM (KOR) df. Ahmet UYAR (TUR) , 3-1
63kg -  Shinobu OTA (JPN) df. Islomjon BAKHRAMOV (UZB), 11-1
67kg - Mohamed Ibrahim Elsayed Ibrahi ELSAYED (EGY) df. Hansu RYU (KOR), via fall
72kg - Magomed YARBILOV (RUS) df. Narek OGANIAN (RUS), 3-2
77kg -  Pavel LIAKH (BLR) df. Shohei YABIKU (JPN), 11-0
82kg -  Viktar SASUNOUSKI (BLR) df. Emrah KUS (TUR), 3-3
87kg - Radzik KULIYEU (BLR) df. Dogan GOKTAS (TUR), 2-2
97kg - Siarhei STARADUB (BLR) df. Suleyman DEMIRCI (TUR), 6-1
130kg - Osman YILDIRIM (TUR) df. Abdellatif Mohamed Ahmed MOHAMED (EGY), 9-0

Abasgadzhi MAGOMEDOV (RUS) defeated European champion Arsen HARUTYUNYAN (ARM), 12-2 in the Stepan Sargsyan finals. (Photo: Sachiko Hotaka)

3. Russia Reels in Ten Golds at Stepan Sargsyan
The 24th Annual Stepan Sargsyan closed out in Vanadzo, Armenia, and the Russian Federation swept the ten-weight tournament -- capturing gold medals in every weight class. Russian wrestlers occupied 17 of the 20 finals spots and went 10-for-10 in gold medal bouts.

Perhaps the most impressive Russian performance of the tournament came in the battle of European champions at 61kg, where Abasgadzhi MAGOMEDOV (RUS) reached the top of the podium with an impressive 12-2 routing of Arsen HARUTYUNYAN (ARM).

Magomedov, the reigning U23 Euroeapn champion, scored three takedowns in the opening period and commanded the 6-0 lead over the reigning senior-level European champion. The Russian conceded a takedown to the Armenian and still led 6-2. The Russian tacked on two second period takedowns and controlled the 10-2 lead when he trapped Harutyunyan’s left arm and ended the match with a right-sided trapped arm gut wrench.

RESULTS
57kg - Azamat TUSKAEV (RUS) df. Mihran JABURYAN (ARM), 10-0
61kg - Abasgadzhi MAGOMEDOV (RUS) df. Arsen HARUTYUNYAN (ARM), 12-2
65kg - Aznaur TAVAEV (RUS) df. Artur BADTIEV (RUS), 9-4
70kg - Anzor ZAKUEV (RUS) df. Meirzhan ASHIROV (KAZ), 5-4
74kg - Magomedkhabib KADIMAGOMEDOV (RUS) df. Khetik TSABOLOV (RUS), 11-10
79kg - Kamil ISAEV (RUS) df. Malik SHAVAEV (RUS), via fall
86kg - Zaur MAKIEV (RUS) df. Tamerlan TAPSIEV (RUS), 3-1
92kg - Radik NARTIKOEV (RUS) df. Guram CHERTKOEV (RUS), 6-2
97kg - Znur KOTSIEV (RUS) df. Azret SHOGENOV (RUS), 8-4
125kg - Vitalii GOLOEV (RUS) df. Soslan KHINCHAGOV (RUS), 6-6

Dauren KURUGLIEV and Artur NAIFONOV could meet in the Poland Open, with the winner gaining the 86kg Russian world team spot. (Photo: Sachiko Hotaka)

4. Poland Open and German Grand Prix Kick off This Weekend
The Poland Open and German Grand Prix will take place this weekend, and will both have extremely important storylines to follow – especially heading into the 2019 World Championships.

The Poland Open, which will take place in Warsaw on August 2-4, will double up as the special wrestle-off site for the Russian Federation at 86kg between Dauren KURUGLIEV and Artur NAIFONOV.

Kurugliev, the European Games champion, was released from the Russian National Championships where Naifonov, the 2018 European champion, was the winner of the 86kg bracket. The other weights that were excused from the National Championships were 57kg, 65kg, 74kg, 97kg and 125kg. But, those weights will not be contested at the Poland Open.

The standard in years past at these special wrestle-offs has been that the highest placer at each weight will go on to represent Russia at their respective weight at the World Championships. That is expected to be the case again at 86kg. After the conclusion of the Poland Open and the final five wrestle-offs, the Russian coaching staff will announce their Nur-Sultan world team representatives in late-August.

Russia's Remaining Wrestle-Offs
57kg - Zaur UGUEV vs. Ramiz GAMZATOV or Aryian TYUTRIN
65kg - Akhmed CHAKAEV vs. Gadzhimurad RASHIDOV
74kg - Zaurbek SIDAKOV vs. Magomed KURBANALIEV
97kg - Abdulrashid SADULAEV vs. Vladislav BAITSAEV
125kg - ANZOR KHIZRIEV vs. Alan KHUGAEV

The second tournament worth following this weekend is the 36th Annual German Grand Prix which will take place in Dortmund, Germany (August 3-4).

