Weekly FIVE!

Weekly FIVE! May 14, 2018

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Reviewing Thursday's Beat the Streets, the Youth Olympic Games qualifiers and Yazdani making Iran's world team.  

1. Cadet European Championships Begin Monday 
The 2018 Cadet European Championships begin Monday, May 14 in Skopje, Macedonia. 

The second cadet continental championship will serve as a qualifier for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games which take place this October. 

The first place finisher in freestyle and Greco-Roman will qualify their countries spot in the five designated weight classes, while the first and second place finishers in women's wrestling will qualify their nations spot for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games.  

European Championship Schedule

Youth Olympic Weight Classes 
Freestyle - 
48kg, 55kg, 65kg, 80kg, and 110kg 
Greco-Roman - 45kg, 51kg, 60kg, 71kg, and 92kg 
Women's Wrestling - 43kg, 49kg, 57kg, 65kg, and 73kg 

Amir ZARE (IRI) closes out the 2018 Cadet Asian Championship with a 10-0 win over Kumar ANIRUDH (IND). (Photo by Sachiko Hotaka)

2. Iran's Cadets Illuminate Uzbekistan 
Iranian freestyle wrestlers left the 2018 Cadet Asian Championships with medals in all but one weight class. 

Iran claimed an impressive six golds and three bronzes to close out the first cadet continental championship of the year. 

Even more impressive, in their six finals bouts, Iranian wrestlers picked up four technical superiority wins and averaged nearly ten points a match! 

Full Cadet Asian Championship Results   

3. Beat the Streets Match-up Order Announced 
The wait is almost over!

Three Olympic champions in Togrul ASGAROV (AZE), Jordan BURROUGHS (USA)  and Helen MAROULIS (USA) are set to compete at Beat the Streets which begins this Thursday, May 17 at 2:30 PM in New York, New York. 

The final two duals, USA vs. Nigeria and USA vs. Cuba start at 6:30 PM.

Women's Freestyle
USA vs. Nigeria 
57kg: Helen MAROULIS (USA) vs. Odunayo ADEKUROYE (NGR)
59 kg: Alli RAGAN (USA) vs. Adeniyi AMINAT (NGR)
68 kg: Tamyra STOCK (USA) vs. Blessing OBORUDUDU (NGR)

FREESTYLE
USA vs. Cuba

57kg – Josh RODRIGUEZ (USA) vs. Reineri ORTEGA (CUB)
70kg – James GREEN (USA) vs. Franklin MAREN CASTILLO (CUB)
79kg – Kyle DAKE (USA) vs. Livan LOPEZ AZCUY  (CUB)
92kg – J’den COX (USA) vs. Yurieski TORREBLANCA QUERALTA (CUB)
97kg – Kyle SNYDER (USA) vs. Reineris SALAS PEREZ (CUB)
125kg– Nick GWIAZDOWSKI (USA) vs. Yudenny ESTEVEZ (CUB)

Age-level Match-up - Patrick GLORY (USA) vs. Gavin TEASDALE (USA) 

Co-Main Event – Jordan BURROUGHS (USA) vs. Frank CHAMIZO (ITA)
Main Event  – Jordan OLIVER (USA) vs. Togrul ASGAROV (AZE) 

4. Olympic Champion, Yazdani Locks up Another Iranian World Team Spot 
The world and Olympic champion, Hassan YAZDANI (IRI) defeated 2018 Takhti Cup champion, Kamran GHASEMPOUR (IRI) twice in the best of three series to make Iran’s 2018 Asian Games and 2018 World Championship roster. 

In the first match-up, Yazdani was tested early, giving up the first two points. The reigning world champion came back to outscore Ghasempour, 8-0 to take the first match, 8-2. 

The Olympic champion remained undefeated in Iran for the fourth consecutive year with a 5-0 victory in the second match. 

FULL RESULTS

5. Youth Olympic Qualifications by Country 
The 2018 Youth Olympic Games will take place October 12-14 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. 

The highest placing athlete from the Asian Championships qualified their countries spot for the Games in both freestyle and Greco-Roman. 

In women's wrestling, the top two athletes from the Asian Championships qualified their nations spot for the Buenos Aires Games. 

Qualifiers After the Cadet Asian Championships 
Freestyle 
48kg - UZB
55kg - JPN 
65kg - IRI
80kg - IRI 
110kg - IRI

Greco-Roman 
45kg - IRI 
51kg - JPN  
60kg - UZB
71kg - JPN
92kg - IRI 

Women's Wrestling 
43kg - JPN and MGL 
49kg - JPN and UZB 
57kg - JPN and IND 
65kg - JPN and CHN 
73kg - JPN and UZB 

Full Cadet Asian Championship Results   

Weekly FIVE! In Social Media

1. Big Move Monday! @vlasovroma90 #kaspeuro2018
2. Happy Mother’s Day, wrestling fans!
3. One of the most anticipated matches in years will go down May 17th in NYC. If you live in the area go ahead and support @beatthestreets, which provides wrestling opportunities to disadvantaged youth around the city. —>http://bit.ly/rotr-tix
4. Preparing for the match #wrestling #sportsgirl #cadet #asia #борьба
5. A few Black and Whites from the 2018 European Championships Kaspiysk.  #wrestling #kaspiysk2018 #unitedworldwrestling

#wrestlemanama

Bahrain to host 2026 World Championships

By United World Wrestling Press

ZAGREB, Croatia (September 16) -- For the first time in history, the World Championships are headed to Bahrain.

The 2026 World Championships will be held in Manama, Bahrain from September 5 to 13, United World Wrestling announced on Tuesday, during the ongoing World Championships in Zagreb.

No Arab country has ever hosted a World Championships but Bahrain will etch its name in history with the 2026 edition.

Secretary General of the Bahrain Olympic Committee Faris AL-KOOHEJI attended the press conference at the Arena Zagreb for the historic announcement. UWW President Nenad LALOVIC and Al-Kooheji announced the host together and signed the agreement.

"Bahrain has a superstar in wrestling," UWW President Lalovic said. "They probably want to use this opportunity to promote the sport through this superstar [Akhmed] TAZHUDINOV (BRN). But he's not the only one.

"They also want to develop the local Bahrain born athletes to compete because they have the role model of the top achievement in wrestling. This is something that we considered and that is why we made this decision.

Bahrain won its first-ever gold medal in Olympics in Paris when Tahzudinov ran-through the 97kg weight class and captured the gold medal. A year before that, he won the world title in the same weight class.

Tazhudinov is also an Asian champion, Asian Games champion and winner of other Ranking Series events.

Lalovic on the fact that wrestling wants to change the host continent of the World Championships more regularly.

 "We also want to change the continent regularly," he said. "A state that can organize the Asian [Youth] Games like they will do now in October, they will not face any problem with the championships, especially that we give all the assistance possible for the execution"

Manama, Bahrain will host the Asian Youth Games in which wrestling will be held from October 28 to 30.

Expressing its gratitude to UWW and readiness to host the mega event, Al-Kooheji said that the tournament will help Bahrain take wrestling to the grassroot levels in the country.

"For us, wrestling is a long term project," Al-Kooheji said. "Wrestling is a growing sport. It's a strategic sport for us. We got a gold medal in Paris, and we're looking to getting more medals. That gold medal started to inspire a lot of people, locally, to pursue wrestling, which is why part of the discussions with United World Wrestling is to even help us add wrestling in schools."

The Bahrain Olympic Committee expects that the World Championships will have a positive impact in growing the sport in the country.

"Strong economic impact [from the event]," he said. "We're going to get lots of travel spectators from Iran, the United States, and other countries as well. It's going to encourage the local community. They will understand more wrestling."