In addition to Germany’s three-time world champion Frank STAEBLER making his first appearance down to 67kg since the Rio Olympics, four Olympic medalist and two other reigning world champions will be in action.

Olympic champions Roman VLASOV (RUS) and Davit CHAKVETADZE (RUS) will compete at 77kg and 87kg, respectively, while Rio bronze Stig Andre BERGE (NOR) and London runner-up Heiki NABI (EST) will take part in the tournament at 60kg and 130kg, respectively.

The two returning world champions taking the mat in Germany will be Artem SURKOV (RUS) and Musa EVLOEV (RUS). Surkov will compete at 67kg, where he’s the reigning world champion. Evloev will also compete at the weight where he’s the reigning world champion, 97kg.

Artur TAYMAZOV (UZB) was stripped of his London Olympic medal after a reanalysis of his anti-doping test at the 2012 Olympic Games. (Photo: Gabor Martin)

5. Taymazov Stripped of London Olympic Gold After Failed Anti-Doping Test Surfaces
Artur TAYMAZOV (UZB) has been stripped of his 2012 London Olympic gold medal by the IOC Disciplinary Commission (DC) after a reanalysis of his anti-doping test at the 2012 Olympic Games. The Uzbek tested positive for the prohibited substance dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (oral turinabol).

Taymazov has been removed from the 120kg gold-medal slot and the order of the medalists will be reshuffled as the following:

Gold: Komeil GHASEMI (IRI)
Silver: Bilyal MAKHOV (RUS)
Bronze: Tervel DLAGNEV (USA)
Bronze: Daulet SHABANBAY (KAZ)

Taymazov, who was also stripped of his 2008 Beijing Olympic gold medal for the use of prohibited substances, has 21 days to appeal the IOC DC decision before CAS. United World Wrestling will then determine the sanctions faced by the athlete.

Weekly FIVE! In Social Media
1. Big Move Monday -- Renteria T. (COL) -- Junior Panams 2019
2. Veisi from Iran defeats Howard (USA) and takes his place in tomorrow’s 55kg final.
3. Big Moves From Day 2 // Ranking Series //Oleg Karavaev // Minsk 2019
4. Erica Wiebe - On The Shoulders Of Giants - Olympic Champion Erica Weibe (@eweebz) may have been the only Canadian wrestler to win a gold medal in Rio, but as she tells 'Wrestling 360', her journey was only possible because of the pioneers who paved the way. Watch “On the Shoulders of Giants”.
5. Wow! Look at the medals for @tokyo2020! ?? Comment and tag the next @olympicchampion ⬇️⬇️⬇️

#JapanWrestling

Ono entered at 57kg, Susaki at 50kg for All-Japan Championships

Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 15:34 By Ken Marantz

TOKYO (December 4) -- After winning both the U20 and senior world titles at freestyle 61kg within a two-month span in the autumn of 2024, Masanosuke ONO all but disappeared from the Japanese wrestling scene.

That culminated with his announcement in March this year that, having left Yamanashi Gakuin University, he had committed to wrestle at U.S. collegiate powerhouse Penn State. He has not been seen on the mats of Japan since.

Ono will compete once again in his home country, dropping down from 61kg to 57kg for the upcoming Emperor's Cup All-Japan Championships at Tokyo's Komazawa Gym, according to the entry list announced Thursday by the Japan Wrestling Federation.

The tournament, to be held December 18-21, will also serve as the domestic qualifier for next year's Asian Championships, and the first of two qualifiers for the Asian Games and World Championships in 2026.

Yui SUSAKI (JPN) will compete at 50kg at the Emperor's Cup. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

Among other notable recent absentees appearing on the entry list is Yui SUSAKI, the 2021 Tokyo Olympic champion at 50kg who had to settle for a bronze at the 2024 Paris Olympics. She will compete at 50kg, putting to bed speculation that she might move up to the 53kg division.

"This will be a tournament to start me anew on the road to the Los Angeles Olympics," Susaki said in an online press conference with the Japanese media, as reported by Wrestling-Spirits.jp.

"In order to reclaim the gold medal at the Los Angeles Olympics, as a challenger starting from scratch, I want to win in a Yui Susaki-esque way of wrestling."

The 21-year-old Ono had been a question mark with the tournament falling in the middle of the Penn State season. But the decision to redshirt Ono -- the system of allowing him to train with the team while withholding him from competition to maintain an extra year of eligibility -- opened the door for him to make the trip back to Japan.

Assuming he does not have trouble making weight, he should be the class of the 57kg field, with his toughest competition most likely coming from two-time Asian bronze medalist Rikuto ARAI.

One opponent he won't have to contend with is Paris Olympic champion Rei HIGUCHI, who decided to continue delaying his return to action. Also missing is defending champion Rin SAKAMOTO, who was injured at the World Championships. With Sakamoto also across the Pacific at Oklahoma State University, it prevents a rare clash of U.S.-based wrestlers.

Susaki only returned to action in September, and both of her forays were at 53kg. That, and the well-publicized move up to 57kg by Akari FUJINAMI, the 53kg champion in Paris, fueled conjecture that Susaki might also move up.

Susaki started at the National Sports Festival, where she competed at 53kg if for no other reason that it was one of only two women's weight classes in the competition. She lost a defensive-oriented 2-1 decision to 2024 world 55kg champion Moe KIYOOKA in the quarterfinals, marking her first loss to a Japanese opponent in six years.

"Losing at the National Sports Festival gave me the chance to look inside myself," Susaki said. "The result was really disappointing, but I'm glad I took part and was grateful for the opportunity."

Now 26, the four-time world champion is firmly determined to regain the Olympic gold that eluded her in Paris with a heart-breaking last-second loss to Vinesh PHOGAT (IND) in the opening round.

"I truly was shown just how difficult and challenging it was to win at the Paris Olympics. It also gave me a chance to reflect on the preparation process leading up to the competition and what was needed mentally for the Olympics. I will work hard to use that experience to make sure I win the gold medal at the Los Angeles Olympics."

Susaki's top challengers at the Emperor's Cup appear to be world U23 bronze medalist Umi ITO and Haruna MORIKAWA, the world U23 champion at 53kg.

Meanwhile the presence of Fujinami, who added the world U23 title in October to her burgeoning resume, has been immediately felt at 57kg. Despite being an Olympic weight class, the division drew just nine others who will look to end the 21-year-old superstar's 147-match winning streak.

Her most potentially dangerous opponent could be Asian champion Sara NATAMI. At the National Sports Festival, she was losing 8-1 at 62kg to world 59kg champion Sakura ONISHI when she countered a takedown attempt by slamming her to her back for a fall.

Paris Olympic and 2025 world champion Sakura MOTOKI (JPN). (Photo: United World Wrestling / Amirreza Aliasgari)

Golden trio at women's 62kg; returns of Paris champs Fumita, Kagami

As with any Japan competition that has world or Olympic berths at stake, a number of weight classes could see clashes between multiple wrestlers with global successes as they jockey for position in the run-up to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

And in one case, there are three at once, while two other weight classes could have direct clashes of champions from this year's worlds in Zagreb, Croatia.

At women's 62kg, Paris and 2025 world gold medalist Sakura MOTOKI will renew her rivalry with two-time former world champion Nonoka OZAKI, while Onishi moves up from 59kg to join the mix and can't be overlooked.

At women’s 68kg, reigning world champion Ami ISHII could lock horns with Miwa MORIKAWA, the gold medalist at 65kg, while at freestyle 74kg, we could see a battle between Zagreb winner Kota TAKAHASHI and 70kg titlist Yoshinosuke AOYAGI.

Like Susaki, all of Japan's large group of Paris medalists took some time off to bask in the spotlight before gradually returning to the mat over the past two years.

Two of the remaining gold medalist holdouts -- Kenichiro FUMITA and Yuka KAGAMI -- will both take the mat for the first time since their Paris victories at the Emperor's Cup.

Fumita, who won an elusive gold medal in Paris at Greco 60kg after taking the silver at Tokyo 2021, is entered at 63kg, where he will aim for a fifth national title and first since 2022. Kagami is entered at her gold medal-winning weight of women's 76kg. Their own rustiness may be more of a factor then the opponents.

While away from competition, Fumita spent the ensuing time experimenting with different methods as he looks to expand his reportoire.

"I have some anxiety, but I'm also looking forward to it," Fumita told Wrestling-Spirits.jp. "I achieved my goal in Paris, and on top of that, I've been taking a good look at wrestling. it. It was a year and four months full of new experiences. This will be a battlefield to reveal my new wrestling. I want to show wrestling that is free and unrestrained."

Fumita said he observed the nerves shown by fellow Paris gold medalists Nao KUSAKA (Greco 77kg) and Kotaro KIYOOKA (freestyle 65kg) when they returned to mat ahead of him at the Meiji Cup All-Japan Invitational Championships last spring.

"Before their matches, both of them looked pale," Fumita said. "I want to focus on fighting without putting too much pressure on myself. For better or worse, I want to fight thinking of myself as a different person than I was in Paris."

Other intriguing weight classes include freestyle 65kg, where Kiyooka may have to contend with Asian champion Kaisei TANABE, Asian 61kg champion Takara SUDA and two-time world U20 champion Yuto NISHIUCHI.

Two gold medalists from Tokyo who took time off for marriage and childbirth are back, with Mayu SHIDOCHI (nee MUKAIDA) challenging Moe Kiyooka at women's 55kg and Yukako INAMURA (nee KAWAI) entered at 59kg.

In Greco, rising star Taizo YOSHIDA, a bronze medalist at both the U20 and senior worlds this year at 82kg, has moved up to 87kg, where he will challenge two-time defending champion So SAKABE.

Weekly FIVE! July 30, 2019

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Ono entered at 57kg, Susaki at 50kg for All-Japan Championships